Steve Ross and Klea Blackhurst, NOW THIS, The Puppeteers and More Set for Birdland, 3/17-23

Birdland Jazz Club has announced their excellent line-up of talent for March 17-23, including Steve Ross in "Ridin' High: Cole Porter on Broadway," "Now This" with Gary Peacock, Marc Copland & Joey Baron, The Puppeteers, Jim Caruso's Cast Party, and more.

Birdland will kick-off their outstanding week of programming with the following acts:

March 17 (Monday) at 7:00PM

Broadway at Birdland

Steve Ross In "Ridin' High: Cole Porter on Broadway"

With Klea Blackhurst

Steve Ross will take his listeners on a magical journey into the world of one of the most literate and sophisticated of all the popular theatrical composers. List songs like "You're The Top" and "Can-Can," saucy numbers like "Let's Do It" and "Give Him The Ooh-La-La," and passionate ballads such as "Night And Day," "Begin The Beguine," and "Every Time We Say Goodbye" are among the many that Steve will include in his program. Add some delightful bits of Porter bio-data to the mix and a delightful and heartfelt musical portrait emerges. Steve's very special guest will be theater and cabaret favorite Klea Blackhurst.

All seats are $30-40 with a $10 food/drink minimum

March 17 (Monday) at 9:30PM

Jim Caruso's Cast Party

Jim Caruso's Cast Party is a wildly popular weekly soiree that brings a sprinkling of Broadway glitz and urbane wit to the legendary Birdland in New York City every Monday night. It's a cool cabaret night-out enlivened by a hilariously impromptu variety show. Showbiz superstars, backed by Steve Doyle on bass, Tedd Firth on piano and Daniel Glass on drums, hit the stage alongside up-and-comers, serving up jaw-dropping music and general razzle-dazzle.

All tickets $25, $10 food/drink minimum

March 18 - 22 (Tuesday-Saturday) at 8:30pm & 11:00pm

"Now This"

With Gary Peacock, Marc Copland, Joey Baron

Over the span of five decades, Gary Peacock has established himself as one of the most versatile and talented bass players in jazz. One of his earliest influences was avant-garde saxophonist Albert Ayler, with whom Peacock performed and recorded in the 1960s. His music has also been greatly affected by his studies of Eastern music and philosophy. Since the 1980s, Peacock has been adding contemporary twists to old standards with pianist Keith Jarrett's trio including drummer Jack DeJohnette. Peacock's current group is a leaderless, cooperative and exploratory trio that The Boston Globe describes as, "transcendent... jazz the way it was meant to be - improvised." Pianist Marc Copland, who the New York Times calls, "a pianist drawn to dark harmonic shading," was early considered an heir to Bill Evans but has gone on to, "quietly redefine jazz piano and the art of the trio on the cutting edge." (Allaboutjazz.com) Rounding out the trio, drummer Joey Baron combines technical acuity with a deep sense of groove. Best known for his work with Bill Frisell, Stan Getz, John Zorn and guitarists John Scofield, John Abercrombie and Jim Hall, Joey has also performed with musicians outside of jazz including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, David Bowie, Tony Bennett, Laurie Anderson and Al Jarreau.

All seats are $40 with a $10 food/drink minimum

March 19 (Wednesday) at 5:30PM

David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band

Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band breathes life and passion into America's own great art form. Now in its 14th year of residency at Birdland, the weekly post-workday engagement is the city's best musical bargain! Tuba player David Ostwald leads a rotating lineup that features talents such as clarinetist Anat Cohen, trombonist/vocalist Wycliffe Gordon, pianist Ehud Asherie, drummer Marion Felder and more!

All seats $25, $10 food/drink minimum

March 20 (Thursday) at 6:00PM

The Puppeteers CD Release

The Puppeteers, as author Howard Mandel aptly states in his liner notes, deal in "fresh-jazz," music that: "sounds like it just happened - not as "look-at-the-past" but as "here's what-we-play-now." It's a group sound that assimilates the diverse influences that each of the band members willingly brings to the table; if the heady fragrance of hard bop, Latin, Afro-Caribbean and funk idioms can be detected, then the Puppeteers have done their job. The formative music that made each of these players who they are is honored before it is transformed into the new. Make no mistake; although the instrumentation of the two ensembles may be similar, this is not your father's Modern Jazz Quartet. Drawing nourishment from the roots, yet grounding their sound firmly in the present, is the credo of The Puppeteers.

All seats $30 with a $10 food/drink minimum

March 21 (Friday) at 5:00PM

The Birdland Big Band

Founded by drummer and musical director Tommy Igoe, the Birdland Big Band features the finest musicians in New York! The BBB roars into action every Friday, playing the finest Jazz, Latin and Brazilian music from the world's best arrangers. After work or before a show, drinks or a great dinner, come hear one of the world's best drummers driving the hardest swinging band in New York. Experience why the BBB is the must-see weekly jazz event in New York and kick off your weekend with what critics are calling "the best live music bargain in all of NYC!"

All seats $30, $10 food/drink minimum

March 22 (Saturday) at 6:00PM

Barbara Carroll Duo with Jay Leonhart

Her "jazz pianism is the subtlest and most intricate New York has to offer." (New Yorker) Barbara Carroll's inventive piano playing and unique vocal sound transforms any composition into something hip and urbane. In a sixty-year career she has gone from being dubbed "the first girl ever to play bebop piano" by Leonard Feather in 1947, to today being dubbed a "singer who turns song lyrics into personal dramatic monologues." (Stephen Holden, New York Times)

All seats $30, $10 food/drink minimum

March 23 (Sunday) at 6PM

The Birdland Jazz Party

Featuring Carolyn Leonhart

A soulful singer of "stunning intelligence" with a voice that is "absolute magic" (Jazz Times), award winning vocalist Carolyn Leonhart has released four critically acclaimed solo albums which have been on Jazz Radio charts worldwide. She has performed at clubs and festivals throughout the world, including The Blue Note and The Jazz Standard in NYC as well as The Detroit Jazz festival and The New Haven Jazz Festival, to name a few. In addition

to having tenure as the lead back-up vocalist with the legendary jazz/rock band Steely Dan, Carolyn has performed and/or recorded with Al Jarreau, Hank Jones, Christian McBride, Jimmy Cobb, Eric Reed, Michael McDonald, Helen Sung, The Mingus Big Band, Boz Scaggs as well as many others. Carolyn is currently preparing to record her next solo album as well as an album of music with her father (famed bassist/composer Jay Leonhart).

All seats $25, $10 minimum

March 23 (Sunday) at 9:00PM & 11PM

Arturo O'Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Grammy Award winning pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill -- leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (NY Times) -- was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo was Educated at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. He played piano in Carla Bley's Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte.

All seats $30, $10 minimum

Purchase tickets at: www.BirdlandJazz.com. For more information and reservations call 212-581-3080. Ticket prices will vary by performer. At the tables, there is a $10 food/drink minimum per person in addition to the music charge. At the bar, the music charge will include one complimentary drink with no additional minimum.

Named for alto saxophonist and jazz pioneer Charlie "Bird" Parker who dubbed it "The Jazz Corner of the World," Birdland opened on December 15th 1949. For 60 years it has been home to jazz legends, from Parker, John Coltrane Duke Ellington and Count Basie to Oscar Peterson, Hank Jones, Diana Krall and everyone in between. The original 52nd street location was a cultural barometer and meeting place, inspiring the songs "Birdland" and "Lullaby of Birdland," and serving as a regular haunt for celebrities and cultural figures. The modern incarnation is a state of the art nightclub featuring award winning Southern and Cajun cuisine, first rate sound and lighting and a who's who of contemporary musical artists, 7 nights a week.

Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th & 9th Avenues), New York, NY 10036. Students (with current ID) & Broadway Theatre-Goers (with Broadway ticket stub from same day of performance): 50% off music charge at 11PM shows only. Birdland serves American Fare with a Cajun Flair nightly from 5PM until Midnight and until 1AM on Friday and Saturdays. Parking is available across the street at 332 West 44th Street. Concert Grand Piano By: Yamaha.

For more information, visit www.BirdlandJazz.com, or follow BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB on Twitter: @birdlandjazz, Facebook, Instagram, and on Pinterest.