“...a swinging, sometimes quirky sense of time and creative expression.” – Jazz Police

Bryan Nichols©Andrea Canter

It did not take pianist Bryan Nichols long to establish his jazz credentials as a performer, composer or educator. Since completing a degree in Genetics at Iowa State University, Bryan has left hard science in the dust, spending four years on the Chicago jazz scene and a term with Betty Carter’s famed Jazz Ahead Program before returning to his native Twin Cities. Here, he’s earned grants for composition, taught at MacPhail Center for Music and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, played sideman to top regional artists, and led his own projects, including his double sax quintet. This holiday weekend, the quintet—with Mike Lewis and Brandon Wozniak on saxophones, James Buckley on bass and JT Bates on drums—returns to the Artists Quarter with “new music and old hits.”

Barry Harris © Andrea Canter

Piano legend and NEA Jazz Master Dr. Barry Harris will appear for a week at the Village Vanguard in New York on Tuesday, July 21st through Sunday, May 26th. Harris is part of an exceptional crew of Detroit-bred jazz musicians, including Tommy Flanagan and Donald Byrd, who rose through the extraordinary arts education program in the public school system during the 1930s and 1940s. Harris' earliest musical mentor was a church piano-playing mother who exposed him to piano lessons at age four. He became seriously immersed in jazz in the mid- 1940s and fell under the spell of Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, and Bud Powell. As a professional, he would become a key translator of Monk's music. Dr. Harris will be joined by his long standing rhythm section of Ray Drummond on bass and Leroy Williams on drums. 

Corey Wilkes © Andrea Canter

At 32 years of age, Corey Wilkes has established himself as one of the best creative improvising trumpeters in the modern era. Having the skill set and maturity to approach mainstream repertoire of jazz standards of someone twice his age, while concurrently having the ability to approach contemporary hip-hop from the perspective of an MC – designates Corey Wilkes as a global musical ambassador. Corey will appear with his CW5 at Andy's in Chicago on Friday, May 24th and Saturday, May 25th - before leaving town to perfaorm at the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival.

Dianne Reeves © Andrea Canter

Dianne Reeves is the pre-eminent female jazz vocalist in the world today. As a result of her virtuosity, improvisational prowess and unique jazz and R&B stylings, Reeves received the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for three consecutive recordings—a Grammy first in any vocal category. She will perform on Friday, May 24th through Sunday, May 27th at Miner Auditorium in the new SFJAZZ Center, which opened on MLK Day this year.



Don't Let A Good Thing Get Away

"I’ve always been drawn to great pairings of words and music—the kind that sound inevitable and conversational—and it has become my business to find these songs and sing them.” – Maud Hixson

In 2003, young vocalist Maud Hixson was named Best New Voice at the (Twin Cities) Hot Summer Jazz Festival. The recognition was prophetic. Only a couple years into her career at the time, Maud was on a steep trajectory, from her early love for songs of the 1930s and 40s while growing up in St. Louis Park, MN to gigs at Twin Cities clubs like the Times, Rossi’s and Dakota; from her duo Let’s Not Be Sensible with mentor Arne Fogel and intimate duo Love’s Refrain with husband/pianist Rick Carlson to the famed International Cabaret Conference at Yale in summer 2006. “Going to the Cabaret Conference and working with the people involved helped me zero in on what cabaret really is―presenting music for a listening crowd,” says Maud. And thus came the inspiration for her new, groundbreaking recording, Don’t Let A Good Thing Get Away, the first recording devoted to the songs of Michael (Mickey) Leonard.