Randy Weston © Andrea Canter

NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston has spent most of his career combining the rich music of the African continent with the African-American tradition of jazz, mixing rhythms and melodies into a hybrid musical stew. . A living jazz legend, Weston was most recently honored with the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame - Living Legend Award, 2009. Randy Weston's African Rhythms will return to Dizzy's where they recorded Storyteller in 2010 [click here for a Jazz Police review] on Wednesday, August 5th through Sunday, August 5th. The ensemble includes Randy Weston on piano, Alex Blake on bass; Neil Clarke on percussion, TK Blue on alto saxophone and flute, and Lewis Nash on drums. IF you can't make it to Dizzy's. the August 2nd performance will be braodcast live on jalc.org/live at 9:30pm EST.

Barry Harris © Andrea Canter

Piano legend and NEA Jazz Master Dr. Barry Harris will appear for two weeks at the Village Vanguard in New York on Tuesday, July 17th through Sunday, July 29th. 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.