George Abud and Katrina Lenk, James Carter, and More to Play Birdland This Month

Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater have announced the jazz programming running February 28 through March 12.

Performers appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include James Carter, Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band, George Abud and Katrina Lenk, Jane Bunnett and Maqueque and Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra.

Downstairs at Birdland Theater, catch Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks, Charu Suri Quartet, Ben Allison Quartet, Sara Caswell Quartet, Ted Firth Trio, Hey Rim Jeon and the Ornette Coleman Birthday Tribute with Jimmy Greene, Ben Allison, EJ Strickland and Steve Cardeans.

Repeat engagements include David Ostwald's Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Frank Vignola's Guitar Night, Birdland Big Band and Arturo O'Farrill & The Latin Jazz Orchestra + Octet.

Jazz Programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater February 28 through March 12

February 28 (Tuesday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks
Catch Vince Giordano & The Nighthawks as they kick off their biweekly run at Birdland! Giordano, the recipient of a GRAMMY Award for his work scoring the HBO show Boardwalk Empire, is a master composer and arranger whose 11-piece band, The Nighthawks, recreate the jubilant 1920s jazz sound with amazing definition, using violins, tubas, banjos, and collector's item drum sets. The band has provided soundtracks for film and television productions including The Cotton Club, The Aviator, Finding Forrester, Revolutionary Road, Cafe Society, Boardwalk Empire, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and many more. Not to be missed!
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

February 28 - March 4 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (2/28 - 3/2); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (3/3-4) - Birdland Jazz Club / Livestream Event, Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 PM via Flymachine
James Carter "Lookin at the Lock": Music of Eddie Lockjaw Davis
"To hear saxophonist James Carter is to be blown away," says the Washington Post. An indomitable force of imagination and soulful expression, Carter has released 19 records under his own name and nearly 40 as a collaborator with giants of music such as Lester Bowie, Christian McBride, Ginger Baker, Hammiet Bluiett, Steve Turre, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Regina Carter, Benny Golson, Marcus Miller, Madeleine Peyroux, and the World Saxophone Quartet. His playing evokes avant-garde, spiritual, gospel, and modern musical traditions within a single solo. For this week upstairs at the jazz club, Carter will explore the music of Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, the gutsy tenor-man known for his blues-soaked melodies and his heartbreaking, heroic improvisations. James Carter (saxophones), Gerard Gibbs (piano) Hilliard Greene (bass), Kahlil Kwame Bell (drums).
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 1 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Theater
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 18th 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!
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 1 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with special guest Saul Rubin
It's the best jazz guitar lover's show in the world. Frank Vignola's virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world's top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Les Paul, the Boston and New York Pops, and more. Every Wednesday at 8:30pm in the Birdland Theater, Frank leads "Frank Vignola's Guitar Night at Birdland." Inspired by journeyman jazz guitarist John Pisano's now famous Los Angeles Guitar Night, the Frank Vignola Trio, featuring bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer Vince Cherico, will perform tunes from the standard repertoire, inviting up a different rotation of special guest guitarists each week. This week its Saul Rubin.
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 2 (Thursday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Charu Suri Quartet
Charu Suri-the classical piano prodigy turned multi-stylist and powerful composer-performs at Birdland one Thursday night in early March. Her latest work, Ragas and Waltzes, finds Suri confidently reinventing styles and fusing musical worlds. The pianist who Birdland favorite and Afro Latin-jazz legend Arturo O'Farill calls "singular" for her pioneering "raga-based improvisations" released the album after a string of other brilliant genre-transcendent recordings, which included The New American Songbook, The Book of Ragas, and The Book of Ragas II. Her latest work employs the great Preservation Hall Jazz Band drummer Joe Lastie, Jr., a beautiful timekeeper who brings expertise and dancing joy to every beat. An evening not to be missed of Suri's compositional and pianistic genius.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 3 (Friday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
The Birdland Big Band
Every Friday, and for two headlining weeks a year, the "BBB" roars into action playing a thrilling and original mix of jazz, funk, Brazilian, Latin and world music for sold-out audiences. Featured weekly guest artists drop in from television bands (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live) and pop music touring bands (Rob Thomas, Rod Stewart). Come see for yourself why Time Out New York called the BBB "A completely unique experience... there isn't another band like this anywhere," and why yelp.com proclaims, "If you hear one band in NYC make sure this is it... and prepare to be blown away!"
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 3-4 (Friday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Ben Allison Quartet
A forward-thinker both composer and bassist, Ben Allison has spent over 30 years developing a unique and fresh artistic vision for the contemporary moment. His efforts have made him the recipient of several awards, including the North Sea Jazz Festival's Bird Award (2005) and Downbeat's prestigious distinction of Rising Star Bassist (2005, 2006, 2007). His projects, which bring to life folksy sonic landscapes for improvisational play, are original, spacious explorations that cross genres and create visceral moods. He is also a member of powerful collaborations: following 2018's Quiet Revolution, his beloved collective trio with visceral saxophonist Ted Nash and wry guitarist Steve Cardenas released Somewhere Else-West Side Story Songs, covering their favorites from the legendary musical. For this engagement at Birdland, Allison brings his own Quartet-which recently put out Moments Inside. The band features two master guitarists-Steve Cardenas and Chico Pinheiro-as well as the generous, creative Alan Mednard on drums.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 5 (Sunday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Manuel Valera New Cuban Express Big Band
Cuban-born pianist Manuel Valera is a force of nature. His resume a list of living legends-Dafnis Prieto, Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D'Rivera, Brian Lynch, Yosvany Terry, Jeff "Tain" Watts and Lenny White among them-Valera is a writer, leader, and accompanist extraordinaire, and with this Sunday engagement at Birdland, he brings in his large ensemble: the New Cuban Express Big Band, whose 2020 recording Jose Marti en Nueva York and 2022 Distancia are high energy, clean works of modern large ensemble brilliance. Valera's New Cuban Express small ensemble was nominated for 2013's Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year. Catch his Big Band, featuring New York's finest improvising musicians.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 5 (Sunday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Sara Caswell Quartet
Contemporary violinist Sara Caswell is one of the brightest stars on the instrument today. Nominated for 2018's Grammy award for Best Improvised Jazz Solo-and winner of 2018's Downbeat Critic's Poll award for Rising Star: Violin-Caswell is a moving instrumentalist whose work as a solo artist, a member of the Caswell Sisters, a member of Esperanza Spalding's Chamber Music Society, and one-third of the chamber jazz group 9 Horses is all top shelf. She brings her quartet to Birdland Theater to celebrate the release of The Way to You (Anzic, 2023), her first solo recording in 18 years.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 5 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
Pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill-leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (The New York Times)-leads the GRAMMY award winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), who bring together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world's most accomplished solo musicians. Twelve years of critically-acclaimed performances internationally have firmly established the ALJO as the standard-bearer for creative interpretation of Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente, Frank "Machito" Grillo, and Chico O'Farrill, as well as the driving force behind new commissions from Latin music's most talented composers and arrangers.
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 6 (Monday) 7pm
George Abud and Katrina Lenk: "Swung"
Join George Abud & Katrina Lenk for "Swung," a return engagement of their sold-out 2019 Birdland debut show, featuring a new selection of sizzling songs from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Jacques Brel, Marlene Dietrich, Umm Kulthum, and many more. Together with a 5-piece band featuring AJ Luca on piano, Sam Sadigursky on reeds, Dan Berkery on drums, Yuka Tadano on bass, and Harvey Valdes on guitar, this will be a dreamy, madcap soirée of talk and tunes.
$40 Cover

March 6 (Monday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Tedd Firth Trio
Tedd Firth is a renowned pianist, musical director, arranger and orchestrator. The consummate accompanist, Firth has worked with superstars Barbara Cook, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Maureen McGovern, Marilyn Maye, Joshua Bell, and many others. He has performed and/or recorded with jazz luminaries John Pizzarelli, Houston Person, Frank Wess, Mark Whitfield, Red Holloway, Benny Golson and Joe Morello. Firth recently served as the musical director for the original Broadway cast of Into The Woods and for Michael Feinstein's "Jazz and Popular Song" concert series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is both a leader in his field and a truly humble music-maker. Appearances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, Birdland, the Iridium, and the White House. Firth brings a sensitive, swinging trio to serenade the Birdland Theater.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 7 (Tuesday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Hey Rim Jeon in the Theater
Described as a "brilliant pianist" by legendary saxophonist Benny Golson, Hey Rim Jeon returns to Birdland to celebrate her new album release "Groovitude." Featuring Multi-Grammy-Award-Winning drummer and producer Terri Lyne Carrington, "Groovitude" has been one of the Top 20 albums on the National Jazz Radio Chart for several consecutive weeks. Ms. Jeon has been featured on numerous TV and radio shows, including NBC's Weekend Today in New York, and KBN, Korea's National TV network channel. As leader of her own band, Hey Rim Jeon and Friends, she has performed both nationally and internationally. A recipient of Berklee's prestigious "Exemplary Mentorship Award" and a "Marquis Who's Who" acknowledgment (2021), Ms. Jeon is the first Korean faculty member at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, where she has served as an Associate Professor in the Piano Department since 2010.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 7-11 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (3/7-9); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (3/10-11) - Birdland Jazz Club
Jane Bunnett and Maqueque
Maqueque is the brainchild of Canadian saxophone legend Jane Bunnett: an all-star, all-female group of Cuban musicians, propelled by virtuosic drumming, joyful vocals in harmony, and brilliant melodic improvisations. Bunnett grew her international fame over the course of many decades on recordings with legends Dewey Redman, Don Pullen, Jeanne Lee, Sheila Jordan, Paul Bley, and other masters, receiving the title of Officer of the Order of Canada in 2004 for her artistic and social contributions. Her love affair with Cuba and Cuban music began in 1982. Since then, Maqueque, which Bunnett founded in 2014, has won two GRAMMY nominations and a Juno Award. Their beautiful, intricate arrangements are unique in their ability to showcase unbridled technical brilliance while naturally connecting to, enlivening, and inspiring audiences.
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 8 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Theater
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 18th 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!
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 8 (Wednesday) 8:30 PM - Birdland Theater
Frank Vignola's Guitar Night with special guest Dave Stryker
It's the best jazz guitar lover's show in the world. Frank Vignola's virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world's top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Les Paul, the Boston and New York Pops, and more. Every Wednesday at 8:30pm in the Birdland Theater, Frank leads "Frank Vignola's Guitar Night at Birdland." Inspired by journeyman jazz guitarist John Pisano's now famous Los Angeles Guitar Night, the Frank Vignola Trio, featuring bassist Gary Mazzaroppi and drummer Vince Cherico, will perform tunes from the standard repertoire, inviting up a rotation of special guest guitarists. This week it's Dave Stryker.
$30 tables; $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 9-12 (Thursday-Sunday) 8:30 PM (3/9); 7:00 & 9:30 PM (3/10-12) - Birdland Theater
Ornette Coleman Birthday Tribute: Jimmy Greene, Ben Allison, EJ Strickland, Steve Cardeans
Saxophonist Jimmy Greene, bassist Ben Allison, drummer EJ Strickland, and guitarist Steve Cardenas come together to celebrate the birthday of one of American music's most beloved, controversial, and wildly brilliant artists: saxophone legend Ornette Coleman, whose natural, heartfelt melodies and fearless improvising broke open the jazz genre entirely in the late 1950s and early 60s. The group is led by powerful saxophonist Greene and innovative composer Allison - both of whom have dug deeply into Ornette's music. Together they pay tribute to the enigmatic icon whose Free Jazz (1961), The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959), Science Fiction (1972), Song X (1986) and many other recordings each brought jazz as was contemporaneously known down to its essence.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 10 (Friday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
The Birdland Big Band
Every Friday, and for two headlining weeks a year, the "BBB" roars into action playing a thrilling and original mix of jazz, funk, Brazilian, Latin and world music for sold-out audiences. Featured weekly guest artists drop in from television bands (David Letterman, Saturday Night Live) and pop music touring bands (Rob Thomas, Rod Stewart). Come see for yourself why Time Out New York called the BBB "A completely unique experience... there isn't another band like this anywhere," and why yelp.com proclaims, "If you hear one band in NYC make sure this is it... and prepare to be blown away!"
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

March 12 (Sunday) 5:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra
Hot off of a GRAMMY win for Best Large Ensemble Album of 2023, Steven Feifke and Bijon Watson present the Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra! Recognized by GRAMMY.com as one of six big band composers pushing the format forwards and heralded a "masterful pianist" by JAZZIZ magazine, award-winning Yamaha Performing Artist, bandleader and composer Steven Feifke is one of the most in-demand artists of his generation. A two-time semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition, Feifke has been featured on stages around the world alongside premiere artists including Steve Tyrell, Randy Brecker, Chad LB and Veronica Swift, with an impressive performance history at internationally recognized venues and festivals. International tours across Europe, Africa and Asia along with an extensive discography of over 30 albums all before turning 30 have established Feifke's name as a formidable presence in jazz.
$30 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum

March 12 (Sunday) 8:30 & 10:30 PM - Birdland Jazz Club
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Octet
Pianist, composer and educator Arturo O'Farrill-leader of the "first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz" (The New York Times)-leads the GRAMMY award winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), who bring together the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world's most accomplished solo musicians. Twelve years of critically-acclaimed performances internationally have firmly established the ALJO as the standard-bearer for creative interpretation of Latin jazz greats such as Tito Puente, Frank "Machito" Grillo, and Chico O'Farrill, as well as the driving force behind new commissions from Latin music's most talented composers and arrangers. Arturo brings the pared down octet to Birdland on March 12.
$30 + $20 food/drink minimum

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