Jazz Festival

Matthew Whitaker’s musical journey began at age three with a keyboard gift from his grandfather. He is now a celebrated artist, captivating audiences globally and appearing on notable television shows like Showtime at the Apollo, The Today Show, Ellen, and a feature on 60 Minutes. 

Whitaker is a versatile artist; he produced, scored, and starred in the All-Arts Emmy-nominated documentary About Tomorrow, and he scored the film Starkeisha, which is currently streaming on Hulu. He also appeared in and contributed music to the Emmy-winning Apple TV commercial The Greatest. Whitaker made his director debut for the award-winning musical Billy Strayhorn: Something to Live For, on the life of pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn, which premiered in Pittsburgh, PA in 2023. Whitaker has appeared as guest soloist with Aspen Chamber Symphony, under the baton of guest conductor, Marin Alsop, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, CN, under Alexander Shelley. He also composed a song for the 82-piece Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra, in Sofia, Bulgaria, which was included in the documentary About Tomorrow. 

Whitaker believes that music connects us all and that every child should have access to music education. Beyond music, he advocates for persons with disabilities, consulting with companies to improve accessibility features. 

He is a three-time ASCAP Foundation Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award winner, with three studio albums as a leader: Outta The Box, Now Hear This, and Connections. His fourth recording, On Their Shoulders: An Organ Tribute, an homage to some of Whitaker’s heroes on the instrument, will debut in early Summer 2024. He has collaborated with industry greats like bassist, composer, and producer Derrick Hodge; pianist, composer, and musical director Ray Chew; pianist, multiple Grammy-winning composer, vocalist, and band leader Jon Batiste; Grammy-winning bassist Christian McBride; and NEA Jazz Master, violinist Regina Carter. 

To learn more about Matthew Whitaker, please visit his website.  

Since coming of age in the nurturing environment of a very musical family and a distinguished bloodline of drummers, New Orleans native Herlin Riley emerged from that most creative era of all things rhythmic in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, to enliven the ensembles of such influential and demanding improvisers as pianist Ahmad Jamal and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis through his commanding yet elegant rhythmic presence.

His authoritative style of melodic percussion is deeply imbued in the fertile creative soil of the Crescent City, encompassing as it does the entire length and breadth of America’s ongoing musical journey.

“He’s one of the last of his kind, and by that I mean, directly connected to the origins of improvisational American music. You can hear the ancestry in his playing… You can’t help but feel it.” –Dave Torkanowsky, New Orleans Pianist

Learn more about Herlin Riley in this NPR article.

Is it fair to call Julius Rodriguez and the community of young artists he works with jazz’s new vanguard? The 23-year-old musician does not bristle at that four-letter word the way many of his colleagues who practice great Black American Music do. Having studied jazz since childhood, attending its prominent youth programs and learning institutions while developing a playing dexterity and a composer’s ear for its blues-, spirituals-, and ballad-related cornerstones, Julius recognizes jazz’s cultural value and the processes that further its prestige as America’s classical music. But what becomes abundantly apparent from listening to Let Sound Tell All, Rodriguez’s debut album, is that, schooled though he may be in jazz’s conventions, Julius doesn’t believe in the limitations by which jazz’s guardians have come to define it.

When you hear Julius Rodriguez play “the music,” as he calls it, it’s a modern Sound, as fluent in history as it is aware of its contemporary context. His music dares to imagine a future of new standards and sonic excitement. This vanguard was raised in an atmosphere where pop and hip-hop and dance influenced their approaches to melody and harmony and rhythm, so of course it is part of their improvisational DNA. And that’s what Julius Rodriguez’s Sound tells to whoever will choose to listen.

On some level, this open-mindedness has been a part of Julius Rodriguez’s approach for much of his young life. Even creative eclecticism must have its seeds, and Julius’ were planted via interest from Audrey McCallum, a historic figure at Baltimore’s Peabody Conservatory (she was the first African-American student at its preparatory high school in the ’50s) and a beloved music teacher at Charm City’s public schools. McCallum was also friends with the Rodriguez family, and it was upon her recommendation that young Julius began taking classical piano lessons at age three, developing a strong music-theory foundation. This instruction was put to action at the Greenburgh, NY church that the Rodriguez family attended, which was where Julius would play all manner of keyboards (including the organ) and drums from a young age.

As Julius was revealing a deep musical aptitude, his father, Adlher, a jazz fan attuned to legends like Coltrane and Monk and contemporaries like Earl Klugh and Stanley Jordan, became deeply involved in his son’s musical education — going so far as shepherding his then-11-year-old son to a 1:00am jam session at Greenwich Village’s famed Smalls club, upon discovering that Jeremy Manasia, Julius’ soon-to-be piano instructor at Manhattan School of Music’s youth program, would be performing there. (Julius says he wore a gray hoodie and played Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train,” and adds “that was my song!”). It was also the beginning of the younger Rodriguez’s love for jazz clubs, which he’s been haunting regularly ever since.

High school at the progressive Masters School in Dobbs Ferry was augmented with time spent at such lauded music programs as MSM’s and Berklee’s, and that of the YoungArts Foundation, while also playing youth recitals and gigs. It’s in this milieux that Julius first found himself around inspirational young musicians, like bassist Darryl Johns (who appears on Let Sound Tell All), and saxophonist Isaiah Barr (whose group Onyx Collective has been instrumental in Rodriguez’s evolving musical mindset). He wound up at Juilliard with other members of the generational vanguard — Julius’ roommates in his first Manhattan apartment were his current bass player Philip Norris, pianist Isaiah Thompson and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins — but left the school’s strictly tradition-minded program in 2018.

Thinking about his music’s progress in retrospect, Rodriguez remembers “a perfect backhanded compliment” from drummer Terri Lynne Carrington during a five-week stint at Berklee’s summer program, that proved crucial: “She said, ‘When we played that last tune, for a minute there, it sounded like Art Blakey came down from heaven.’ But then she added, ‘That’s not all there is — you can’t get tied up in the tradition.’ It made me consider what I was focusing on, and what I was maybe leaving out. That’s the moment I think about to this day: you can’t get tied up in tradition, you gotta expand.”

In some ways, this expansion was as ever-present as his orthodox music education. Alongside jazz, Stevie Wonder and the Beatles were omnipresent on the Rodriguez family stereo; and as Julius omnivored the Internet for musical discoveries, he heard jazz pianists like Jacky Terrason and The Bad Plus’ Ethan Iverson spin their own version of contemporary repertoire, pop and otherwise. When Julius was in his early teens he went to New York’s Governors Ball festival with friends, an event that he says “kind of changed my life. I was used to jazz concerts, things that don’t normally happen on a large scale. So to see musicians playing in front of so many people who were excited to be there, that flipped the switch like, ‘Maybe I should look into these other kinds of music.” He started listening to James Blake, Sampha and Solange; and at the Masters School, began participating in an annual concert students would produce by recreating a classic album, learning everything about Michael Jackson’s Thriller and U2’s Joshua Tree. His jazz professors also encouraged him to stretch out, as when Manasia introduced him to Shuggie Otis.

Rodriguez was always playing with singer-songwriters and other musicians outside his youth jazz circles. When he got to Juilliard, he began playing with music students from other New York universities; and with his old friend Isaiah Barr’s Onyx Collective, whose Lower East Side reputation as a young group equally comfortable with indie-rock and hip-hop, with standards and rare grooves, made fans of downtown jazzers like Roy Nathanson and Marc Ribot, but also A$AP Rocky. (The platinum rapper hired them as his band on a 2018 tour, which made Rodriguez take a semester off of Juilliard and precipitated his leaving school). By early 2019, the breadth and nous of Julius’ work pointed towards eclecticism: he played organ for Me’shell Ndegeocello and the hip-hop production duo Brasstracks; piano on Carmen Lundy’s Grammy-nominated vocals album, Modern Ancestors; contributed to recordings by other vanguard non-traditionalists such as Morgan Guerin and Kassa Overall; and led his own jazz group in clubs around town. Additionally, his working musician acumen was getting sharper. Even within the jazz community, he’d recognize how clubs and their patrons differentiated the music: “I observed how to play these spaces. You don’t go to all these places for the same kind of thing. I would play into that, see what I liked and didn’t like about it. Then my writing and music evolved and developed as I played in different spaces with different musicians.”

The more Rodriguez saw admired colleagues like Ndgeocello, Jon Batiste, saxophonist Braxton Cook, and singer-songwriter Gabriel Garzón-Montano embrace a variety of musical spaces, the more Carrington’s call for expansiveness made sense for the music he wanted to make. The earliest band recordings on Let Sound Tell All date back to 2017 — and all of them were completed by February 2019. At the time, Rodriguez says, the idea was to “document the group, the experimentation, and the aspirations we were coming up with at the live shows, because there was a certain energy.” But in the ensuing year, as Julius’ excitement of capturing the group’s sound in a studio evolved into a desire to create an interesting record — made practical once the pandemic arrived in 2020 and the idea of gathering in a recording studio was no longer feasible — those original tapes became framework for a different kind of study. One that took on the many different musical lessons and directions that had excited Julius much of his life. With the help of producer/engineer Drew ofthe Drew, who would add a studio-based post-producer/sonic alchemist’s ear, a wonderful set of songs began to take shape. At times, Let Sound Tell All harkens to the small-group classic jazz that was locus to much of Julius’ upbringing; at others, it sounds contemporary and sleek as all get-out.

The opening “Blues at the Barn,” originally released as a single in 2020, was a perfect encapsulation of how both ideas could live together. An upbeat piano-trio traditional that has been a group live favorite, it opens the album with crowd applause that sounds like it was very specifically lifted from an older live jazz recording in front of a sizable audience; upright bassist Norris tugs at the strings in a “let’s start now” fashion, Rodriguez bangs out the theme, and drummer Joe Saylor joins in. On the recording, the whole band passes through one of Drew’s filters, and comes out the other side crisp and swinging. The song’s traditionalism is given spotlight by the production process, but also gets modernized before the listener’s very ears.

The bones of “Gift of the Moon” were among the album’s earliest tapes; Rodriguez calls it “the first song I wrote that wasn’t a traditional jazz song, since there’s no solo section.” He struggled for years trying to figure out what to do with it, until in 2019 he asked trumpeter Giveton Gelin to solo over the existing recording. Rodriguez couldn’t pick any of Gelin’s three takes, “so I used all of them at the same time, and it turned into what it is now,” a trick he picked up from George Martin and his youthful idolization of The Beatles’ studio hacks — as well as from Roy Hargrove’s recordings where the late trumpeter would play with himself. The addition of Julius’ synth parts and a wordless vocal from Onyx compadre Nick Hakim created a stunning instrumental miniature.

Ideas for some of Sound‘s songs, on the other hand, were years in the making. Or at least its collaborative relationships were. Mariah Cameron, who sings the cover of Stevie Wonder’s “All I Do,” is an “old friend from back home in White Plains.” The song’s arrangement is not a flip of the take Stevie did on 1980’s Hotter Than July, but its original Motown version recorded by Tammi Terrell in 1966. No wonder then that for bass Julius brought on Ben Wolfe, one of his Juilliard professors who once played with Wynton Marsalis and the Harry Connick Jr. Orchestra (“When Harry Met Sally [soundtrack] is a desert island disc for me,” he says). The song’s old-school swinging backbeat is all the better for it.

And the downtempo “Where Grace Abounds,” allows Rodriguez to engage his profound spiritual side, a kind of duet between Rodriguez on electric piano and Hammond B-3 organ — before Gelin’s trumpet and Hakim’s voice arrive as late-in-the-song punctuations. For Julius, it is one of the album’s most self-reflective compositions, “a song I wrote at a time where I felt like I wasn’t being the best version of myself yet, and still a lot of great things were happening to me. So it’s me being grateful for being in the situation I’m in, even though I felt like I didn’t deserve it.” Drew ofthe Drew and Jon Castelli mix it into a ghostly, gospel-like wonder.

Taken together, Let Sound Tell All is a singular expression of the in-betweens that materialize in today’s musical spaces. For Julius and the vanguard, it’s less a digital dissolution of genres we often read about, than a thoughtful realignment of tradition by a generation who hears disparate things fitting together in a way their elders can not. They aren’t sure what to call it, or where it fits, but they know it’s important for the world to hear it and to have it.

“My music is improvisation based…but it’s influenced by a lot of other things too,” Julius says when asked that, if not jazz, what should we call his sound. “At one point I was calling it ‘jazz pop songs’ — it’s simpler melodies, shorter songs, shorter arrangements, but we were still soloing and playing jazz language over it. It’s just music that I write, influenced by all the things going on around me. Contemporary instrumental music. But it’s funny when you say something like that, people assume you’re gonna play some weird out/neoclassical [stuff]. No, you can improvise some simple things that people can sing back and dance through too. That’s what I wanna do. I feel like that’s one of the reasons why we don’t have a lot of instrumentalists in pop culture and at the forefront, because people just aren’t doing it.”

Equally at home in an orchestra or a jazz club, Boston-based harpist Charles Overton aims to create a musical environment that is accessible, exciting, and resonates deeply with audiences.  

Originally from Richmond, VA, he began his musical journey with formative experiences with the American Youth Harp Ensemble and the Interlochen Arts Academy before moving to Boston in 2012 to expand his musical horizons at the Berklee College of Music.  During his studies he became immersed in the world of jazz and improvised music, owing much of his outlook on music to lessons from the renowned artist-faculty of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

Overton performs frequently with the Boston Symphony as both a second and substitute harpist, and highlights in chamber music include concerts with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia, and several summers performing at the Yellow Barn Summer Music Festival.  An avid jazz musician, he performs regularly in venues across the northeast as a band leader and internationally in collaboration with such artists as Shabaka Hutchings, Ganavya Doraiswamy, and Esperanza Spalding 

Overton serves on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

With an unparalleled style of rhythmic expression, drummer Willie Jones III is one of the world’s leading jazz drummers. In addition to honoring his monumental influences – the late greats Philly Joe Jones, Art Blakey and Billy Higgins – Jones’ bold articulation and constantly innovative sense of swing are results of his life-long musical experience.

Born in Los Angeles, California on June 8, 1968, Jones’ earliest exposure to music was through his father, Willie Jones II, an accomplished and notable jazz pianist, who offered guidance and inspiration to his gifted son. Dedicated to the further development of his skills, the younger Jones spent the next few years working diligently with acclaimed drummers and music instructors and began performing with distinguished musicians by the time he was in his teens. He completed his academic training after receiving a full scholarship to the California Institute of the Arts where he studied under the tutelage of the legendary Albert “Tootie” Heath. Before he was a semifinalist in the 1992 Thelonious Monk Jazz Drum Competition, Jones co-founded jazz band Black Note. Influenced by the rich soulful energy of the West Coast bop movement, Black Note’s hard-swing sound propelled them to first place in the prestigious John Coltrane Young Artist Competition in 1991. Jones contributed his skillfulness as both musician and producer on all four Black Note recordings: 43rd & Degnan and L.A. Underground (World Stage Records), Jungle Music (Columbia) and Nothin’ But the Swing (Impulse!). By 1994, the band had toured Europe and across the U.S. and was the opening act for Wynton Marsalis.

Near the end of 1994, while Jones was reaching for a higher level of drumming dexterity, he gained the privilege of playing sideman to the renowned vibist Milt Jackson, where Jones learned the importance of pacing and sensitivity. Meanwhile, his musical career continued to unfold. From 1995 through 1998, he was a member of Arturo Sandoval’s band and is featured on Sandoval’s GRAMMY® award winning release Hot House (N2K). Subsequently, Jones recorded with Horace Silver on Jazz Has a Sense of Humor (Impulse!).

From 1998-2005, Jones was a member of Roy Hargrove’s Quintet and is featured on Roy Hargrove’s CD releases on Verve: Moment To Moment, Hard Groove, Nothing Serious and RH Factor’s Distractions. Jones can be heard on a host of recordings including Kurt Elling’s GRAMMY® nominated Night Moves (Concord) and Eric Reed’s Here (Max Jazz). Jones has worked with Sonny Rollins, Ernestine Anderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Wynton Marsalis, Cedar Walton, Frank Wess, the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, Houston Person, Billy Childs, Eric Reed, Ryan Kisor, Eric Alexander, Bill Charlap, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock and Hank Jones. In 2000, Jones’ released his debut CD, Vol 1…Straight Swingin’ on his own label, WJ3 Records. He continues to reveal his proficiency as a composer as well as a producer on Vol II…Don’t Knock The Swing (2002); Volume III (2007); WE 2 (2008), a trombone and piano recording featuring Wycliffe Gordon and Eric Reed; and Jones’ latest release The Next Phase (2010).

Bruce Harris is an exceptional musician and trumpet player who fearlessly explores the boundaries of contemporary music within the legendary jazz scene of New York City. With a deep-rooted appreciation for tradition and a penchant for innovative ideas, Harris effortlessly juggles multiple roles as a musician, trumpeter, curator, mentor, and educator.

A Bronx native, he spent his formative years in the thriving musical landscape of 1980s New York City. Growing up amidst the epicenter of the Hip-hop era, he was also exposed to the echoes of the influential Be-bop era, which holds a significant place in the city’s musical heritage. Surrounded by music at all times, Harris sought a means of self-expression and found it in the trumpet. At the age of 12, he began emulating and absorbing the works of his inspirations, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Marvin Gaye, and Prince.

During his high school years, Harris’s talent earned him a remarkable opportunity to perform alongside the renowned trumpeter, educator, and musical historian Wynton Marsalis through the “Essentially Ellington” jazz band competition. This experience further fueled his passion for music. Harris pursued his education in jazz performance by studying under the tutelage of trumpet virtuoso Jon Faddis at the Conservatory of Music in SUNY Purchase College, where he successfully obtained both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree.

Bruce Harris, as a performer, has established a professional career defined by his contagious joy, unwavering passion, and youthful energy. He has honed his skills and delighted audiences in some of New York’s most prestigious music venues and jazz clubs, including Smalls, Smoke Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club, Ginny’s Supper Club, Minton’s, and Rockwood Music Hall. Harris’s talents have also graced national television, with appearances on CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. In addition, he has showcased his abilities in two Broadway productions: After Midnight (2013) and Shuffle Along (2016).

Throughout his career, Harris has had the privilege of sharing the stage with an illustrious roster of legendary performers and artists. This includes memorable collaborations with Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Billy Taylor, The Count Basie Orchestra, Barry Harris, Roy Hargrove, Tony Bennett, Fantasia Barrino, Patti Labelle, Audra McDonald, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Steve Martin, Seth MacFarlane, Prairie Home Companion, Harry Connick Jr., and many more.

As an accomplished recording artist, Bruce Harris has showcased his talent and leadership on two albums to date. His debut album, “Beginnings,” was released under the Posi-tone label. Additionally, Harris contributed his musical prowess to the album “Soundview,” which was released under the labels Cellar Live and La Reverse Records. In 2022, Harris co-led an album alongside saxophonist Grant Stewart titled “The Lighting of The Lamp,” also released under Cellar Live or La Reverse Records.

These albums feature an impressive lineup of collaborative musicians, including Sullivan Fortner, Samara Joy, David Wong, Aaron Kimmel, Clovis Nicholas, Jerry Weldon, Michael Weiss, and others. Harris’s musical journey has led him to sign with Equitone Records, and he is currently working on a tribute album dedicated to his mentor, Barry Harris. The tribute album is expected to be released in the fall in collaboration with Ehud Asherie, marking Harris’s third solo project. 

Currently, Bruce Harris continues to be a prominent figure in the vibrant music scene of New York City. Alongside his global tours as a freelance trumpet player and bandleader, he is eagerly looking forward to his upcoming performance at the renowned Newport Jazz Festival, where he will pay homage to the legendary Louis Armstrong. As he gets ready for the grand event, Harris diligently practices on his trusted Lotus Trumpets, grateful for his endorsement with the esteemed brand.

Ekep Nkwelle, a 24-year-old Cameroonian-American jazz vocalist, has carved her musical path from the vibrant streets of Washington, DC, to the heart of New York City’s jazz scene. Her journey through the esteemed Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Howard University, and The Juilliard School has been extraordinary.

The power of her voice has resonated with jazz luminaries such as Russell Malone, Cyrus Chestnut, and Peter Washington, along with young stars like Emmet Cohen and Endea Owens, leading to countless collaborations. Her performances have graced iconic venues nationwide, from the illustrious Radio City Music Hall, where she shared the stage with classical virtuoso Lang Lang in collaboration with Disney, to The Library of Congress, Blues Alley, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and The Strathmore. Her presence has also illuminated major festivals, including Newport, Montclair, Hudson, and DC jazz festivals.

The year 2023 marked a pinnacle in Ekep’s career as she was honored with the prestigious Juilliard Career Advancement Grant, a testament to her artistry and character, nominated by none other than jazz master trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. This recognition followed her enchanting performance on NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” showcasing her unique arrangement of Geri Allen’s “Timeless Portraits & Dreams” in 2022. Continuing her ascent, Ekep collaborated with the illustrious 3x GRAMMY and Tony award-winner Dee Dee Bridgewater during the fourth year of her exclusive, all-women artistic residency, The Woodshed Network.

As one of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s newest rising stars, Ekep Nkwelle is poised to shape the future of jazz. With a burning passion for music, her artistry knows no bounds as she endeavors to share her soulful melodies with audiences worldwide.

Rachel Therrien is a trumpet and flugelhorn player, composer and music producer working between New York City and Montreal. She is considered one of the most promising jazz musicians of her generation (Downbeat, All About Jazz, Radio-Canada). Recognized for her personal touch and her many influences of traditional jazz, afro-latin and global music, Rachel has a world class reputation, versatile and innovator. 

Rachel Therrien has won several competitions and nominations, to name a few: JUNOS nominations (2021 – VENA + 2023 – Ostara Project) “Best Jazz Album”, ADISQ nominations (2021 – VENA + 2022 – Music Producer for Noé Lira’s Latiendo la Tierra), GRAMMY AWARDS nomination (2022 – Virtual Birdland, Arturo O’farrill “Best Latin Jazz Album”), the 2015 TD Grand Prize of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the 2016 Stingray Rising Star Award, a nomination for the 2018 Independent Music Award in New York for “Best Jazz Album Producer” and the LOJIQ award at the 2018 Bourse RIDEAU to help develop her career in France.

Rachel Therrien has now produced 6 albums under her name and many more to come. The most recent, MI HOGAR  (February 10th 2023, Outside In Music), a respectfully Latin Jazz album recorded in New York City, Montreal and Toronto with about 20+ musicians. The previous one, VENA, recorded in Paris in May 2019 with her Europeen Quartet with whom she tours Europe since 2017 was launched in the spring of 2020 under the French etiquette Bonsaï Music and wins 2 nominations for Jazz Album of the Year at the ADISQ and JUNO Awards as well as 4 stars at Downbeat. With her Montreal Quintet, Therrien produced 3 albums under the labels Multiple Chord Music (CA), and Truth Revolution Records (USA) including Why Don’t You Try (2017), winner of a critique in the Downbeat Editor’s Pick. In 2016, Rachel launches a first ethnomusicology research project with the world album Pensamiento: Proyecto Columbia (2016), recorded with 13 musicians in Bogota, Colombia. She is now working on her 6th album, this time purely Latin Jazz with about 20 special guests. This last project was recorded in Montreal, Toronto and New York in January 2022. The impressive press kit of Rachel Therrien includes a Grammy nomination as a side woman of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and gratifying critics from many recognized news outlets (Le Devoir, La Presse, All About Jazz, New York Hot House, Downbeat, Latin Jazz Corner, …)

Carrying her project solo since 2009, Rachel Therrien performed her music in many festivals, theater and jazz clubs throughout the Americas, Europe and the Caribbean. To name just a few, special guest at the International Jazz Day in Odessa, Ukraine, the renowned French Festival Juan Les Pins Jazz Jazz Festival, Kremenchuk Jazz Festival in Ukraine, Polanco Jazz Festival in Mexico City, Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba, Lula World Festival in Toronto, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola and 55 Bar in New York, Andy’s Jazz Club in Chicago, B-Flat Berlin in Germany, Gode Jazz in Valencia, Spain as well as most of the Canadian Jazz Festivals. She gave masterclasses in Marciac, France, as well as at the North Carolina University and was invited in 2022 to participate at the International Trumpet Guild, a staple for trumpetists around the world. To see the list of all concerts: http://racheltherrien.com/past-shows/

Rachel obtained her first cycle Jazz diploma at Université de Montréal, an artistic management certificate, a music certificate from Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba and participated in 2012 at the Banff Center Jazz and Creative Music workshop where she met Dave Douglas and Vijay Iyer. Rachel also worked with many mentors including Ron DiLauro, Elpidio Chappotin, Laurie Frink, John McNeil, Jonathan Finlayson, Clarence Penn, Ralph Alessi and many more.

The talented trumpetist also performed alongside many renowned jazz and world artists: Tony Allen, the Grammy winner Arturo O’Farrill & Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, Ostara Project, Roberto Fonseca, Michel Legrand, Pen Peplowski, Pedrito Martinez, Claudio Roditi, Ingrid Jensen, Anat Cohen, Miggy Augmented Orchestra, Darcy James Argue & Secret Society, Mariachi Flor de toloache, Yacouba Sissoko, Benito Gonzalez, Irving Acao, Tabou Combo, Skah Shah, Orchestre Septentrional d’Haïti, Klimax, Orquesta Anacaona, to name just a few. She also worked a few times for the Quebec T.V. show Belle et Bum where she accompanied big names including Alex Nevsky, Mara Tremblay, Daniel Boucher, Lisa Leblanc, Joseph Edgar, Marie-Josée Lord and the American folk singer Joseph Arthur.

Finally, Rachel Therrien plays a key role in the Montreal Jazz scene by promoting it and opening its borders as well as by being an example for emerging musicians and working for the community. In 2013, she founded the “Montreal Jazz Composers Series” that led more than 200 American and Canadian composers to perform their original music and to work together for an audience of old and young during the Montreal International Jazz Festival. She believes that jazz is “a philosophy of conversation between musicians of different backgrounds through improvisation, and as musicians, our mission is to work for the prosperity of the genre through ensuring that our generation of non-musicians is able to live and appreciate this language”.

Rachel Therrien is a Schilke Artist.

Vitor Gonçalves is a pianist, accordionist, composer and arranger from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After an illustrious career as an in demand musician in Brazil, playing with such icons as Hermeto Pascoal, Maria Bethânia, Itiberê Zwarg, and many others, he made the move to New York City, where he currently resides.

Since arriving here in 2012, he has garnered much acclaim and built a star lighted resumé, including features in NPR’s Jazz Night in America, hosted by Christian McBride and The New York Times as a guest of the renowned Spok Frevo Orquestra. A frequent resident on the stages of Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Jazz Standard, and the Jazz Gallery, he both leads his own projects, and collaborates with figures in the New York scene such as Anat Cohen, Vinícius Cantuária, Anthony Wilson, Cyro Baptista, and Yotam Silberstein.

He also has played in Jazz Festivals and venues around the world, such as Newport Jazz, Jazz à Vienne, Umbria Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, and the Coliseum in Lisbon, Portugal.

Vitor moved to New York in 2012 to deepen his pursuit of Jazz and its connection with Brazilian music, and to explore the diverse musical melting pot that is New York City. It is here that he began leading his own group and forming new collectives, while pursuing a Masters Degree at City College. In 2017 he released his debut album on Sunnyside Records, Vitor Gonçalves Quartet, featuring Dan Weiss (drums), Thomas Morgan (bass), and Todd Neufeld (guitar). The album was reviewed with 4 and half stars at Downbeat jazz magazine.

Other groups he co-leads are “SanfoNYa Brasileira”, an accordion trio with Eduardo Belo on bass and Vanderlei Pereira on drums, and “Regional de NY”, one of the biggest representatives of Choro music (a rich Brazilian genre) in the USA. Both groups released an original album, the former with Steve Wilson as a guest and the latter with Fred Hersch.

He got two nominations for the Grammy Awards 2020, for Best Latin Jazz album with Thalma de Freitas and for Best Large Jazz Ensemble with Anat Cohen Tentet.

Brazilian percussionist and educator Rogério Boccato plays/recorded in projects led by some of today’s leading jazz artists, among them Maria Schneider, John Patitucci, Fred Hersch, Brian Blade, Kurt Elling, Danilo Perez, Renee Rosnes, and many others. He has also collaborated with top-ranking Brazilian artists, such as Toninho Horta, Moacir Santos, Zé Renato and Vinicius Cantuária.

He is featured on three Grammy-award winning albums: Kurt Elling & Danilo Perez‘s “Secrets Are The Best Stories“, “The Thompson Fields”, with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, and on Billy Childs’  “Rebirth”. He is also featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, among them: Kenny Garrett’s “Beyond The Wall”, John Patitucci‘s “Remembrance“ (alongside Joe Lovano and Brian Blade), and on Alan Ferber’s “Jigsaw“.

As a longtime member of the “Orquestra Jazz Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo”, Rogério Boccato has played with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Hermeto Pascoal, Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti, João Bosco, Joe Zawinul, among many others.

Rogério Boccato has been a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music , NYU and of the Percussion department of The Hartt School (University of Hartford) teaching Brazilian Music and Ritmica.

Lolivone de la Rosa (born July 7, 1993) is a guitarist, composer, producer and educator from Puerto Rico.

Since relocating to New York City in 2021, she has rapidly ascended in the city’s jazz scene, performing at prestigious venues and jazz clubs such as The Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland Jazz Club, Minetta Lane Theatre, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Gallery, Bar Bayeux, Ornithology Jazz Club and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). She has also headlined jazz festivals such as the Montclair Jazz Festival, Cola Jazz Fest (South Carolina) and the Washington Heights Jazz Fest (New York City).

De la Rosa has shared the stage with notable artists including Nona Hendryx (Labelle), Paquito D’ Rivera, Terri Lyne Carrington and Jeff “Tain” Watts. Her two-year residency at Casa Mezcal NYC showcased her talent for curating musical experiences with renowned collaborators including Akiko Tsuruga, Pat Bianchi, John Benítez, Edsel Gómez, Pablo Menares and many more.

Focusing on her original compositions, de la Rosa leads an organ quartet featuring organist Brian Charette and tenor saxophonist Ned Goold. She has premiered her works at esteemed venues like the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.

Since 2021, de la Rosa has held the guitar chair in the Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) blues workshop band, directed by Seton Hawkins. She collaborates with numerous artists, including Willerm Delisfort, Roxy Coss and Goussy Celestine. Additionally, she has traveled to Chicago, Connecticut and Washington, DC to represent the JALC in its on-the-road educational program.

De la Rosa attended Berklee College of Music (’21) on a full-tuition scholarship. She is also an accomplished educator, having taught guitar fretboard harmony at Berklee College of Music and music theory at New York University’s Tisch School of Arts. She has been invited to conduct masterclasses on jazz guitar, improvisation and rhythm section at institutions worldwide including the Puerto Rico Music Conservatory, Binghamton University and JAZZUV (México). Additionally, she is a member of the faculty at Jazz House Kids in NYC, where Christian McBride is the Artistic Director.

De la Rosa’s talent for arts management was highlighted in her role as program manager of Next Jazz Legacy, a program supporting emerging women artists in jazz under the Artistic Directorship of NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington. This initiative, with major funding from the Mellon Foundation, aims to provide opportunities and support for underrepresented voices in the jazz community.

With a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, de la Rosa brings a unique perspective to her music career, blending her passion for both creativity and sustainability. Her contributions to the jazz community, both as a performer and an advocate, continue to shape the genre’s future.

Selected credits include:

2024: Guitarist on the cast album project “Running Man” for Lincoln Center’s American Songbook Series. Music by Diedre Murray and lyrics by Cornelius Eady. Produced by Anne Kauffman and Jeanine Tesori.

2023: Guitarist on “Sugar Hill: The Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn Nutcracker” with orchestrations and arrangements by Grammy winner John Clayton and three-time Tony Award nominee Larry Blank.

2023: Guitarist on the OFF-BROADWAY audiobook recording “In Love & Struggle, Vol. 3: The Future Is Around Us” for Audible, narrated by Cree Summer, Zainab Johnson, Amanda Seales, Mahogany L. Browne and Nona Hendryx. Music by Mimi Jones. Listen Here.

2021: Guitarist on “Ellas, Mujeres en la Música” Banco Popular music special, capturing the influence women have on music in and outside of Puerto Rico. Listen Here.

Among many others, Riza Printup has recorded with acclaimed Jazz Trumpeter and husband Marcus Printup Gentle Rain (2020), Desire  (2013), A Time For Love  (2011), Ballads All Night  (2010), and Bird of Paradise  (2007); Grammy nominated pianist and composer Kenny Werner No Beginning, No End; and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra featuring Chick Corea and the music of Mr. Corea. Ms. Printup has performed with the likes of the late great American jazz saxophonist and flautist, Frank Wess (featuring the music of legendary jazz harpist, Dorothy Ashby); virtuoso cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jookin dance master Lil Buck (Saint-Saëns’s classic ‘Le Cygne’ for harp and cello); Lady Gaga (Elton John: I’m Still Standing – A Grammy Salute); and has been featured with Paquito D’Rivera in his presentations of Charlie Parker’s classic, Bird With Strings at Jazz At Lincoln Center. In 2014, Riza joined world renown soprano Kathleen Battle in Ms. Battle’s presentation of ‘Underground Railroad: A Spiritual Journey’ at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, PA and at Ms. Battle’s magnificent return to the Metropolitan Opera House (2016).

Ms. Printup began her undergraduate studies as a classical harpist at the Indiana University School of Music, Bloomington, IN under the instruction of Susan McDonald and in time pursued studies in jazz with Professor of Jazz, David Baker. She received her Bachelors of Arts in Music from Columbia College, Chicago, IL where she continued her studies in jazz. She later completed coursework toward a Master of Music from Georgia State University’s School of Music under the tutelage of Elisabeth Remy Johnson. Other instructors include Dominique Piana, Linda Wood, Beverly Wesner-Hoehn, Deborah Henson-Conant, Stella Castellucci.

As an educator, Riza served as Director of Early Childhood Music and Orchestra at The Greater Atlanta Christian School (Atlanta, GA), Director of Strings at The Cicely Tyson School of Performing Arts (East Orange, NJ) and Instructor for the WeBop program at Jazz at Lincoln Center (New York, NY).

Her passion for education has taken her further to author her first two children’s books (Theodore and Hazel and the Bird and The Great Big Spider & The Waterspout Blues) and develop I Have A Song Inside My Heart™, a program and curriculum for early childhood and the K-5 General Music classroom. She has partnered with organizations such as The Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, WBGO, Midori & Friends, Homes For The Homeless, The Riverside Fine Arts Association, New Jersey Central Jazz Association and currently Jazz House Kids in engaging PreK and Elementary school students throughout surrounding communities. Her curriculum Jazz Explorers Unit 1: Eras of Jazz is now in elementary schools across the US, Canada and Japan.

During the pandemic of 2020, Riza created Jazz Harp Workshops with Riza Printup (now Little Schoolhouse of Jazz for Harp), a series of online classes for harpists interested in learning Jazz. Students from across the US and Europe continue their studies through the online platform.

In September of 2019, The Printups founded RiMarcable Music For Arts & Education, a 501c3 non-profit organization to advance their commitment to outreach.

The Printups created RiMarcable Publications LLC through which they publish their children’s books, arrangements and originals for solo harp, big band and jazz combos.

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Summer Jazz Academy is the premier high school program for advanced high school jazz students. This two-week program, designed and instructed by a select team of faculty, serves as a rigorous training institute for 42 of the most advanced and dedicated high school jazz students (grades 9–12). Students will apply by audition and participate in one of two big bands, perform in small combos, receive private lessons, and experience classes in aesthetics, culture, history, performance practice, and pedagogy. In addition to this educational component, the institute will also feature several public performances featuring the student combos, student big bands, along with the members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra at Bard College during the summer of 2025.

SETON HAWKINS serves as Manager of Public Programs and Education Resources at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He leads the organization’s Swing University teaching initiative. In addition, he has worked as a producer, manager, publicist, radio DJ, and advocate in jazz for more than a decade. He has written extensively for Hot House Jazz and for AllAboutJazz.com, with a particular emphasis on the jazz scene of South Africa. He received his MBA from Babson College and his BA in Music from Columbia University.