News

Alumni Happenings

Aug 3– Aug 16, 2022

A recent piece in theguardian.com, Live from Emmet’s Place: inside New York’s most exclusive
jazz concert, noted that the weekly concert live-stream by the Emmet Cohen Trio, featuring
bassist Russell Hall (2010), has become “the most highly-watched regular online jazz show in
the world.” Read the piece here. Started at the onset of the pandemic, pianist Cohen and the
Trio are nearing the mark of 100 consecutive Monday evening online shows – most of them
from Cohen’s Harlem NY apartment – with thousands of viewers around the globe. You can
catch Hall with Cohen and drummer Joe Farnsworth backing vocalist Mary Stallings at a multi-
night gig at Smoke Jazz Club in NYC, August 11-14.

Ambrose Akinmusire (2000 trumpet) has been named winner of the 2022 Downbeat Critics Poll
for trumpet, and James Francies (2012 piano) has captured the Rising Star crown for keyboards.
Congratulations Ambrose and James!

Trumpeter Benny Benack III (2008) has a jam session gig at Smalls Jazz Club in NYC on August 3.
Then he has quartet performances August 5-6 at the Century Room in Tucson AZ, he’s at Dazzle
in Denver CO on August 10, and at the Telluride Jazz Festival on August 12 in Telluride CO,
where trumpeter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (2001) will also perform.

Saxophonist Greg Ward (1999) has two shows on two consecutive nights, August 5-6, with the
Billy Childs Electric Band at The Baked Potato in Studio City CA.

1997 piano alum Robert Glasper performs at the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival, in
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, on August 6. Glasper has collaborated with singer Masego for
a new song, “All Masks,” part of Glasper’s forthcoming (autumn) deluxe version of Black Radio
III; listen to the track here.

Baritone saxophone player Josh Stinton’s trio, which includes Jed Wilson (1998) on piano,
releases the album Adumbrations on August 6, coinciding with the trio’s release-party
performance at Blue, in Portland ME. Listen to “Adumbration Two” here.

Tia Fuller (1996 saxophone) performs at the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport MA on
August 6.

2013 trombone alum Jeffery Miller performs August 6-7 at The Ned Nomad in NYC.

Comedian Tim Heidecker’s Very Good Band, featuring Eliana Athayde (2007) on bass and
vocals, is still on tour and performs at the Boulder Theater in Boulder CO on August 9.
Jazz on the Green, at Turner Park in Omaha NE, features 1999 saxophone alum Lakecia
Benjamin on August 11.

Chad Lefkowitz-Brown (2007 saxophone) continues touring with trumpeter Chris Botti. They
appear at The Cabot in Beverly MA on August 12, at The Tupelo Music Hall in Derry NH on
August 13, and at The Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center in Westhampton Beach NY
on August 14.

2008 saxophone alum Grace Kelly performs during Twin Cities Saxophone Day on August 13 at
Schmitt Music, Brooklyn Center MN. Kelly has just been named to the Berklee College of
Music’s Board of Trustees, becoming the youngest (age 30) board member in Berklee’s history!

Another trumpet alum, Keyon Harrold (1997), is at the Montgomery Theater Stage on August
14 as part of the San Jose (CA) Jazz Summer Fest. Harrold has just been named the new host of
The Next Set: Live from Jazz St. Louis, the live weekly jazz show of St. Louis Public Radio and Jazz
St. Louis, airing on Friday and Sunday evenings on STLPR Radio.

Coleman Hughes (2012 trombone), with the Coleman Hughes Project, performs on August 14
at Dee’s Riverside Retreat in Grafton IL.

Drummer Evan Sherman (2009) and his big band present an outdoor Jazz on the Deck series
concert on August 15 at the Morris Museum in Morristown NJ.

Ambient jazz duo OHMA, consisting of multi-instrumentalist Mia Garcia and 2007 saxophone
alum Hailey Niswanger, announced its debut album Between All Things, scheduled for release
September 9. Listen to “Essence,” the first single from the record, co-written and co-composed
by Niswanger, who is also featured on singer-songwriter and guitarist Emily Elbert’s upcoming
album Woven Together, due out on August 19. Listen to “For Free,” the new single from that
album.

Bryan Carter (2007 drums) has released “Not Yet,” the second installment in a music video
trilogy. Watch it here (with Carter on vocals) and stay tuned for the final installment. Carter is a
member of the trio led by pianist Steven Feifke, which recently released The Role of the Rhythm
Section; listen to “Celia.”

Percussionist Carlos Nino’s new album, Extra Presence, features 2013 piano alum Jamael Dean;
check out the track “Actually.”

Bassist Harish Raghavan’s second album as a leader, In Tense, features 2014 saxophone alum
Morgan Guerin on woodwinds; listen to the title track.

Saxophonist BrandonLee Cierley’s new EP, Thank You for Waiting, features his saxophone
mentor Braxton Cook (2009); here he is on “Heartstrings.”

Gerald Clayton (2002) is on piano and keys on guitarist Anthony Wilson’s recently-released The
Plan of Paris; here he is on “Noontide.”