SMOKE Jazz Club October Line-up Will Include Two-Week Monk Festival
Mark Turner Quartet, The Cookers, and special Monk broadcasts will round out the month at the Upper West Side venue.
SMOKE Jazz Club has announced its line-up for October 2026. The month's capstone is a two-week Thelonious Monk Festival (Oct 7-18) celebrating the unparalleled genius of the legendary composer/pianist Thelonious Monk (born 10.10.1917) with performances by some of today's top artists including Renee Rosnes, Nicole Glover, James Francies, Joel Ross, and more. Additionally, a special Monk broadcast of the Friday, October 9th concert will air LIVE on WKCR Radio 89.9FM. For the most up-to-date October schedule, please visit SMOKEjazz.com. As always, all Friday night concerts are livestreamed!
About SMOKE
Located on Manhattan's Upper West Side at the junction of Broadway and 106th Street (aka Duke Ellington Boulevard), Smoke Jazz Club is one of New York City's premier live music venues. Renowned for offering top-notch programming of accessible, timeless jazz featuring legendary performers, modern masters, and rising stars, Smoke stands apart with its candlelit dining room, stellar acoustics, and classic American cuisine. Founded in 1999, SMOKE also boasts a Grammy-nominated label, Smoke Sessions Records, and a celebrated streaming concert series, Smoke Screens.
Wed-Sun Sep 30-Oct 4 MARK TURNER QUARTET PATTERNMASTER (ECM) record release
Mark Turner – tenor saxophone
Jason Palmer – trumpet
Joe Martin – bass
Jonathan Pinson – drums
Tenor saxophonist Mark Turner makes his SMOKE Jazz Club debut as a leader with his quartet featuring trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Jonathan Pinson. The group celebrates the New York release of Turner's ECM recording Patternmaster. The New York Times writes, “Every jazz musician strives to establish a voice. Some go so far as to create a language. Mark Turner is one of those: a tenor saxophonist with a vocabulary and syntax so personal that he's recognizable within a single phrase.” Throughout his career, Turner has collaborated with artists including Billy Hart, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard, Ethan Iverson, and many others, while creating a celebrated body of work as both a leader and collaborator. On Patternmaster, Turner, Palmer, Martin, and Pinson further develop their quartet sound. JazzWise praises the group's “phrasal eloquence and narrative drive,” describing an ensemble with “a bracing, at times danceable, swinging energy.” Downbeat notes that “Turner's sound is unmistakable—yielding, vocal, a bit matte, with a beautiful lyricism and remarkable control above the natural range of the horn.”
Wed-Sun Oct 7-10 MONK FESTIVAL: Renee Rosnes QUARTET “MONK'S SPHERE”
Renee Rosnes – piano
Nicole Glover – tenor saxophone
David Wong – bass
Carl Allen – drums
Renee Rosnes, one of the essential pianists and composers working today, opens Smoke's annual two-week celebration of Thelonious Monk with a quartet of some of her favorite colleagues. She is joined by tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist David Wong, and drummer Carl Allen. Monk was born on October 10, 1917. “Her style at the keyboard is powerful and modernistic, combining classical technique and sharp, clean phrases with a dramatic compositional style,” says Stereogum. “The music is reminiscent of mid-'60s Blue Note albums by players like Joe Henderson, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson (with whom Rosnes worked), Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams; it swings, and never loses touch with the blues, but it's also abstract and biting.”
As part of WKCR Radio's 85th anniversary series, the Friday, October 9th 8:30 p.m. concert, will be broadcast LIVE at 89.9FM and at WKCR.org. WKCR is a non-commercial educational and listener-funded radio station.
Wed-Sun Oct 14-18 MONK FESTIVAL: JAMES FRANCIES TRIO PLUS SPECIAL GUEST JOEL ROSS
James Francies – piano
Joel Ross – vibraphone
Luca Alemanno – bass
Jeremy Dutton – drums
Pianist James Francies makes his Smoke leader debut with his trio plus special guest Joel Ross, as the second half of Smoke's annual two-week celebration of Thelonious Monk. At 30, Francies has already built an extraordinary résumé, working across jazz, hip-hop, and R&B with artists including Pat Metheny, Chris Potter, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Eric Harland, Terrace Martin, Common, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and The Roots. A Houston native and Blue Note recording artist, he has developed a sound that draws freely from the jazz tradition while embracing the possibilities of contemporary music. Writing about his most recent album, Purest Form, the Houston Chronicle noted that Francies “finds modern ways to take the familiar and make it new.” Ross is a distinctive new voice on the vibraphone and, like Francies, a Blue Note recording artist. Together, Francies and Ross are leaders of a new generation of jazz musicians, deeply engaged with the tradition while pushing the music forward.
Wed-Sun Oct 21-25 THE COOKERS
Eddie Henderson – trumpet
David Weiss – trumpet
Donald Harrison – alto saxophone
Azar Lawrence – tenor saxophone
George Cables – piano
Cecil McBee – bass
Billy Hart – drums
The Cookers are a powerhouse, collaborative septet uniting some of the most revered jazz masters of the past six decades. Legendary figures including Eddie Henderson, Azar Lawrence, Cecil McBee, George Cables, and Billy Hart channel the bold, exploratory spirit of the 1960s—a transformative era they helped shape through their groundbreaking work with some of jazz's most influential ensembles. Since then, each has emerged as a leading voice in their own right. David Weiss and Donald Harrison are the youngest members of the group, but they share many of the same formative experiences, having worked most notably with Art Blakey, Bobby Hutcherson, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Tolliver, Roy Haynes, and Herbie Hancock. The band's repertoire spans iconic jazz anthems and rare gems from their incredible catalogs.
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