Jazz Haven

Greater New Haven's Community Resource for Jazz since 1996

Greater New Haven's community
resource for Jazz since 1996!

Ricky Ford Quartet

By

Join us for a special night of jazz with Saxophonist Ricky Ford and his Quartet!
Friday, December 12, 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm.

The Side Door, 85 Lyme St, Old Lyme, CT 06371

Ricky Ford – Tenor Saxophone

John Kordalweski – Piano

Tony Marino – Bass

Thurman Barker – Drums

American jazz saxophonist Ricky Ford has played alongside Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Lionel Hampton, Benny Golson…

Ricky Ford, Jazz Tenor saxophonist, was born in Boston March 4th, 1954. He studied saxophone at the New England Conservatory of Music with Joe Allard from 1970 to 1974. Bachelor in Music 83. In 1974 he recorded with Gunther Schuller. Perfomed with Sonny Rollins (1973) at The Jazz Workshop Boston. Ricky joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra under Mercer Ellington from 1974 to 1976. Charles Mingus (1976-1977), Dannie Richmond (1978-1981), Lionel Hampton (1981), Mingus Dinasty (1982), Abdullah Ibrahim 1985. He has recorded extensively as a leader for MUSE, Candid and jazz Friends.

His discography is extensive having recorded with nearly every one in jazz Sonny Stitt, Red Rodney, Mc Coy Tyner, Steve Lacy, Ran Blake, Pete Laroca, Rhoda Scott, Dannie Richmond, Benny Golson, Gerry Mulligan, Nat Adderly Joe Williams, Mal Waldron, Yusef Latif and Betty Carter. Ricky also helped discover various musicians on his cds for Muse records Wallace Rooney, Roy Hargove, Christian Mc Bride, Danilo Perez, and Jeff Kezzer, Ricky has held academic affiliations with Brandeis University Masters in Music Composition (1989) and Istanbul Bilgi University (2000 to 2006). He is credited with being one of important teacher to many saxophonists in Turkey today.

In 1991 he received the medal of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Ricky recorded two CDs with the ZE BIGBAND based in Rennes. He commissioned Benny Golson for a composition in Big Band format. They performed together on mezzo tv in 2014.

Ricky Ford has participated in numerous film : Choclate (1988) and No Fear No Die (1990). Ricky Ford Encore is a mid-career documentary by Lionel Boncompagnie.

Christian Sands Trio

By

Christian Sands Trio

By The Side Door Jazz Club

Grammy NomiNee

“Embracing Dawn”

Jazz history is filled with stirring torch songs and ballads — brilliant expressions of suffering after love has gone awry. The jazz record shelf even contains some classic album-long explorations of melancholy. But it’s hard to find precedent in pianist Christian Sands’ new Embracing Dawn, his fifth full-length effort for Mack Avenue Records.

Sands’ LP is nothing less than a cinematic narration of the stages of grief, crafted by one of jazz’s finest young composers. It’s a “breakup record,” to be sure — composed while Sands was experiencing the hurt that only a sudden absence of love can deliver — but it’s so much more. In its thoughtfully assembled nine tracks are a group therapy session, a guide to healing, and an understanding that Sands’ deeply personal angst could apply to any person who has lost a partner, a job, a loved one, an opportunity, the list goes on. In other words, Embracing Dawn is for everyone.

“I actually tried not to write this record,” Sands says with a laugh. “It was painful. I was going through heartbreak, and I didn’t know what to do — and so I decided to put it all into music. But I knew I wasn’t alone in this feeling. So why not create a safe space for people to go when they’re having this feeling, when they’re having these thoughts or questions?”

Embracing Dawn trails 2023’s acclaimed Christmas Stories and 2020’s GRAMMY-nominated Be Water. Following that album’s release, the New York Times commented, “Equipped with a crisp but forceful touch, he seems always to be flowing in new directions, integrating elements of prog rock, gospel and Western classical into a forward-tumbling jazz conception.” Embracing Dawn furthers Sands’ uniquely cultivated jazz language, where agile post-bop meets soulful bluesy tinges and gorgeous swells of strings. Sands’ love of classical orchestration, he explains, is rooted in his lifelong obsession with film.

Ultimately, Sands’ sound and philosophy are informed by two of his most essential mentors: bass maestro Christian McBride, who, as Sands’ longtime employer, taught him the importance of always being yourself; and the late piano legend Dr. Billy Taylor, who stressed how crucial it is to connect jazz to a wide-ranging audience. “I want Embracing Dawn to be something you gravitate toward because of the story,” Sands says

Christian Sands Trio

By

Christian Sands Trio

By The Side Door Jazz Club

Grammy NomiNee

“Embracing Dawn”

Jazz history is filled with stirring torch songs and ballads — brilliant expressions of suffering after love has gone awry. The jazz record shelf even contains some classic album-long explorations of melancholy. But it’s hard to find precedent in pianist Christian Sands’ new Embracing Dawn, his fifth full-length effort for Mack Avenue Records.

Sands’ LP is nothing less than a cinematic narration of the stages of grief, crafted by one of jazz’s finest young composers. It’s a “breakup record,” to be sure — composed while Sands was experiencing the hurt that only a sudden absence of love can deliver — but it’s so much more. In its thoughtfully assembled nine tracks are a group therapy session, a guide to healing, and an understanding that Sands’ deeply personal angst could apply to any person who has lost a partner, a job, a loved one, an opportunity, the list goes on. In other words, Embracing Dawn is for everyone.

“I actually tried not to write this record,” Sands says with a laugh. “It was painful. I was going through heartbreak, and I didn’t know what to do — and so I decided to put it all into music. But I knew I wasn’t alone in this feeling. So why not create a safe space for people to go when they’re having this feeling, when they’re having these thoughts or questions?”

Embracing Dawn trails 2023’s acclaimed Christmas Stories and 2020’s GRAMMY-nominated Be Water. Following that album’s release, the New York Times commented, “Equipped with a crisp but forceful touch, he seems always to be flowing in new directions, integrating elements of prog rock, gospel and Western classical into a forward-tumbling jazz conception.” Embracing Dawn furthers Sands’ uniquely cultivated jazz language, where agile post-bop meets soulful bluesy tinges and gorgeous swells of strings. Sands’ love of classical orchestration, he explains, is rooted in his lifelong obsession with film.

Ultimately, Sands’ sound and philosophy are informed by two of his most essential mentors: bass maestro Christian McBride, who, as Sands’ longtime employer, taught him the importance of always being yourself; and the late piano legend Dr. Billy Taylor, who stressed how crucial it is to connect jazz to a wide-ranging audience. “I want Embracing Dawn to be something you gravitate toward because of the story,” Sands says

Mike Clark Quartet

By

Mike Clark Quartet

By The Side Door Jazz Club
Join us for a special night of jazz with Drummer Mike Clark and his Quartet!

Craig Handy – Saxophone

Mike LeDonne – Piano

Nat Reeves – Bass

Mike Clark – Drums

MIKE CLARK gained worldwide recognition as one of America’s foremost jazz and funk drummers while playing with Herbie Hancock’s group in the early 1970s. Mike became known as a major innovator through his incisive playing on Hancock’s Thrust album, which garnered him an international cult following.

Mike has performed with jazz greats such as Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Woody Shaw, Larry Coryell, Jack Wilkins, Wallace Roney, Geri Allen, Billy Childs, James Genus, Bob Hurst, Chris Potter, Onaje Allan Gumbs, Bobby McFerrin, Al Jarreau, Dave Liebman, Nat Adderly, Oscar Brown Jr., Bill Doggett, Mose Allison, Maxine Brown, Gil Evans and his orchestra, and did a stint with Brand X, the acclaimed British fusion band, founded by Phil Collins. He has performed throughout the world at all the major jazz venues and festivals.

Featured in Downbeat, Musician, International Musician & Recording World, Modern Drummer, Jazz Times, Guitar Player, Jazz Is and numerous jazz history and method books, Mike is a former faculty member of Drummers Collective, and is a popular and busy clinician around the country. His book Funk Drumming: Innovative Grooves & Advanced Concepts was published last year by Hal Leonard and is a best seller.

Called “the most sampled drummer in hip hop,” Mike’s beats have been used on tracks by musicians as diverse as NWA, Grandmaster Flash, Britney Spears, Prince and many others.

His numerous recording credits include albums with Herbie Hancock, the Headhunters, Brand X, Eddie Henderson, Jack Wilkins, Mark Puricelli, Mike Wolff, and Alien Army, a group led by guitar great Jack Wilkins. As a bandleader, his release Give The Drummer Some was very enthusiastically received, earning a rare four and a half stars in Downbeat, as was The Funk Stops Here, a joint effort with Hancock alumni Paul Jackson. In 2001, his solo CD, Actual Proof met with critical acclaim, as did the 2003 acoustic jazz release, Summertime, featuring Chris Potter and Billy Childs, which spent many weeks in the top ten charts.

Other efforts included a compilation of his legendary, innovative funk beat samples, Mike Clark’s The Headhunter, a re-release of the widely acclaimed Thrust album, and, in 1998, The Return Of The Headhunters, featuring Herbie Hancock. Next came Herbie Hancock’s Box Set, featuring Headhunters classics “Actual Proof” and “Butterfly,” from Thrust, a few choice cuts from Manchild, and also some historical tracks from the classic Flood, previously only available in Japan. The Headhunters’ newest effort, Evolution/Revolution, released in 2003, featured the latest Headhunter configuration, with original founding members Mike, Bill Summers and Paul Jackson, joined by Donald Harrison, Victor Atkins (Los Hombres Caliente), and Nicholas Payton.

Of his latest endeavor, a recording as a bandleader with Christian MacBride, Donald Harrison, Patrice Rushen, Jed Levy and Christian Scott, produced by Talking House Productions, Mike said it promises to be “some of the most exciting music I’ve ever been involved with.” He’s also featured on Mike Wolff’s latest recording Love And Destruction, and just got out of the studio with country blues legend Delbert McClinton.

His band Prescription Renewal, which debuted in the winter of 2000, electrified audiences across the country with an eclectic core of cross generational multi talents such as Charlie Hunter, Fred Wesley, Skerik, Robert Walter, and DJ Logic, and always featured stellar special guests such as George Porter Jr. of Funky Meters’ fame, Kyle Hollingsworth of String Cheese Incident, Les Claypool, Will Bernard, Larry Goldings and fellow Headhunters alumni, Bill Summers, and proved a hit on the thriving young jam band scene. Touring concurrently that year and the next was the Roots Funk All Stars, another hot ad hoc association that married Mike with James Brown trombonist Fred Wesley, former Headhunter cohort and funk bassist legend Paul Jackson, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Robben Ford. In 2004 he teamed up for a series of gigs with fellow drumming legend Lenny White in a two drummer powerhouse band called New Brew featuring music inspired by Miles Davis’ landmark recording Bitches Brew.

Mike is currently busy touring with his own Prescription Organ Trio / Duo, featuring Jerry Z, doing clinics and performing at clubs and concerts nationwide. He’s also a regular in pianist Mike Wolff’s band, Impure Thoughts and continues to do Headhunters’ projects around the world. Mike just returned from the annual PASIC convention in Austin, TX where he performed with fellow drummer Jim Payne to an enthusiastic full house. In 2007, he has tours booked throughout Europe, South America, South Africa and Russia.

Mike’s work continues to influence successive generations of drummers since his explosive arrival on the music scene with Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters.

  • Doors at 7:15 PM

The Side Door

85 Lyme St

Old Lyme, CT 06371

Steve Davis Quintet Featuring Abena Koomson-Davis

By

Steve Davis Quintet Featuring Abena Koomson-Davis

By The Side Door Jazz Club
Join us for a special night of jazz with Trombonist Steve Davis and his Quintet!

Steve Davis – Trombone

Abena Koomson-Davis – Vocals

Rick Germanson – Piano

Matt Dwonszyk – Bass

Jonathan Barber – Drums

Steve Davis “Stevie-D” nickname given to him by the late Jackie McLean

Born in Worcester, MA in 1967, Davis was raised in Binghamton, NY and graduated in 1989 from Hartt School’s Jackie McLean Institute. It was with McLean’s guidance and recommendation that Davis landed his first major performance with Art Blakey in NYC. In 98’ Steve winning the TDWR (Rising Star) Trombone Category and later named consecutively as Trombonist of the Year by The JJA – (2010-2013). Widely regarded as one of today’s leading voices on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition. Steve has released 20 albums including: Think Ahead (2017), Say When (2015), For Real & Gettin’ It Done (2014) featuring his longtime musical colleagues Larry Willis and Nat Reeves along with drummer Billy Williams, saxophonists Abraham Burton (For Real), Mike DiRubbo and trumpeter Josh Bruneau (Gettin’ It Done), in addition to over 100 recordings with names including: Chick Corea, Freddie Hubbard, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones. In 2018 his original composition “Optimism” was included in Christian McBride’s Grammy Award winning album “Bringin’ it”. Steve Davis’ latest release with his sextet “Correlations” (label: Smoke Sessions Records) Steve features Joshua Bruneau, trumpet; Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone; Xavier Davis, piano; Dexron Dougles, bass; Johnathan Barber, drums; Caro Baptista, percussion on “Batista Revenge”.

He leads his groups All-Star quartet Larry Willis (Alone Together/Mapleshade 2006) and his exciting, Outlook Quintet featuring rising stars Mike DiRubbo (alto sax), David Bryant (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass) and Eric McPherson (drums) regularly performing at Smoke and Smalls Jazz Club (NYC); The Greater Hartford Jazz Festival, Baltimore’s Eubie Blake Center, The Richmond Jazz Society, Hartford Jazz Society.

Steve performs internationally with Dizzy Gillespie’s All-Stars, Jimmy Heath, Ron Carter. Chick Corea & My Spanish Heart Band, Origin, he has appeared at The Jimmy Fallon with Steve Wonder, at the White House Tribute to Ray Charles (PBS) and records with the collective unit One For All (Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth), Larry Willis, Harold Malberen.Widely regarded as one of today’s leading voices on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition.

 

  • Doors at 7:15 PM

85 Lyme St

Old Lyme, CT 06371

Donald Vega Sextet

By

Donald Vega Sextet

By The Side Door Jazz Club
Join us for a special night of jazz with Pianist Donald Vega and his Sextet!

Donald Vega – Piano

David DeJesus – Alto Saxophone

Brandon Lee – Trumpet

Raul Reyes – Bass

Carlos “Carly” Maldonado – Percussion

Jerome Jennings – Drums

Grammy®-nominated pianist and composer Donald Vega brings his new project, Legacy, to the stage — celebrating the power of mentorship and the timeless ways communities pass stories and traditions from one generation to the next. Funded in part by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant, Legacy is music in conversation with time itself: swinging tunes, Latin grooves, and unforgettable melodies that honor jazz’s living tradition while reaching for the future. Experience an evening of storytelling through sound with one of today’s most compelling jazz voices.

Bio:

Grammy® nominated artist Donald Vega is a luminary on the piano and unites audiences around the world through his melodic storytelling and the transformative power of music. Vega was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2023 for composition, and through the generous support of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation completed and released his album As I Travel, which earned a Grammy® nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Donald Vega was trained classically in piano in his native Nicaragua. He emigrated to the United States at age 14 and found a musical home with the Colburn School of Performing Arts (CSPA). He began his studies there in classical piano with Teresa de Jong Pombo and Dr. Louise Lepley. Vega began learning the language of jazz from mentor Billy Higgins at The World Stage and continued at CSPA with Jeffrey Lavner, then later with bassist John Clayton at the University of Southern California. During his time in Los Angeles Donald was mentored by and performed with the celebrated conguero Francisco Aguabella as well as notable bassist Al McKibbon. He went on to graduate from Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School where he studied with piano great Kenny Barron, Phil Markowitz and Gary Dial.

Vega currently performs internationally as the pianist for world renowned bassist Ron Carter with whom he has recorded several albums. Mr. Vega is also a professor at The Juilliard School and Hofstra University and sits on the board of BackCountry Jazz, a non-profit organization which provides music education programs and performances to underprivileged youth.

Vega’s debut album, Tomorrows, was released in 2008 to rave reviews. In his sophomore album, Spiritual Nature (Resonance Records, 2012), he was joined by the regal rhythm tandem of bassist Christian McBride and drummer Lewis Nash. Vega teamed up again with Lewis Nash on his third album, With Respect to Monty, (Resonance Records, 2015) along with Hassan Shakur, the great bassist and former Monty Alexander band member, and long-time friend and grammy nominated artist, Anthony Wilson on guitar. Donald recently released his latest album, As I Travel, with Lewis Nash on drums and John Patitucci on bass and featuring Luisito Quintero on percussion. Downbeat called it a “recording with high-caliber vision and carefully crafted compositions…” and All About Jazz called it a “captivating musical memoir”.

 

  • Doors at 7:15 PM

The Side Door

85 Lyme St

Old Lyme, CT 06371

How do you want to get there?

Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra: Harry James Tribute Featuring Joshua Kauffman

By

Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra: Harry James Tribute Featuring Joshua Kauffman

By The Side Door Jazz Club
The Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra returns to the Side Door as part of their monthly residency with guest trumpeter: Joshua Kauffman

Special Guest:

James Kauffman – Trumpet

Saxes

Erik Elligers
Tyler Wilkins
Matt Parker
Josh Thomas
Matt Schmidt

Trombones
Sean Nelson
Leroy Loomer
Vince Yanovitch
Wes Mayhew

Trumpets
Don Clough
Renee McGee
Luke Wingfield
Haneef Nelson

Rhythm
Jen Allen – piano
Gianni Gardner – guitar
Lou Bocciarelli – bass
Nathan Lassell – drums

Joshua Kauffman has deep ties to the music of Harry James. After befriending and playing trumpet for Harry James, Jr, at his home in Texas, he was gifted many items from the estate, including several of Harry’s trumpets and music manuscripts. Joshua has a deep love and reverence for the music of Harry James, and this is evident in his expert performance of this historically important music.Joshua Kauffman, an in-demand performer and educator in the Washington Metropolitan area, can be seen and heard at major venues like The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Capitol One Arena and Blues Alley. He teaches regularly at The National Jazz Workshop and is frequently seen as a guest artist and clinician with colleges and schools throughout the US.

Equally at home in the jazz and classical idioms, Joshua has had the opportunity to share the stage with Doc Severinsen, Hugh Jackman, Randy Brecker, Bobby McFerrin, Arturo Sandoval, Franki Valli and the Four Seasons, Sean Jones, Stefon Harris, Luis Enrique, The Big Apple Circus, Eddie Daniels, Wycliffe Gordon, Alan Baylock, Dennis Mackrel and many others.

He also travels around the United States to perform swing music for national and international events, like The International Lindy Hop Championships, DC Lindy Exchange, Beantown Camp as well as other swing music and dancing events and competitions.

Originally from New Castle, PA, Joshua attended the University of North Texas where he played in the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band from 2014-2017, where he held both the solo and lead trumpet chairs. While in the One O’Clock Lab Band, he performed at the inaugural concert of Cancer Blows, Monterey Jazz Festival and traveled to Australia to perform at the Generations in Jazz Festival with famed multi-instrumentalist, James Morrison. He graduated in 2017 magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in jazz studies.

Days before graduation, Joshua auditioned and won a position with The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own”, where he holds the first trumpet chair of The U.S. Army Blues, the premiere jazz ensemble of The United States Army.

Joshua has had many great teachers and mentors in his life including Allen Vizzutti, Jay Saunders, Paul Stephens, John Holt, Rodney Booth, Mike Steinel, Dr. Stephen Hawk and others.

Joshua is a Yamaha Performing Artist and exclusively plays GR Mouthpieces.The Sean Nelson Jazz Orchestra is a “full bodied and polished brassy big band” (Jazz Weekly) made up of 17 of the finest musicians in New England. Formed in 2016 as the New London Big Band, for the past nine years they have played monthly for sold out crowds at the Social Bar + Kitchen in New London CT. The band has performed all over the country, including the Kennedy Center (Washington DC), the Birdland Jazz Club (NYC), Monks Jazz Club (Austin TX), and Hallowed Halls (Portland OR). The band has released three albums, the most recent of which, “Don’t Stop Now: the lost music of Thad Jones for Harry James,” reached #29 on the jazz radio charts.

The band’s sound is rooted in the Kansas City swing of Count Basie, “swinging high, hard, and hot” (All About Jazz.) “Nelson…has assembled a youthful, sharp, hip 17-piece ensemble as dedicated as he is to the belief that big band sounds can provide a fine musical experience — one best served up live, where the groove and excitement of the arrangements and instrumental interplay can energize and pack a dance floor across generations.” (The Day of New London)

Sean Nelson is the leader and founder of the band. By day, he is enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard, where he plays trombone with the Coast Guard Band’s concert band and jazz ensembles, serves as staff arranger, and is music director for the Guardians Big Band.

Nelson was music director and arranger for the 2024 National Christmas Tree Lighting with the Coast Guard’s Guardians Big Band, creating over 500 pages of arrangements. This was performed in front of the White House and seen nationally on CBS. Sean was one of two composers that co-created the official song of the Space Force, Semper Supra, which is now part of every Armed Forces Medley. He also composed the official song for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officer corps (one of the eight federal uniformed services). He has won the National Band Association Young Composers Jazz Composition Contest and is a two­ time winner of Downbeat Magazine’s jazz arranging award. He currently works as the arranger for Sam Houston State University Bearkat Marching Band. Sean’s big band arrangements are published at iJazzmusic.com.

A native of Dallas, Texas, Sean received a Bachelor of Music degree from Sam Houston State University and a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas. While at North Texas, he was trombonist and composer for the One O’Clock Lab Band and sang with the Jazz Singers I. Sean’s trombone quartet won the International Trombone Association Quartet Contest. He spent his summers and winter breaks playing in house bands on cruise ships for Princess Cruises and Cunard Cruises.

Sean lives in Quaker Hill, Connecticut, with his wife Megan and children Lucinda, Giles, McCoy, and Cab.

Sean is a performing artist for S.E. Shires trombones and Denis Wick mouthpieces and mutes.

 

  • Doors at 7:00 PM

The Side Door, 85 Lyme St, Old Lyme, CT 06371

Steve Nelson Quartet

By

Steve Nelson Quartet

By The Side Door Jazz Club

Steve Nelson – Vibraphone

Rick Germanson – Piano

Kiyoshi Kitagawa – Bass

Charles Goold – Drums

Steve Nelson is an acclaimed American jazz vibraphonist and marimba player, widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent modernist performers on the instrument for his inventive, fluidly harmonic, and chromatic approach.

Introduced to the vibraphone in high school by his teacher George A. Monroe—a steelworker by day and a gifted vibraphonist in the Milt Jackson tradition—Nelson also received early instruction in piano and jazz fundamentals from Monroe, to whom he later dedicated the track “Blues for George A.” on his album Full Nelson. He began his professional career in Pittsburgh, quickly progressing to gigs with guitar legend Grant Green after a recommendation from local musician Jerry Byrd.

Nelson earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Rutgers University, studying in the renowned Jazz Studies program under pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Ted Dunbar. His debut recording was on James Spaulding’s Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington (1983), followed by collaborations in the early 1980s with Barron, David “Fathead” Newman, Bobby Watson, and the George Shearing big band.

Throughout his career, Nelson has been the vibraphonist of choice for jazz icons, including long-term partnerships with pianist Kenny Barron, saxophonist Jackie McLean, drummer Lewis Nash, pianist James Williams, bassist Curtis Lundy, and pianist Mulgrew Miller’s Wingspan Sextet. Since the 1990s, he has been a core member of bassist Dave Holland’s Quintet and Big Band, contributing to decades of composing, performing, and touring.

As a leader, Nelson has released albums such as Live at Acireale (Red Records), Full Nelson (Sunnyside), and Communications (Criss Cross), showcasing his personal voice on vibes. In 2025, he earned a Grammy nomination for his work on Barron’s quintet album Beyond This Place, praised as “one of the best career efforts of the number one vibes player of his generation.”

In addition to performing worldwide, Nelson serves as an educator, teaching jazz ensemble at Montclair State University and mentoring young vibraphonists, as featured in the 2023 short documentary Sparni.

Doors at 7:15 PM

The Side Door, 85 Lyme St, Old Lyme, CT 06371

Steve Nelson Quartet

By

Steve Nelson Quartet

By The Side Door Jazz Club

Steve Nelson – Vibraphone

Rick Germanson – Piano

Kiyoshi Kitagawa – Bass

Charles Goold – Drums

Steve Nelson is an acclaimed American jazz vibraphonist and marimba player, widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent modernist performers on the instrument for his inventive, fluidly harmonic, and chromatic approach.

Introduced to the vibraphone in high school by his teacher George A. Monroe—a steelworker by day and a gifted vibraphonist in the Milt Jackson tradition—Nelson also received early instruction in piano and jazz fundamentals from Monroe, to whom he later dedicated the track “Blues for George A.” on his album Full Nelson. He began his professional career in Pittsburgh, quickly progressing to gigs with guitar legend Grant Green after a recommendation from local musician Jerry Byrd.

Nelson earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from Rutgers University, studying in the renowned Jazz Studies program under pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Larry Ridley, and drummer Ted Dunbar. His debut recording was on James Spaulding’s Plays the Legacy of Duke Ellington (1983), followed by collaborations in the early 1980s with Barron, David “Fathead” Newman, Bobby Watson, and the George Shearing big band.

Throughout his career, Nelson has been the vibraphonist of choice for jazz icons, including long-term partnerships with pianist Kenny Barron, saxophonist Jackie McLean, drummer Lewis Nash, pianist James Williams, bassist Curtis Lundy, and pianist Mulgrew Miller’s Wingspan Sextet. Since the 1990s, he has been a core member of bassist Dave Holland’s Quintet and Big Band, contributing to decades of composing, performing, and touring.

As a leader, Nelson has released albums such as Live at Acireale (Red Records), Full Nelson (Sunnyside), and Communications (Criss Cross), showcasing his personal voice on vibes. In 2025, he earned a Grammy nomination for his work on Barron’s quintet album Beyond This Place, praised as “one of the best career efforts of the number one vibes player of his generation.”

In addition to performing worldwide, Nelson serves as an educator, teaching jazz ensemble at Montclair State University and mentoring young vibraphonists, as featured in the 2023 short documentary Sparni.

Doors at 7:15 PM

The Side Door, 85 Lyme St, Old Lyme, CT 06371

Alexander Claffy Quintet “The Music of Cole Porter”

By

Alexander Claffy Quintet “The Music of Cole Porter”

By The Side Door Jazz Club

Join us for a special night of jazz with Bassist Alexander Claffy and his Quintet performing the music of Cole Porter!

Eric Alexander – Saxophone

Matthew Rotker Lynn – Guitar

Adam Birnbaum – Piano

Alexander Claffy – Bass

Adam Arruda – Drums

From birth, Alexander Claffy was raised in a musical household (his father is a pianist, his mother, a vocalist), and had many of his earliest lessons on bandstands in the heart of Philadelphia. As a teenager, Claffy was fortunate enough to find a mentor in many Philly natives, and has continued his study of the double bass with some of the world’s finest musicians, including Ron Carter, Dwayne Burno and Orin O’Brien. Since moving to New York City in 2011, he has had the honor of working with many of his living heroes, including Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Harold Mabern, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Christian Scott, Joey Alexander, Wallace Roney and many more. In the past 3 years he has recorded for the Verve, HighNote, Positone, RopeADope and LaReserve record labels.

Musicians

A big THANK YOU to all the amazing musicians who performed during Jazz Week in New Haven's Restaurants, Bars & Venues.

Gig Submission

If you would like to submit a gig for our calendar, please click here and fill out the form. Please do not submit gigs more than three months in advance.

Get In Touch

Jazz Haven, Inc.
P.O. Box 3011
New Haven, CT 06515
info@jazzhaven.org