Joe McCarthy – Leader/Drums

Alex Norris – Trumpet

Alejandro Aviles – Tenor Saxophone

Juanga Lakunza – Trombone

Zaccai Curtis – Piano

Luques Curtis – Bass

The Afro Bop Alliance is the intimate counterpart to the Latin Grammy Award-winning New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band — bringing the same world-class musicianship and genre-defying sound to a small group setting. Inspired by the trailblazing bebop innovation of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, the ensemble draws from the New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band’s acclaimed catalog while embracing the spontaneity, interplay, and immediacy that define the small group tradition.

Founded and led by drummer Joe McCarthy, the Afro Bop Alliance delivers a musical experience rooted in bebop and enriched by African, Afro-Caribbean, Brazilian, and global musical cultures. The result is something at once deeply personal and universally resonant — music that connects with audiences of all backgrounds and makes every performance an invitation into the living, breathing world of Afro-Latin jazz.

McCarthy’s connection to the Latin Grammy world is no accident. The New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band — the ensemble from which this group springs — has earned international recognition as one of the most exciting and culturally significant large jazz ensembles working today. In the intimate setting of The Side Door, that same spirit takes on a new dimension: closer, more conversational, and utterly alive.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.

Mark Zaleski is one of the most distinctive and versatile voices on the New England jazz scene — a Boston-based saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader whose music refuses to be neatly categorized. Growing up in Boylston, Massachusetts, he was shaped equally by the jazz of Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderley, and Oscar Peterson, and the rock and soul of Led Zeppelin, The Temptations, and Stevie Wonder — and those influences have never left him.

Zaleski became the first alto saxophonist selected to the prestigious Dave Brubeck Institute Fellowship Program in 2003, where he shared the stage with Brubeck himself at the Library of Congress and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Brubeck consistently encouraged him to “find his own voice” — and he has done exactly that. He went on to study with legendary educators Charlie Banacos and Jerry Bergonzi at the New England Conservatory of Music, and has since performed with Dave Brubeck, Christian McBride, Ian Anderson, Lake Street Dive, Louis Cole, the Grammy-winning 8-Bit Big Band, and Rakalam Bob Moses, among many others. He has been a featured soloist with the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra and the Chrysalis Rock Orchestra, and is currently on faculty at both Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory.

His most recent album, Our Time: Reimagining Dave Brubeck (Origin Records), presents strikingly fresh arrangements of Brubeck’s classic compositions with an edgy, modern flair — earning widespread critical praise and cementing Zaleski’s reputation as a bandleader of real imagination and depth. His brother, acclaimed pianist Glenn Zaleski, is a frequent collaborator and a familiar face to Side Door audiences.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.

Dave Stryker – Guitar

Troy Roberts – Tenor Saxophone

Jared Gold – Organ

Steve Johns – Drums

Whether you’ve heard guitarist Dave Stryker leading his own group or as a featured sideman with Stanley Turrentine, Jack McDuff, and many others, you know why the Village Voice calls him “one of the most distinctive guitarists to come along in recent years.” Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Stryker moved to New York City in 1980 and went on to spend a decade playing and recording with tenor saxophonist Stanley Turrentine — a period that defined his voice and established him as one of the most in-demand guitarists in jazz. He has since performed with Freddie Hubbard, James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy Heath, and Joe Lovano, among many others.

Stryker has released 37 CDs as a leader, with his last six all reaching #1 on the JazzWeek Radio chart. His most recent release, Stryker with Strings Goes to the Movies (2025), features him in front of a 30-piece studio orchestra and received four stars and an Editor’s Pick in DownBeat Magazine. He has been voted one of the top jazz guitarists in the DownBeat Critics and Readers Polls for the 15th time. Pat Metheny has said of him: “I have followed Dave Stryker’s playing since his early days in Omaha through his long stay with Stanley Turrentine… and he just gets better and better with one of the most joyous feels around.”

Joining him is tenor saxophonist Troy Roberts — one of the most compelling voices on the instrument working today — alongside organist Jared Gold and drummer Steve Johns, making for a hard-swinging, soulful evening of organ quartet jazz at its finest.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.

Loston Harris is a singular force in the world of jazz — a pianist whose playing has been described as “percussive” and “incredibly fluid,” and a vocalist whose delivery is unmistakably “suave.” His musical journey began with a chance encounter with Harry Connick Jr. at the First Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition in Washington, D.C., who led Harris to study with his own mentor, Ellis Marsalis — who promptly encouraged the young percussionist to switch to piano. The rest, as they say, is history.

Harris completed a remarkable 22-year residency at The Carlyle Hotel’s legendary Bemelmans Bar in New York City — a room that has hosted Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt, Elaine Stritch, and John Pizzarelli — cementing his place among the great keepers of the jazz and cabaret tradition. He has performed and toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, appeared on the PBS special “Portraits in Blue” with Marcus Roberts, and has been featured at celebrity events alongside John Mayer, Diana Krall, and Bette Midler. He was featured as himself in the 2005 film Little Manhattan, whose lead character calls him “the best singer in New York.” Most memorably, Sir Paul McCartney once sat in with him and sang “The Very Thought of You.”

Deeply rooted in the Great American Songbook, Harris blends traditional jazz, gospel, and blues with his own distinctive voice — bringing warmth, joy, and effortless swing to every room he plays. This is a rare opportunity to experience one of New York’s finest in an intimate setting.

The Side Door Jazz Club is a dedicated jazz listening room located inside the historic Old Lyme Inn, 85 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.

Joe Farnsworth – Drums

Eric Alexander – Tenor Saxophone

Medjé Owusu – Trumpet

Isaac Byrd – Piano

Peter Washington – Bass

Joe Farnsworth is one of the most highly regarded jazz drummers on the scene today — known for his blazing speed, precision, and deeply melodic playing. Born in South Hadley, Massachusetts into a musical family, Farnsworth studied with legendary educators Alan Dawson and Arthur Taylor before graduating from William Paterson College in New Jersey, where he first began playing alongside saxophonist Eric Alexander. Upon moving to New York City, he quickly became one of the most in-demand drummers on the scene, recording over 100 albums as a leader and sideman and performing with Pharaoh Sanders, Horace Silver, Harold Mabern, McCoy Tyner, Cedar Walton, Diana Krall, Benny Golson, George Coleman, Johnny Griffin, Lou Donaldson, Barry Harris, and Curtis Fuller, among many others. He is a founding member of the celebrated One for All Quintet and leads his own Prime Time Band at Dizzy’s, Smalls, and Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in New York City.

Joining him as featured soloist is tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander — one of the most celebrated and distinctive voices on the instrument working today. Born in Galesburg, Illinois, Alexander also studied at William Paterson College under Harold Mabern, Joe Lovano, and Rufus Reid, and placed second in the 1991 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition behind Joshua Redman. Boasting a warm, finely burnished tone and a robust melodic and harmonic imagination deeply rooted in the bebop tradition, Alexander has released over 36 albums as a leader and is a core member of the One for All Quintet.

Together, Farnsworth and Alexander bring a lifetime of musical partnership to The Side Door — joined by an exceptional supporting cast for what promises to be an extraordinary night of straight-ahead 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. Tickets are reserved seating. Guests dining at the Old Lyme Inn prior to the show receive 10% off their dinner bill.