UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, September 3, 2010 8:00PM

Saturday, September 4, 2010 8:00PM

Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall
2301 Boardwalk
Atlantic City, NJ 08401-6621

Don’t miss the Atlantic City Comedy Festival this Labor Day weekend, September 3 and 4th in Atlantic City, NJ!

Festival Schedule

September 3:
Mike Epps, EarthQuake, George Willborn, Don DC Curry, and Mario Tory.

September 4:
Sommore, Bruce Bruce, DL Hughley, Gary Owen, and TuRae

Music on both nights by DJ Quik.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010 8:00PM

B.B. King Blues Club & Grill
237 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036-7297

Brian Culbertson
Inspired by his father, music educator Jim Culbertson, Brian Culbertson has been a fast and fierce study of music, gravitating to all styles of dynamic music as long as it was expertly played by artists ranging from Chicago, David Sanborn and Sting to The Brecker Brothers and Maynard Ferguson. Since his 1994 debut Long Night Out, Brian has been credited with bringing a youthful yet no less masterful energy to popular instrumental music with hit albums and singles. His sixth album Nice & Slow (2001) topped Billboard’s Contemporary Jazz chart for six weeks straight. And its follow-up, Come on Up (2003) included his blazing cover of Earth Wind & Fire’s “Serpentine Fire,” impressing Maurice White enough to want to work with him.

You’ve heard of the Ohio Players. Brian Culbertson is the Chicago Player – a keyboardist, trombonist, writer, arranger, producer and the most exciting live performing instrumentalist on the scene today. The proof is all over his milestone tenth project, Bringing Back The Funk, a historic and completely unprecedented revisiting to the land of the sho’ nuff uncut `70s-style funk of ages. The “historic” declaration is not hype – for the first time ever, legendary old school funk masters from nearly every signature soul band and region of the country have united under Brian and executive producer Maurice White (founder of Earth Wind & Fire) to once again lay the righteous and real stuff on a deeply needy world.

General Admission Seating – First come, first seated

Reserved VIP booths on floor avail for 4 + 6 people – $55 per ticket – Must buy entire booth. A booth for 4 = $220 – A booth for 6 = $330

Seating & Club Policy

Discount Parking

Packages & Discounts for Large Groups of 10 or more

Tuesday, September 28, 2010 8:00PM

Bergen PAC
30 North Van Brunt St.
Englewood, New Jersey, 07631

Chick Corea’s newest trio features the 16-time Grammy-winning pianist in the company of a stellar rhythm tandem: bassist Christian McBride (Sting, Pat Metheny, McCoy Tyner), one of the most outstanding talents and celebrated musicians of his generation, and drummer extraordinaire Brian Blade (Herbie Hancock, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell) a longstanding member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet.

The three initially forged an indelible chemistry as the rhythmic backbone of the Five Peace Band in 2009, when Blade took the drum chair for the band’s Asian and American tours.

Their instant, easy rapport naturally stimulated the idea of yet another outlet for Corea’s tireless creativity. And a new trio was born. As a trio, they’ll take up the musical dialogue that started there—dynamic, deeply interactive and irrepressibly swinging.

For more information and directions click here

Thursday, September 30, 2010 7:08PM

EVENT: Travel the Pacific Coast without ever leaving Manhattan! Join us for a voyage
through the various wine regions of the West Coast. Taste award-winning wines from
the Sonoma Coast and Napa Valley, and also discover the lesser known wines of
Oregon and Washington. Washington has nine distinct wine-growing regions.
Willamette Valley, Oregon’s largest wine-growing region, is home to over 300 wines.
Experience wines from all over the left coast with us in the intimate setting of the
Bacchus’ state-of-the-art wine cellar.

Bacchus Wines
2056 Broadway
between 70th / 71st

All attendees will receive a 10% Discount on in-store purchases during the evening.

Learning about the wines and discovering new ones is what this evening is about —
along with some great live jazz, from the West Village Trio!
And remember…“Some of the best wines are not necessarily expensive; you just have to
spend the time exploring to find hidden gems.” – Sean Mahoney, wine collector &
connoisseur.

FOOD:

• Crudite
• Dip
• Cheese, Crackers and Bread
• Guacamole and Chips

MUSIC: The evening will be accompanied by the sounds of The West Village Jazz Trio! The West Village Jazz Trio has been a fixture in the New York jazz scene for over 20 years. Made up of three of New York’s top jazz session players this group surprises and
delights, playing a mixture of Brazilian, New York and Latin jazz. From standards to originals these guys really swing…Check out the bebop melodies, bass underpinnings and deft
brushwork. Close your eyes and experience a world of jazz, with global influences.

Friday, October 8, 2010 7:30PM

Friday, October 8, 2010 10:30PM

Join us in celebrating the Smooth Cruises’ 13th year aboard The Spirit of New York, located at Pier 61, Chelsea Piers (23rd St & West Side Hwy). Experience this one-of-a-kind LIVE JAZZ concert series as you cruise down the Hudson River taking in fantastic views of the Statue of Liberty and the breathtaking Manhattan skyline. This summer will feature ten of the world’s greatest jazz acts in an intimate setting, every Wednesday evening starting June 30th ending September 1st. The Smooth Cruises sell out quickly, so get your tickets today!

As most fans know, longtime Jazz/R&B music great Angela Bofill suffered a stroke in early 2006. Later that year she received the SoulTracks Lifetime Achievement Award and appeared to be on her way to recovery. Unfortunately, in July 2007, Angie suffered another massive stroke and was in critical condition for quite awhile.

The show will be a narrative and musical presentation of the songs most relevant to her career – songs such as This Time I’ll Be Sweeter, I’ll Try, Under the Moon and Over the Sky, Angel of the Night, Break it to me Gently, and many others will be performed by Phil Perry and Maysa. Angela will be doing on-stage narratives about the tunes with some humorous anecdotes.

We are thankful to be able to present this very special engagement as Angela Bofill makes her first public appearance in New York since 2005.

Friday, October 8, 2010 8:00PM

World renowned guitarist/composer Pat Metheny has won an extraordinary 17 Grammy Awards and has been nominated 33 times in 12 different categories, more than any other performer in Grammy history. Aside from all the critics awards and fan accolades, Pat’s focus remains continually on the breaking down of barriers and the exploration of new musical ideas. This tour is no exception as Pat moves from brilliant solo guitar improvisations to the unveiling of a totally new technology for the presentation of an acoustically driven “solo ensemble” music he is dubbing Orchestrionics. The performance will feature music from the forthcoming CD of all new original compositions, as well as some older tunes from the Metheny songbook.

Bergen PAC
30 North Van Brunt St.
Englewood, New Jersey, 07631

For full event details and directions click here.

Friday, November 5, 2010 7:00PM

New Jersey Wine Festivals is pleased to invite you to the 2010 Harvest Wine Festival on November 5,2010 at the Hilton Short Hills Hotel, New Jersey’s Premiere Urban Resort.

Bring your palette and your smile to this annual event and you will be sure to have a great time. Try full-bodied and rich red wines, taste many specialty wines. Mix and mingle with other wine lovers while enjoying the sounds of Grammy Nominated Jazz artist Gil Parris. This is our 5th annual Harvest Wine Festival at the Hilton, and they are consistently fabulous every year!

WINE & FOOD: The connoisseurs from The Wine Library have selected over 100 wines for every palette’s pleasure. To pair with the wine, the Hilton’s AAA Four Diamond award-winning culinary experts will provide a first class selection of hors d’oeuvres, antipasto, cheese, breads and pasta.

WINE CLASSES: Three (3) wine classes will be conducted in a special tasting area at 7:15PM, 8:15PM & 9:15. The instructor will conduct a side by side tasting of 5 special wines, explaining the grape varietal origins and tasting notes for each. Class cost is an additional $20 per person and advance reservations must be made online or by phone during ticket purchase. This is an opportunity to attend a 30-40 minute small group session during the event to expand your knowledge of wine. Class sizes are limited, so RESERVE EARLY!

DISCOUNT HOTEL ROOMS: The Hilton Short Hills, New Jersey’s premiere urban resort, is offering special accommodations for attendees of this year’s festival. Enjoy an overnight stay for a discounted rate of $159 for Deluxe Accommodations, or just $209 in the private Executive Level which includes continental breakfast in The Terrace Restaurant. See more details Make Reservation Now

MUSIC: Gil Parris will perform live at the event. Gil is a Grammy Award
nominated blues, jazz and pop guitarist. He has released five solo albums and played collaboratively with many notable artists, including Chris Botti, Toni Braxton, David Sanborn, Bob James, Cissy Houston, Dr. John, Blood Sweat and Tears, Paul Schaeffer, Bernie Williams, and Bobby Caldwell just to name a few.

CHARITY: A portion of the proceeds from this event go to Family Promise of Bergen County, an outstanding organization dedicated to alleviating the plight of the homeless in Bergen County. Special Permit. State of NJ: Dept of Law & Public Safety: Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Saturday, December 4, 2010 7:30PM

Saturday, December 4, 2010 10:00PM

Peter White leads an all star lineup featuring Rick Braun and Mindi Abair playing dazzling arrangements of your favorite holiday songs at B.B. Kings Blues Club & Grill. It will be a treat for the holiday season!

Peter White

Over the past 16 years, as Peter White has kept thousands of smooth jazz fans worldwide enthralled by his spirited melodies, soulful grooves and inviting, instantly recognizable acoustic guitar tone, he’s always had a blast finding unique ways to bring his modern sensibilities to cherished pop classics. Thanks to the smooth jazz format’s affinity these days for instrumental cover songs, two of the incredible 13 #1 Radio & Records airplay hits he’s enjoyed over the years, “The Closer I Get To You” and “Walk On By” (from 1994’s Reflections), have become enduring staples of the format.

But pop music fans were listening to White’s classic acoustic guitar style even before the advent of the New Adult Contemporary and Smooth Jazz formats, most notably via his collaborations with British folk/pop singer Al Stewart. The Stewart-White partnership, which culminated with the dual live recording Rhymes in Rooms in the mid-90s, spanned over 20 years. White played on Stewart’s landmark Year of the Cat album, co-wrote and performed on two of Stewart’s biggest hits, “Time Passages” and “Midnight Rocks,” and served as the Scottish singer’s bandleader while playing guitar, Hammond Organ and piano. He later co-produced Stewart’s Famous Last Words album.

White’s other major longtime association was with Basia, an early vocal star in the genre that later became known as smooth jazz. In 1984, brother Danny White and a then unknown Basia formed the band Matt Bianco; Peter performed on the group’s album Who’s Side Are You On as well as on the hit single “Half a Minute.” When Basia and Danny left Matt Bianco to focus on her solo career, Peter White’s guitar and accordian became an integral flavor in her popular sound. He played on her three bestselling albums Time and Tide, London Warsaw New York and The Sweetest Illusion, and appeared on her live performance release Basia on Broadway. Basia sang on “Just Another Day,” which became a popular airplay hit from Caravan of
Dreams.

Saturday, December 11, 2010 7:30PM

Saturday, December 11, 2010 10:00PM

David Benoit returns to B.B. Kings Blues Club & Bar in New York for a special “Charlie Brown Christmas” show, Performing the Vince Guaraldi classics from “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

DAVID BENOIT: Pianist, Composer, Conductor

Over the last quarter century, composer and pianist David Benoit (b. 1953) has been a passionate musical innovator committed to the exploration of many different art forms on the American landscape.

His prolific output since 2000 includes several prominent Charlie Brown related projects (including Here’s To You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years and the star-studded 40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas) that reflect his lifelong passion for the music of original Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi and solidify Benoit’s role as his musical heir

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ben Bromberg, The Huffington Post

This Thursday, Deerhunter headlined a free show at Pier 54 in Hudson River Park, part of the River Rocks concert series that take place every summer. Brooklyn locals Real Estate opened the show, hypnotically drawing in concert-goers towards the stage with their polished brand of soft surf guitar. Real Estate is the kind of band whose songs best fit as transitional numbers on your mixtapes, a mellowed out break to provide breathing room between hits and bangers.

Four or five songs into their set, and the gentle, sleepwalking melodies of Real Estate started to threaten the audience’s abilities to keep their eyes open. Songs rarely pick up in tempo or develop in format — this is something that a listener of Real Estate’s recently released self-titled LP might also notice while trying to make his or her way to the end of the album. But as the band debuted new songs it became clear they weren’t interested in developing beyond what they had already built. There were actually several times that I believed I recognized a song from their record as the lazy, languid chords strummed in, but thirty seconds later I would realize it was actually something else, and must have been a new song, albeit with startlingly similar chords.

Of course, the band that the crowd of hundreds had truly come to see was Deerhunter, the Georgia-based psychedelic rock outfit that has never had any trouble playing dynamic, engaging sets. And loud. Did I mention loud? Deerhunter has the habit of building momentum within tracks before ripping them open with screeching guitar solos and walls of feedback, and the first time they ripped one open in their set at Pier 54, it was as if they had stabbed an adrenaline needle right into the heart of every audience member who was still reeling in Real Estate heroin overdose.

The last time I had seen Deerhunter was in the summer following the release of their very first album, 2007’s Cryptograms, and I was blown away on Thursday by how they had since come to perfect their sound, accomplishing absolutely everything they were working towards but not quite finding in 2007. It’s not that the band was any less inspired in 2007, releasing music as original and groundbreaking as anything they’ve released since — they were just unfocused. The ambient instrumental washes that Deerhunter likes to segue into between rock numbers made up the majority of Cryptograms and their 2007 live set, and back then the band seemed less interested in marrying the two extremes as they were in perfecting the wash. On Thursday’s show, however, the band had clearly come to master all aspects of their live performance, each and every sonic element landing just where it was supposed to in the mix. Every echo, every bark of feedback came together to form the most perfect kind of controlled chaos, something frontman Bradford Cox and his bandmates kept under their thumb with as much casual candor as Real Estate exhibited keeping their narcoleptic guitar strolls at bay.

Deerhunter’s progress as a band was perhaps most clearly displayed in how brilliantly they performed their older material. Cox’s crew has been preparing to release their follow-up record to 2008’s Microcastle, titled Halcyon Digest and due out this September, so naturally a great deal of the band’s set on Thursday was debuting new material. And while these songs did indeed promise another solid record from the psych-rockers, the night’s most surprising success was when the band tore through “Wash Off”, a track off of their 2007 Fluorescent Grey EP. Although I had seen the band perform this same number in 2007 — and it was no sleeper, back then, either — on Thursday’s performance the band was able to breathe new life into the track, proving how far Deerhunter had evolved from their early stages of experimentation as a young band on the rise. Fair-weather fans of Deerhunter would do well to give the band a chance to convince them in live performance; this is a band that has the power to completely win you over, while playing the same songs you thought you already kind of liked.

Link to original article here.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

The official Michael Jackson website posted our KISS FM Michael Jackson Birthday cruise that is setting sail on Saturday, August 28th!

Check out the posting on MichaelJackson.com here.

Check out our event page here: “98.7 KISS FM Presents: The Michael Jackson Birthday Cruise, hosted by Shaila”

Monday, July 26, 2010

What breezy views we had over the Hudson River! How could you not want to spend a warm Thursday night on a charming wooden pier, surrounded by water? The incessant clouds hovering above made no impact on the weather, only adding to the nocturnal beauty of the New Jersey skyline.

- Sentimentalist Magazine, full review “HERE”

The Antlers are one of my favorite new bands, and as usual, they didn’t disappoint. Frontman Peter Silberman somehow manages to simultaneously channel so much emotion while completely playing it cool, and shredding on guitar. His backing band of Michael Lerner and Darby Cicci are completely able, and together they, well to quote James above, sound so good.

- Dominick Mastrangelo, Brooklyn Vegan, Full Review HERE

Friday, July 23, 2010

By Nate Chinen, the New York Times

THE waters were placid, the breeze was a balm and the Statue of Liberty was keeping her vigil about a hundred yards aft. Maybe more, maybe less. From the rear deck of the Spirit of New York one recent evening, she seemed plenty close, anyway, and oddly approachable: an onshore well-wisher, watching over the slow pivot that marked the midpoint of our tour. By chance, this was the moment at which the music stopped, and a voice overrode the applause: “We’re going to skip ahead 27 albums and play something new for you.”

The Smooth Cruise in New York books some of the best-known performers in jazz, like Spyro Gyra, with Julio Fernandez, above.

A couple hit the dance floor as Spyro Gyra performed on a recent Smooth Cruise.

That was Jay Beckenstein, the saxophonist and leader of Spyro Gyra, making a segue from “Shaker Song,” which opens the band’s 1978 debut, into “Unspoken,” from an album released last year. We were aboard the Smooth Cruise, now in its 13th year, held each Wednesday through summer’s end by Spirit Cruises. Most passengers were inside with the band, closing in on a swatch of dance floor, but the sound was also being piped on deck, where I slouched at a rail. I was having a suspiciously good time.

Smooth jazz is all about pleasure, but I hadn’t expected much. It isn’t really my thing, this waxy, wine-lighted catchall genre — also known by niche-programming terms like urban contemporary, chill and, confusingly, contemporary jazz. Not that I’m inclined to moralize about it; for me, smooth jazz has always been less of an affront than an afterthought, like frozen TV dinners. My fallback strategy is avoidance. So any thoughts of boarding a Smooth Cruise stirred a mild trepidation, along with a milder enthusiasm.

The enthusiasm was almost conceptual, rooted in the elegance of the pairing. I mean, Smooth Cruise: the two words seem meant for each other. Both cruises and smooth jazz hold the promise of a passive indulgence, of kicking back and letting go.

Not surprisingly, the luxury cruise industry is on top of this, with big-ticket enticements like the Smooth Jazz Cruise, which pokes around the Caribbean in January, and Dave Koz & Friends at Sea, off the Alaskan coast in August. “The absolute finest in lifestyle entertainment,” pledges Mr. Koz, the saxophonist, in an online mission statement; his weeklong cruise features himself, along with the likes of Kirk Whalum and Mindi Abair.

A more modest experience is proffered by Spirit Cruises, and a lesser commitment is required. The Smooth Cruise in New York runs a brisk two hours; a pair of tickets for the “sunset” outing was $82.72, but taxes and fees bring them to just over $100. (A “moonlight” option, the equivalent of a second set, is the same price.) A dinner buffet and drinks are optional.

And the Smooth Cruise, organized by Smooth Jazz New York, a subsidiary of Marquee Concerts, doesn’t skimp on headliners. Next week’s cruise will feature Pieces of a Dream, a band whose track record runs nearly as far back as Spyro Gyra’s. Mr. Whalum will appear on Aug. 11, as one of the saxophonists in a popular Guitars and Saxes package; Ms. Abair, yet another saxophonist, is scheduled for Aug. 25. The Rippingtons will play the week in between on Aug. 18.

Not all of these artists luxuriate in their smoothness.

“We preceded smooth jazz by nearly a decade,” Mr. Beckenstein said by phone a couple of days after the cruise. “We came out of Weather Report and Miles Davis and the fusion movement. And smooth jazz, interestingly enough, was more of a radio format than it was a style of music. A whole generation of artists, especially after the success of Kenny G, was encouraged by record companies to chase the radio format. That’s not what we did. So no, I’ve never considered myself a smooth jazz artist.”

Still, he allowed, Spyro Gyra is booked on the Capital Jazz SuperCruise in October out of Miami, along with Mr. Whalum, George Duke and others.

A similar ambivalence has plagued the smooth jazz economy in recent years. It buckled significantly in 2008, when WQCD-FM, the New York beacon long branded as CD101.9, switched to a rock format, like many other smooth jazz stations across the country. The shift has prompted its share of reflection. Last month Kenny G himself released an album with guest turns by Babyface and Robin Thicke, tactically aligning himself with R&B. The keyboardist Brian Culbertson did much the same on an album released this week. (His guests include Kenny Lattimore and Brian McKnight.)

The Smooth Cruise — which often sells out its capacity of 600 each on two cruises a night — is a haven from these market calculations, even though CD101.9 was its title sponsor for years.

“When they changed format — well, that audience is still there,” said Bill Zafiros, CD101.9’s former event director, now a partner in Marquee Concerts. “So what we’re doing is serving that audience. And they’re very passionate about this music.”

My experience confirmed his claim: the base for this particular “lifestyle entertainment” is loyal and enthusiastic, as well as ethnically and demographically diverse. While awaiting boarding, at Pier 61 at Chelsea Piers, I encountered only repeat customers, like Cheryl Davis and her husband, Richard, of Brooklyn. They said they hardly missed a Smooth Cruise last summer, and had similar plans for this year. (Another discovery made in line: the Smooth Cruise is partly sponsored by The New York Times, for the second year in a row.)

There are three decks on the Spirit of New York, and during a Smooth Cruise, the second deck is where the musicians set up on the dance floor, along the ship’s port side. Seasoned cruisers either scored a spot within several feet of the musicians or made a beeline for the third deck, where a string of coveted tables overlooked the dance floor, as if along a horseshoe balcony.

Others headed straight to the buffet, though I can report that the food, at $19.23 a head (pretax was steam-tray grim, a defeated allotment of leathery prime rib, grayish salmon and congealed mac-and-cheese. Far better to make pre- or post-cruise restaurant reservations, thereby avoiding not only the buffet but also the need for a table.

Freedom to move about the ship is, after all, one thing that distinguishes the Smooth Cruise from a place like the Blue Note, where Spyro Gyra played a weeklong stand last year. Hence the leisurely Statue of Liberty sighting, and a later excursion to the windswept top deck, for a never-gets-old perusal of the Lower Manhattan skyline.

But that was me. Plenty of other patrons stayed put, listening raptly to the band. And as a long, flashy drum solo led inexorably toward the encore — ”Morning Dance,” a certifiable smooth-jazz classic, complete with synthesized steel drums — the dance floor got blissfully crowded, as in the final stretch of a good wedding reception. That glow had barely faded by the time we were back at Pier 61, steeling ourselves for the grit of summer pavement. No doubt some of us were already making plans for next time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/arts/music/23jazzcruise.html?_r=1&hpw