Ari Alexander – Vocals
Cecil Alexander – Guitar
Bass – TBA

Drums – TBA

Cecil Alexander is a Berklee College of Music-trained guitarist who has emerged as, in the words of one reviewer, “a bold, genre-fluid voice in modern jazz.” His playing moves fluidly between the tradition and the experimental, built on what’s been described as “lush harmony, deep groove, and melodic storytelling.” He’s a first-place winner of both the Wilson Center Jazz Guitar Competition and the Lee Ritenour Six String Theory Competition, and was a finalist at the Herbie Hancock Institute, credentials that reflect a player equally comfortable inside the standards and pushing past them.

Alexander’s collaborators read like a cross-section of where jazz guitar is headed: he’s shared the stage with Bill Charlap, Antonio Hart, and Nathan East, and has recently been touring with trumpeter Chief Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott), work that fuses “ancestral rhythm with electric improvisation.” His recent projects miles and miles and Lunette showcase his own compositional voice, one that resists easy categorization. For this show, he’s joined by vocalist Ari Alexander, his longtime musical partner, whose rhythmic post-bop phrasing and playful scat work (drawn from influences like Betty Carter, Dave Frishberg, and Blossom Dearie) make her one of the more distinctive voices in vocal jazz. The two have released the albums Duos and Kaleidoscope together, and their onstage chemistry has become a signature of their live shows.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.

A graduate of New York University with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Jazz Piano Performance, Joe Alterman has spent his career channeling the exuberant, deeply melodic spirit of swing-era jazz greats like Erroll Garner and Red Garland. He’s built genuine friendships and musical partnerships along the way with some of the music’s true legends, Ahmad Jamal called him “a very special artist,” Les McCann said he was “tiny but only in stature; as a man and musician, he is already a giant,” and Ramsey Lewis praised his playing as “a joy to behold.”

Alterman has performed at some of the most storied rooms in jazz, including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland, and the Blue Note, where he’s opened for Ramsey Lewis on numerous occasions. With eight critically acclaimed albums to his name, including his 2023 release Joe Alterman Plays Les McCann: Big Mo & Little Joe, he continues to build on a songbook rooted in tradition but entirely his own. DownBeat Magazine has called his playing “hard-swinging,” while the late journalist Nat Hentoff wrote that it “makes people smile, and if the room is right, dance.”

Expect a night of warm, infectious swing from a pianist who wears his love of the music on his sleeve.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.

Marvin Stamm – Flugelhorn

Mike Holober – Piano

Mike McGuirk – Bass

Dennis Mackrel – Drums

At 87 years old, Marvin Stamm remains one of the last living links to a golden era of jazz trumpet. Discovered by legendary bandleader Stan Kenton while attending North Texas State University, Stamm joined Kenton’s orchestra as principal jazz trumpet soloist in 1961, recording five albums with the band before touring the world with Woody Herman. He settled in New York in 1966 and quickly became a fixture of the city’s jazz scene, gaining wide recognition for his years with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and the Duke Pearson Big Band, along with stints performing alongside Frank Sinatra and the Benny Goodman Sextet.

For over two decades, Stamm was also one of New York’s most sought-after studio musicians, recording with an extraordinary range of artists including Bill Evans, Quincy Jones, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Stanley Turrentine, and George Benson. Since stepping away from the studio world in the late 1980s, he has devoted himself fully to jazz, performing with the likes of John Lewis’ American Jazz Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Band, and the Maria Schneider Orchestra. The New York Times has described his playing as “always boiling with intensity, color and passion,” a testament to an artist who, even now, continues to push his sound forward.

This is a rare opportunity to hear a genuine jazz elder statesman in an intimate setting, a living thread connecting today’s audiences to some of the most storied bandstands in the music’s history.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.

Avery Sharpe · Bass
Zaccai Curtis · Piano
Yoron Israel · Drums

Avery Sharpe is widely regarded as one of his generation’s most imaginative bassists, a distinction earned over a career that includes twenty years and more than 20 recordings as bassist for piano giant McCoy Tyner. McCoy Tyner himself, when asked to describe Sharpe in two words, chose “impeccable rhythm.” Beyond his work with Tyner, Sharpe has performed and recorded with Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Archie Shepp, and Pat Metheny, among many others, and has released more than a dozen albums as a leader on his own JKNM label, along with commissioned works for symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles.

Joining him is pianist Zaccai Curtis, winner of the 2025 GRAMMY Award for Best Latin Jazz Album for his recording Cubop Lives!. A Connecticut native who studied at Jackie McLean’s Artists Collective in Hartford, Curtis has performed and recorded with Eddie Palmieri, Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, and Cindy Blackman Santana, and, notably, has shared the stage with Sharpe himself in the past. On drums is Yoron Israel, Chair of Percussion at Berklee College of Music and a veteran of the bandstand who has performed with Sonny Rollins, Ahmad Jamal, Abbey Lincoln, and Joe Lovano, with more than 250 recordings to his credit as an accompanist.

Together, this is a trio of extraordinary depth and pedigree, three master musicians whose combined resumes touch nearly every major figure in modern jazz.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.

Adam Birnbaum · Piano
Peter Washington · Bass
Kenny Washington · Drums

Pianist Adam Birnbaum has spent over two decades establishing himself as one of the sharpest voices on the New York scene. A graduate of Juilliard’s inaugural jazz studies program, he’s performed at venues including the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, and Birdland, and his trio has opened for both Brad Mehldau and Herbie Hancock. His recent album Three of a Mind was hailed by the New York Times as “an eloquent dispatch from the heart of the contemporary piano trio tradition,” and he currently serves as Assistant Professor of Jazz at SUNY Purchase.

Joining him is a rhythm section with few equals in the music: bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington, no relation, but musical partners for nearly 40 years and counting. Best known as the longtime backbone of the Bill Charlap Trio, the pair have appeared together on more than 75 recordings and are widely regarded as one of the most telepathic bass-and-drum units in modern jazz. Their individual resumes read like a history of the music itself, with credits alongside Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Tommy Flanagan, and countless others.

Together, this trio promises a night of deep swing, sharp interplay, and the kind of chemistry that only comes from true mastery of the tradition.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.

Christopher McBride – Alto Saxophone

BIrsa Chatterjee – Tenor Saxophone

Steven Feifke – Piano

Adi Meyerson – Bass

Hans Schuman – Drums

Metta Quintet is the resident ensemble of JazzReach, one of the nation’s leading jazz education organizations, and for nearly three decades the group has built a reputation as one of the most consistently excellent bands in the music, not through a fixed lineup, but through a rotating roster of the scene’s most in-demand players. Founded by drummer Hans Schuman, the quintet has counted saxophonists Marcus Strickland, Greg Ward, and Wayne Escoffery, pianist Glenn Zaleski, and a long list of other first-call New York musicians among its ranks over the years, each bringing their own voice to a group defined less by personnel than by a shared musical philosophy.

The group is equally comfortable in two very different modes. On one hand, they’re dedicated to commissioning and performing brand new original works, having released critically acclaimed recordings inspired by everything from the short stories of James Baldwin to the sounds of the New York City subway. On the other, they’ve built celebrated multimedia “informance” programs paying tribute to giants like Miles Davis and John Coltrane, blending live performance with narration and projected visuals to bring jazz history vividly to life. That range, between the cutting edge and the canon, is part of what makes them such a compelling live act.

In service of JazzReach’s educational mission, Metta Quintet has toured tirelessly, bringing live jazz to more than 750,000 people across over 100 communities in 44 states, performing everywhere from major concert halls to intimate rooms like ours. Expect a tight, deeply rehearsed unit with the kind of chemistry that only comes from years of shared commitment to the music.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.

Leader / Trombone
Sean Nelson

Saxophones
Erik Elligers
Nigel Regan
Matt Parker
Josh Thomas
Matt Schmidt

Trumpets
Seth Bailey
Luke Wingfield
Luca Farina
Haneef Nelson

Trombones
Sean Nelson
Leroy Loomer
Vince Yanovitch
Wes Mayhew

Rhythm Section
Steven Feifke · Piano
Gianni Gardner · Guitar
Lou Bocciarelli · Bass
Nathan Lassell · Drums

Feifke made history in 2023 as the youngest musician ever to win the GRAMMY for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, a testament to his standing as one of the most in-demand big band composers of his generation. DownBeat Magazine has praised his music for its “infectious joy,” and named him to their “25 for the Future” class in 2024. Beyond the bandstand, Feifke’s writing has been featured on hit shows including The Masked Singer, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, and Impractical Jokers, and he’s collaborated with artists ranging from Wynton Marsalis to Christian McBride.

Expect a night of sharp, swinging big band arrangements and genuine musical chemistry as two of the scene’s most dynamic voices share the stage.