Photos: Stevie Holland Celebratory New York Summer Concert at 54 Below

STEVIE HOLLAND – the award-winning jazz vocalist and songwriter who recently released her acclaimed new album Talk to Your Tomatoes – performed a celebratory New York summer concert at 54 Below last night July 28th.  Talk to Your Tomatoes is an accomplished collection of gems and classics from the pop, jazz and American Songbook catalogs. It also features sophisticated original songs penned by Holland and her longtime collaborator and arranger, award-winning composer Gary William Friedman, who did the arrangements for this album and also re-imagined his original Broadway arrangement of the song “How I Feel” from The Me Nobody Knows. The instrumentation for the album includes a wide variety of orchestrations that include string orchestra, horn combo and guitar along with the trio on several tracks. 

Holland’s most recent theatrical performance was for the York Theatre Company’s New2NY Series in March 2025 with her and Friedman’s musical Platinum Dreams, for which she wrote the book and additional lyrics, and also starred in. The work is in development for a full production in 2026 and York Theatre’s producing artistic director Joseph Heywood and managing director Wendy Hall were at 54 Below along with the many fans of Holland for the special evening.

On the 54 Below stage Holland was joined by an all-star band featuring Matthew Sheens on piano, Matt Aranoff on bass, Jeff Davis on drums, Ben Monder on guitar, Chet Doxas on saxophone, David Smith on trumpet, and Nick Vayenas on trombone. 

A 2026 Jazz Times feature calls Holland, “a thoroughly modern singer and cosmopolitan music-maker,” who “never wants for poise, poignancy and passion is its nuanced delivery.” Reviewing Talk to Your Tomatoes, Jazz Weekly raved that Holland “exudes warmth, class and confidence with seemingly effortless aplomb and inbred swing.” Jersey Jazz said, “She has a deft knack for bringing the words to life in a way that is uniquely hers.”

Joining Holland on the album is her gifted trio, with Matthew Sheens on piano, Matt Aranoff on bass, and Jeff Davis on drums. Lauded guitarist Ben Monder guests on three tracks including an intimate vocal/guitar duo on “‘Round Midnight,” and the horn combo is led by Chet Doxas, named in 2022 and 2023 in Downbeat Magazine‘s “Rising Star” Critic’s Poll for his saxophone and clarinet work.

Recorded in April 2025, Talk to Your Tomatoes is Holland’s sixth release of standards and original material from 150 Music. Her previous recordings include most recently Life Goes On and Before Love Has Gone, which was chosen by USA Today as a top critics’ “Album Pick of the Year,” and selected as an “Album Pick” by All Music Guide. Holland’s entire back catalog is now available on streaming services. 

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