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Check out what's happening: June | July - Download this month's calendar

SETS NIGHTLY AT 7:30 & 9:30
FRI & SAT, THIRD SET AT 11:30

Thursday - Sunday May 31 - June 3
6/3 TOMASZ STANKO QUARTET

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It’s been a long wait – since January 2011, in fact – for the return of ECM recording artist Tomasz Stanko to our stage. On that illustrious occasion, Nate Chinen of The New York Times heard the trumpeter frame his penetrating solos “in long, searching arcs, each note sharply articulated but unpredictable in its aim. His engagement with the other musicians in the band suggested a kind of collec­tive bargaining rather than the resolute charge of a leader and his men…Mr. Stanko, 68, is among Europe’s most celebrated jazz musicians, and one of the few to make inroads in the United States.” Jazz Standard hails the return of Tomasz Stanko – make your reservations now!

Tickets: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW

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Monday June 4
MINGUS BIG BAND

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Our acclaimed “Mingus Monday” residency continues in June, starting tonight with two torrid sets by Mingus Big Band – winners of a 2011 Grammy Award for their blazing CD Live At Jazz Standard. “The hippest big band in the universe – robust, earthy, sanctified!” (Time Out New York)

Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW

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Tuesday June 5
ETIENNE CHARLES & KAISO

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By order of a White House proclamation, June is recognized as Caribbean–American Heritage Month. Two–thousand–twelve marks not only the sixth anniversary of the celebration, but also the 50th anniversary of the independence of Trinidad & Tobago. We can’t think of a musician better qualified to mark this auspicious occasion than the dynamic trumpeter Etienne Charles and his thrilling pan–Caribbean aggregation Kaiso. The group will be playing tunes from Etienne’s acclaimed 2011 album Kaiso (which earned a four–star review in Down Beat, among other accolades) as well as their distinctive arrangements of some traditional tunes. Born in Trinidad in 1983, today Etienne Charles is a seasoned jazz player who has performed with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Monty Alexander (a guest on Kaiso), Marcus Roberts, and the Count Basie Orchestra.

Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW

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Wednesday June 6
ROBERT RODRIGUEZ QUARTET

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The son of a deeply musical family of Cuban heritage, NYC native Robert Rodriguez studied piano and percussion at the New World School of The Arts in Miami and earned a full scholarship to the University of Miami. During his student years, Robert had the opportunity to perform with Jerry Bergonzi, Jon Faddis, Kenny Weeler, and Maria Schneider; while living in Miami, he worked with the great Ira Sullivan and toured with the Arturo Sandoval band. Back in New York since 2000, Robert has gigged and/or recorded with Ray Barretto, Roy Haynes, Charlie Haden, David Sanchez, and Richard Bona, just to name a few. In May 2009, Robert's Sexteto Rodriguez released CD Timba Talmud, which synthesized Cuban music and Jewish music in an entirely new sound of joy, melancholy, and profound emotional clarity.

Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW

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Thursday - Sunday June 6 - 10
CHARLES MCPHERSON QUINTET

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We’re pleased and proud to welcome back Jazz Standard stalwart Charles McPherson as part of our on­going JS:10 Anniversary celebration. More than a half–century into his professional career, the saxophonist remains a strong, viable force in jazz both here and abroad. McPherson logged an epic twelve–year run with the Charles Mingus group (1960-1972) and has released some two–dozen albums as a leader including Live at the Five Spot (Prestige, 1966) and First Flight Out, (Arabesque, 1994). In 1988, Charles was the featured alto player on the soundtrack of Clint Eastwood’s film Bird. Joining McPherson up front is the Grammy Award winning trumpeter Brian Lynch, who along with leading his own groups tours with Phil Woods and Eddie Palmieri. “One of bebop’s premier torchbearers!” (Nate Chinen, The New York Times) “A venturesome musician who upends the jazz repertoire on the bandstand, [composing] pieces built on surprise…” (David Hajdu, The Atlantic Monthly)

Tickets: $25/$30 Friday & Saturday - PURCHASE NOW

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Monday June 11
MINGUS ORCHESTRA

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Had American symphony orchestras not discriminated against African–American musicians throughout much of the 20th century, Charles Mingus might have led an entirely different career. Mingus was as much a student of Beethoven and Debussy as of Fats Waller and Duke Ellington, and his classical aspira­tions found their outlet in dozens of compositions written for a sort of jazz–band–plus that included non-jazz instruments like bassoon, oboe, and French horn. The Mingus Orchestra is devoted to this often-overlooked aspect of the jazz giant’s protean legacy.

Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW

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Tuseday - Sunday June 12 - 17
KURT ROSENWINKEL STANDARDS TRIO With Special Guests

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Over the course of a 20–year career, guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel’s influence on the ever–evolving jazz tradition may be compared to the way in which Thelonious Monk and Wayne Shorter both impacted col­leagues much beyond the scope of their respective instruments. His is a singular compositional voice: full of mystery and power, marked by an effortless marriage of high complexity and undeniable emotional appeal. Reporting for the Los Angeles Times on a February performance by the Standards Trio at LA’s Musicians Institute, Chris Barton wrote: “Rosenwinkel let his guitar speak with a near crystalline clarity…a sleek mix of chords and finger-blurring runs that dovetailed nicely with the show’s location.” For this special Jazz Standard engagement, Kurt will join forces with another exceptional guitarist, Peter Bernstein, on June 13; rising star saxophonist Aaron Burnett will step to the stand on June 14; and alto sax master Greg Osby will ap­pear on June 15. Kurt rounds out the week with two artists from the Motor City: vocalist/pianist Johnny O’Neal will share the spotlight on June 16 (vocals only), and the great Geri Allen will occupy the piano position on 6/17.

Tickets: $25 Tue-Thu/$30 Fri-Sun - PURCHASE NOW

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Monday June 18
MINGUS BIG BAND

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The Big Band is back, and blowing up a storm – exclusively at Jazz Standard! “Bold and brawny, the Mingus Big Band roars in ways that would please its late namesake...Mingus’ sound is indomitable. Over time, his music has not lost an iota—instead, it has gained hefty measures—of relevance and resonance, wit and grit.” (Down Beat four–star review of the MBB’s 1995 CD Gun–Slinging Bird)

Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW

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Tuesday June 19
LINDA OH QUARTET

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When it came time to record Initial Here, her second CD as a leader and first for Dave Douglas’ Green­leaf Music, bassist and composer Linda Oh assembled one of the most impressive new bands to emerge on the New York scene in recent years. The quartet includes Dayna Stephens, an articulate saxophonist as well as a skilled bassist; and Cuban–born pianist Fabian Almazan, a former classmate of Oh’s at the Manhattan School of Music. As for drummer Rudy Royston, he’s been the percussionist choice for such forward–thinking leaders as JD Allen, Bill Frisell, and Ben Allison. From the emotive ballad “Mr. M” to her buoyant electric bass lines on “Deeper Than Happy,” Initial Here “tells a story about identity,” says Linda Oh. “Cultural identity and musical identity. I wanted to go in a few different directions to explore some more extreme emotions.”

Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW

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Wednesday - Sunday June 20 - 24
TERENCE BLANCHARD

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Terence Blanchard is one of the most accomplished and respected jazz musicians of his generation. As a composer and instrumentalist, he has created over 50 memorable scores for such Spike Lee films as Malcolm X (1992) and Clockers (1995), and most recently for George Lucas’ Red Tails (2012). He is a 5-time Grammy Award winner, including his 2007 tour de force A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina), as well as an Emmy and Golden Globe nomi­nee. You can also here Blanchard’s music in the new Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ classic A Streetcar Named Desire. “He plays the most coolly expressive trumpet in jazz,” declared Vanity Fair, while The Wall Street Journal hailed Terence Blanchard as a creator of “bold, modern jazz that’s respectful of the tradition and served with style and emotion…His writing is superb and heartfelt, his playing perfect…”

Tickets: $35 - PURCHASE NOW

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Monday June 25
MINGUS BIG BAND

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“Mingus is always probing. He speaks in his music of the same fundamental problems, ambiguities, satisfactions, and frustrations that he talks about when he’s telling you about his own life…Always his music is intensely, thrustingly palpable—a persistent personal witnessing, questioning, exulting, despairing, raging, and sometimes laughing.” (Nat Hentoff, from liner notes to The Art of Charles Mingus: The Atlantic Years, Atlantic LP 2–302)

Tickets: $25 - PURCHASE NOW

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Tuesday - Wednesday June 26 - 27
JOHN ELLIS QUINTET

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John Ellis’ new album It’s You I Like – his first release on the Criss Cross label – is sure to rank among the year’s most intriguing and unusual jazz recordings. It’s a yin–yang instrumental program combining six optimistic songs by Fred Rogers (1928–2003)—better known as “Mister Rogers” to several generations of young American TV viewers – with three dark, introspective ones that evoke (in Ellis’ words) “the tortured reality” of the alternative rock singer/songwriter Elliott Smith (1969–2003). For this Jazz Standard premiere, John will reconvene the superb ensemble of under–40 first–call players he assembled for It’s You I Like. Pianist Aaron Goldberg was featured on three previous Ellis albums; guitarist Mike Moreno is a friend of leader since the late Nineties with two Criss Cross CDs of his own. Bassist Matt Penman and drummer Rodney Green can navigate straight–ahead swing and odd–metered time signatures with equal aplomb.

Tickets: $20 - PURCHASE NOW

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Thursday - Sunday June 28 - July 1
CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO with special guest JAMES CARTER

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The gospel–rooted, blues–tinged playing of pianist Cyrus Chestnut has delighted Jazz Standard audiences for years. We’re pleased to welcome him back for this gala “JS10” appearance, especially in the company of the celebrated saxophonist James Carter (“always dazzling, always melodic,” wrote John L. Walters in The Guardian). Cyrus began his musical training at age five and made his first public performance at age seven at his father’s Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Maryland; between 1994 and 2001, he released seven CDs for the Atlantic label. CC’s latest trio recording, Journeys (Jazz Legacy, 2010) showed that he “remains a distinctive original pianist whose work has continued to grow.” (Ken Dryden, AllMusic.com) “One hears in his smart stylings not only the gospel sounds at the root of his very being, but classic – some say nostalgic – jazz adorned with utterly uninhibited improvisations, flashes of pop and bop, whimsy and wit.” (Dan Rodricks, The Baltimore Sun)

Tickets: $30 - PURCHASE NOW

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