Shows - Jazz Showcase

Tommy Muellner Album Release - Solitary Moon

Mon, Oct 05

Tommy Muellner - piano

Clark Sommers - bass

Geof Bradfield - reeds

Art Davis - trumpet

Phil Gratteau - drums

Gabriel Wade Quintet

Tue, Oct 06

Gabriel Wade - Trumpet Jared Schultz - Alto and Tenor Saxophone Isaiah Jones Jr. - Piano Nat Lin - Bass Sid Smith IV - Drums Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Gabriel Wade is a trumpeter, pianist, and educator who has been surrounded by music all his life. He has had the opportunity to play with the Count Basie Orchestra, Cab Calloway Orchestra, Clif Wallace Big Band, Evon J. Sams Quintet/Sextet/Nonet, Reginald Lewis Quintet, and the Marlene Rosenberg Quartet. As a sideman, he has performed at notable venues and festivals such as Andy's Jazz Club, the Elmhurst Jazz Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, and the Jazz Showcase. As a bandleader, he has performed at various locations in the central and southeastern Arkansas area, as well as in the northern Illinois area and at Fulton Street Collective and Angelo's Wine Bar in Chicago, Illinois. Recently, he qualified as a semifinalist in the Jazz Improvisation Division for the International Trumpet Guild's 2024 Ryan Anthony Memorial Trumpet Competition and earned first place in the 2024 Tom Williams Jazz Division of the National Trumpet Competition.

Soul Message Trio

Wed, Oct 07

CHRIS FOREMAN Chris Foreman is a masterful musician and heir to the throne occupied by the soulful, bluesy jazz organ legends who were once his influence. Blind at birth, Foreman started playing piano at age five and began formal training at seven. As a teenager he was attracted to the organ sounds of Jack McDuff, Groove Holmes, JimmySmith and Jimmy McGriff. This attraction led Chris to pursue playing jazz on the organ, which he undertook through intensive study of recordings. Unlike many African- American musicians whose musical knowledge begins and is established through the church, Chris didn't start his apprenticeship as a church organist until he was almost twenty years old - well after his jazz roots were established. He has arrived at a most exciting blend of blues-gospel and jazz and has developed a stunning command and range on the instrument. The blend of his sound is evident in his professional experience, which has included work with Hank Crawford, Albert Collins, Bernard Purdie, The Mighty Blue Kings and Deep Blue Organ Trio. GREG ROCKINGHAM Drummer Greg Rockingham began playing when he was just three years old and debuted as a professional musician at age five in his father's jazz ensemble. An alumnus of the famed Interlochen Arts Academy and Northeastern University, he has won numerous musical awards from the Notre Dame Jazz Festival. Greg has performed or recorded with a wide range of famous names, including the orchestras of Glenn Miller and Guy Lombardo, vocalists Freddie Cole, Patty Page and Jerry Vale and instrumentalists Nat Adderley, Kenny Burrell, Charles Earland, Irene Reid, Ellis Marsalis, Nancy Wilson, and Deep Blue Organ Trio. GREG JUNG Greg Jung is a Chicago based alto saxophonist, originally from Albany, NY. He earned a Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Purchase where he studied with Jon Gordon, Ralph Lalama, Gary Smulyan, Mark Vinci, Steve Wilson, Todd Coolman, Jon Faddis, Hal Galper, Charles Blenzig and others. In 2014 Greg won the Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, and traveled to perform that year in Paris, France. He spent three years in NYC before deciding to travel the country, performing in clubs and on the street in many of America’s great cities and small towns. It was in this way that he ended up in Chicago, where he has performed at venues like the Green Mill, Andy’s, Winters, Hungry Brain and the Chicago Jazz Festival. Since emerging onto the scene, he has shared the stage with many of the world class musicians that reside in the city. Greg received the Chicago Luminarts Cultural Foundation Fellowship in 2023.

Christopher McBride: The Whole Proof

Residency

Thu, Oct 08

Saxophonist Christopher McBride is based in New York City. His work includes education, arranging and composition in addition to performance. He has been slowly but steadily turning heads with his ubiquitous work as an invaluable sideman since the mid-2000’s. Now Christopher is gaining respect amongst fans, critics, and his peers as one of the most versatile saxophonists in the world. His 2012 debut album Quatuor de Force certainly establishes his ability to front a group and write his own soulful, melodically indelible tunes. Applauded for his ability to play in all musical situations, McBride has the ability to unleash a fiery attack and serrated tone, but on his first album he explores a more measured, mellow sound heavily influenced by contemporary R&B—with a strong shot of Cannonball Adderley’s post-bop sensuality—but his improvising is very rigorous and cogent. As a composer, McBride was selected as the 2022 Make Jazz Fellowship artist at The 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, California.

Born in Chicago, and starting his professional career there in 2007, Christopher made the move to NYC in 2013. His group,The Whole Proof, has played venues all over New York. Christopher ran his ‘Singer Meets Saxophonist’ series at the famed Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem from 2017-2019. The musicians he has performed with over the years span many genres sharing the stage with Billy Preston, Percy Gray, Roy Hargrove, Pete Rock, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Guy Sebastian, Solange, Ne-Yo, Jennifer Hudson, Alice Smith, Brandon Flowers, Lea DeLaria, 88 Keys, Milton Mustafa, Winard Harper, and the Marquis Hill’s Blacktet.

As a recording artist, McBride’s February 2023 release ‘Ramon’ made the Top 25 on the JazzWeek Charts and stayed on the charts for 14 weeks as well as making the JazzWeek Top 100 albums for 2023. The sophomore release has received critical acclaim. All About Jazz called the album “a sonic marvel that showcases a robust grasp of bebop and contemporary jazz idioms.” As a performing artist he has received a Grammy win for his work as a collaborator/soloist on Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson’s 2022 album “Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra.”

As an educator, McBride has served as the Director of Education for the Second Line Arts Collective, a non-for-profit organization based out of New Orleans. His primary duties included writing curriculum for the Little Stompers division and teacher development. He also teaches for Jazz at Lincoln Center regularly, as well as touring nationally with different educational programs.

As a journalist and consultant, McBride has worked with Forbes Ignite, the innovation coalition of Forbes.

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