Jazz in the Alley is a free jazz concert series sponsored by the City of Norcross, Georgia. The series aims to showcase various jazz artists with diverse genre backgrounds. For more information about Jazz In The Alley go here.
Piedmont Park Arts Festival Big annual outdoor arts and crafts festival in Piedmont Park, with up to 250 artists working in a variety of media, art demonstrations, live music, food and more. More details
NEXT COLLECTIVE Alto saxophonist
Logan Richardson (born 1980)was
by the age of sixteen already featured in the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra in
his hometown; by nineteen, Downbeat
magazine hailed him as “up and coming.” After music studies at Boston’s BerkleeSchool of Music and New York’s New School, he worked with a series of bands led
by Greg Tardy, Joe Chambers, Nasheet Waits and
Jason Moran. He has recorded two critically embraced albums as a leader —Ethos and Cerebral Flow—and toured with his own group since 2006, and in
2010, France’s Jazzman magazine
declared him “one of the ten burning alto saxophonists worldwide.”
Tenor saxophonistWalter Smith III (born 1980) is a
Houston native who graduated from his hometown’s High School for the Performingand Visual Arts, and in 2003, from Berklee. He has already appeared on over 75
recordings worldwide, has performed or recorded with the likes of Terence Blanchard, Roy Haynes, Christian McBride, Eric Reed,
Mulgrew Miller, Bob Hurst and Joe Lovano, and
released three albums to date, including III
in 2010. He currently divides his time between leading his own quintet and
being a featured sideman in bands led by Ambrose Akinmusire, Eric Harland and
others.
Keyboardist Gerald Clayton (born 1984) is the scion
of Los Angeles’s well-known jazz family, which features his father,
bassist/composer John, and his uncle, saxophonist Jeff. In 2011, he won the
Edison award for Best International Jazz Album, has had three Grammynominations and was second place in the 2006 Thelonious Monk Institute JazzPianist Competition. He is the product of years of intensive training, at the
University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music, and
on-the-gig experience with the likes of Roy Hargrove, Lewis Nash, Terell
Stafford, Clark Terry, Hank Jones, Benny Green, Kenny Barron, Ambrose
Akinmusire, and others. He currently leads one of the most popular piano trios
on the scene with bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Justin Brown and will release
his Concord Jazz debut album in April of 2013.
Bassist Ben
Williams (born 1984) was raised in Washington D.C., studied at Michigan
State University, earned his Masters at Juilliard, won the 2009 Thelonious Monk
Institute International Jazz Competition, and is already one of today’s most
in-demand sidemen, playing regularly and
recordedwith such
headliners as Pat Metheny, Jacky Terrasson and Stefon Harris. He has been
picked to perform with Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard,
Nicholas Payton, Paquito D’Rivera, Roy Hargrove, and others. In 2011, he recorded with George Benson on
his album The Guitar Man and released State of Art,
his debut recording as a leader.
Drummer Jamire Williams (born 1984), like Walter Smith, is a Houston native who graduated the city’s High School for the Performing & Visual Arts, after which he received a B.F.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music from New York’s New School. He has since toured and/or recorded with such notable R&B and jazz artists as Christian Scott, Bilal, Corrine Bailey Rae, Kenny Garrett, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Solange Knowles, Jason Moran, Gretchen Parlato and Robert Glasper. He currently leads his own group ERIMAJ and has recently released his debut album, Conflict Of A Man.
Trumpeter Christian Scott (born 1983) is a New Orleans-raised, Berklee-schooled, Grammy-nominated bandleader and composer whose impact on today’s scene has grown exponentially with each successive recording, including his fifth release: this year’s double-disc best-seller Christian aTunde Adjuah. Nephew of famed saxophonist and Big Chief, Donald Harrison, he is intensely proud of his heritage (as depicted by his choice to adorn [his latest album with] the Afro-Native American Culture of New Orleans ceremonial regalia) and shares this sentiment from the stage. Most recently, Christian was featured on the cover of JazzTimes magazine, along with many other major press acknowledgments.
“We are excited about
the lineup for this year’s Atlanta Jazz Festival,” says Camille Russell Love,
Executive Director of the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. “As
our city becomes more international and our population younger, we are booking
the festival to welcome these new audiences.From the soulful groove of Gregory Porter, the hip-hop inspired brass of
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, and the sensuous stylings of Brazilian songstress
Eliane Elias, we’ve got a wide variety of jazz flavors on three stages. And
admission is free! Make plans now to join us for the 39th Annual
Atlanta Jazz Festival in Piedmont Park over Memorial Day Weekend, May 27-29.”
Jermaine Sainis the host/ creator of a talk show called When We Speak. After exiting the U.S. Army in 2003, as a Medical Sergeant, Jermaine began pursuing a career in music after he auditioned for American Idol in 2005, in Austin, Texas.
