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Meet the Artists...
July 8, Champian Fulton
Born in Oklahoma, Champian Fulton has become a world class Jazz pianist and vocalist with international acclaim. This young woman from Oklahoma captivates audiences in New York’s finest Jazz rooms and in concert halls around the world. A mainstay on the vibrant New York Jazz scene, she has performed with musical royalty such as Lou Donaldson, Frank Wess, Eric Alexander, Buster Williams, and Louis Hayes. From New York to
Barcelona, Champian’s swinging style and charismatic performances have made her a guardian of the legacy of Jazz. Champian’s heroes include Bud Powell, Red Garland, Erroll Garner, Count Basie, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington. Recognized as a Rising Jazz Star by the Downbeat Magazine Critic’s Poll, Champian also received the “Female Jazz Vocalist Of the Year” at the 2017 Hot House Jazz Magazine Fans Decision Award Ceremony. Her “galvanizing presence” (The New Yorker) and her alluring musical presentation have made her “a charming young steward of the mainstream Jazz tradition” (The New York Times). Music education and community outreach is important to Champian, and her longstanding relationship with Jazz Arts Project’s youth programs is indicative of this. In addition to her many concert appearances at the organization's concert events and galas, Champian has served as instructor, mentor and clinician on the faculty for the Jazz Arts Academy, a year round music education program for high school students.
Champian will be joined this evening by her long term trio members
Hide Tanaka - bass, and Fukushi Tainaka - drums.
July 9, Charenee Wade
Charenee Wade is not one to hold back or let fear stand in her way. The first artist ever to enter two Thelonious Monk Vocal competitions, she walked away from the second one with instant buzz and second place to her new friend Cecilé McLorin Salvant. Now is the time for Wade’s star to rise. Known for expert vocal improvisational ability and her seriously swinging groove, Wade evokes a classic jazz sound akin to Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan, two of her musical touchstones. With her Motéma debut, Offering: The Music of Gil Scott-Heron and
Brian Jackson (June 23), she pays tribute to another inspiration, the socially conscious poet and musician Gil Scott-Heron, and confirms that she too plans to use her artist platform thoughtfully. A singer, composer, arranger and educator, Wade is a professor at the Aaron Copland School at Queens College and was just recently appointed to Peabody Institute. Following the Monk competition, she self-released Love Walked In, which earned her the NPR Song Travels feature. With Offering, Wade continues walking in love and using her art to raise our consciousness. Learn more about Charenee Wade here.
Charenee will be joined this evening by Oscar Perez on piano
(Bass and Drums to be announced)
July 10 "The Two and Only"
Aaron Weinstein & Matt Munisteri
Aaron Weinstein: Called “the Groucho of the violin” by Tony Bennett and “a perfect musician” by jazz guitar legend, Bucky Pizzarelli, Aaron Weinstein “is rapidly establishing himself as one of his instrument’s rare jazz masters.” (Don Heckman, International Review of Music). As a featured soloist, Aaron has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note, and abroad at jazz festivals in England, France, Switzerland, Iceland, and Israel. Aaron has performed and recorded with
an array of jazz icons including: Les Paul, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Dave Frishberg, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross as well as musicians as varied as New York Pops conductor, Skitch Henderson and rock guitarist, Jay Geils. He has written arrangements for vocalists including Christine Ebersole, Linda Lavin, and the Manhattan Transfer’s Janis Siegel. Additionally, Aaron is a respected mandolinist, widely regarded as one of the instrument’s leading exponents in the jazz idiom.
Learn more about Aaron Weinstein here.
Matt Munisteri: As the sparkling guitarist on several chart-topping jazz CDs; a critically lauded songwriter and nimble lyricist; an urban banjo-warrior and a sometime session musician; a selfless and devoted sideman; a wry-yet-honest singer; an engaging and winning front-man; and an arranger whose ear-pulling re-inventions of well-traveled songs have contributed to Grammy winning CDs for artists such as Loudon Wainwright and Catherine Russell, Matt’s various dueling career paths might at first seem difficult to reconcile. Additionally you’d be hard-pressed to find another Brooklyn native who grew up playing bluegrass banjo since he was in the single digits; who has recorded with artists as divergent as consummate jazz balladeer “Little” Jimmy Scott and 1980’s avante-noise godfather Glenn Branca; who is regarded as a contemporary master of 1920’s and ’30’s jazz styles, and is an ardent student of American folk traditions, but counts among his regular creative cohorts several musicians associated with the New York Downtown music world. Yet ultimately Matt’s journey through 20th century American music yields a vision which feels intrinsically whole, with his own music always serving as one-of-a-kind reflection of a life immersed in all the far-flung variants of American Popular Song.
July 11, Warren Vaché
with Eddie Monteiro & Vinnie Corrao
Warren Vaché is a supremely accomplished, versatile and rare performer who delights and astounds audiences all over the globe with his superb cornet, trumpet, and flugelhorn stylings. Through live performances and recordings, along with stage, screen, radio and television appearances, Warren conveys incredible warmth through his burnished tone and intelligent improvisations. With a style that has been described as "lyrical,
"daring," "warm," and "exciting," Warren Vaché has a delightful way of engaging and audience; leaving them enthralled with the beauty and joy of his playing, and the warmth of his vocals.
Warren is a true jazz veteran, highly respected in the industry and has performed and recorded with anybody who is anybody and then some, including such luminaries as: Benny Goodman, Rosemary Clooney, Benny Carter, Hank Jones, Gerry Mulligan, Woody Herman, Ruby Braff and Bobby Short to name but a few. The list is a virtual "Who's who" in Jazz, spanning every style in the history of the music. Pianist and composer Jim McNeely was heard to say: "Every chorus he plays is like a lesson in the history of the trumpet." In Vaché, jazz has found a creator whose prodigious, hard-earned skills enable him to craft swinging performances of beauty, emotion and surprise. Over the years Warren has been a frequent performer at our own Jazz Arts Project concerts and events.
Learn more about Warren Vaché here.
Accompanying Warren will be
"When you talk Vinnie Corrao, you're talking major-league jazz guitar," says Zan Stewart in the Newark Star Ledger. He has played with such greats as singer Ella Fitzgerald, organists Brother Jack McDuff and Charles Earland and none other than cornetist Warren Vache Jr. who says; "Vinnie is New Jersey's best-kept secret."
Growing up in a musical family (his father played mandolin and guitar, his mother the piano), Corrao became excited by the guitar at about 10 years old and has grown more attached as the years have passed. "When I play, it's a spiritual thing, like my soul is coming out," he said. "When I don't get in the way, I can make beautiful music."
Eddie Monteiro, is a NJ native who was the “youngest inductee into the Accordion Hall of Fame.” He is an internationally recognized musician and educator with more than 30 years of musical performance in classical, jazz, dance, theater, cabaret and choral ensembles. Eddie’s unique style blends jazz and Brazilian music. He uses a unique midi enabled instrument that he helped develop. This allows him to present a limitless array of sonorities along with the addition of a simultaneous vocalese, a technique that he
learned from the great Brazilian accordionist, Sivuca. Alongside Vache’s cornet we have a really special night of music in store.