Segerstrom Center For The Arts Vibrant Jazz Club At Samueli Theater Is Bringing Jazz To Life In Costa Mesa

Segerstrom Center for the Arts presents three jazz concerts this fall at the Jazz Club at Samueli Theater.

The season starts off with five-time GRAMMY winner and recently named National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for 2024, Terence Blanchard and Turtle Island on September 23. Following are GRAMMY winner and outstanding singer Catherine Russell on September 30, and GRAMMY nominated composer and star on the rise, Miho Hazama and M_Unit on October 28. All three shows take place on Saturdays at 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM, making for a great night out.

With just 300 seats, the Jazz Club at Samueli Theater provides both the exhilarating and intimate ambiance of a distinguished jazz club. As catchy acoustics and deep bass rhythms resonate throughout the theater, experience the full spectrum of straight-ahead, soulful jazz. With a cocktail in hand and a night of brilliant music, audience members are sure to leave the Jazz Club at Samueli Theater with a satisfied soul.

The Jazz Club at Samueli Theater is one of the very few intimate jazz clubs in Southern California that has launched artists before they earned national fame. In Fall of 2022, young jazz star, Samara Joy, performed at the Jazz Club, and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album just a few months later. Samara has not been the only discovery star to grace the Jazz Club stage. It has also been home to several other GRAMMY Award winners including Diana Krall, Wynton Marsalis, Mel Torme, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, and many more. It sounds as good as it looks!

Later in the season, artists set to perform for Spring 2024 include Cécile McLorin Salvant (January 20, 2024) and Fred Hersch and ETHEL (March 9, 2024). This Jazz Club continues to provide access to the best jazz artists with an eclectic mix of styles.

Tickets for all these incredible performances will go on-sale August 14th and will be available for purchase at www.scfta.org.

Fall 2023 Performances

 

Terence Blanchard and Turtle Island | September 23, 2023

Terence Blanchard and Turtle Island celebrate their new album Absence, which pays tribute to legendary composer and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Absence presents pieces written by Shorter as well as original compositions by Blanchard and members of his band.

As one of jazz's most esteemed trumpeters, composers, and orchestrators, Terence Blanchard has composed scores for over 20 Spike Lee projects over three decades. A five-time GRAMMY winner and twice Oscar-nominated film composer, Blanchard is only the second, African American composer to be nominated twice in the original score category at the 2022 Academy Awards. Blanchard is also heralded as a two-time opera composer, whose Fire Shut Up in My Bones is the first opera composed by an African American composer to premiere at the Met. Blanchard has also recently been named National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master for 2023. His engagement with the Jazz Club at Samueli Theater will be one of his first since receiving this career accolade.

Winner of the 2006 and 2008 GRAMMY Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet aesthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined. Cellist nonpareil Yo-Yo Ma has proclaimed Turtle Island to be “a unified voice that truly breaks new ground – authentic and passionate – a reflection of some of the most creative music-making today.”

For more on Terence Blanchard, visit http://www.terenceblanchard.com/.

For more on Turtle Island Quartet, visit https://turtleislandquartet.com/.

Catherine Russell | September 30, 2023
 

GRAMMY Award-winning jazz vocalist Catherine Russell is one of the outstanding jazz singers of our time, known for her stunning vocal approach and interpretive works in blues and early jazz.

Her repertoire features a selection of gems from the 1920s through the present; vital interpretations, bursting with soul and humor. With an off-the-beaten-path song selection and sparkling acoustic swing, Catherine Russell has joined the ranks of the greatest interpreters and performers of American Popular Song.

She is the daughter of pioneering and legendary musicians—pianist/orchestra leader/composer/arranger Luis Russell, and bassist/guitarist/vocalist Carline Ray—and has toured the world performing and recording with David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Jackson Browne, Michael Feinstein, The Holmes Brothers, Wynton Marsalis, and Rosanne Cash, among others. Since the 2006 release of her debut album, Cat, on Harmonia Mundi's World Village label, six acclaimed and chart-topping albums have followed, including Strictly Romancin', awarded Prix du Jazz Vocal 2012 (Vocal Album of The Year) by the Jazz Academy in France, and Bring It Back in 2014. Catherine Russell was a featured artist on a GRAMMY Award-winning soundtrack album for the HBO TV series, Boardwalk Empire.

Her 6th album, Harlem On My Mind, received a GRAMMY nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and her 7th album, Alone Together, held the #1 position on the JazzWeek 2019 Year End Chart for national radio play and earned her 2nd GRAMMY Nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

For more on Catherine Russell, visit https://www.catherinerussell.net/.

Miho Hazama and M_Unit | October 28, 2023

As this season's Jazz Club Discovery Artist, GRAMMY nominated composer Miho Hazama is one of the most promising and talented composers/arrangers of her generation. Lauded in Downbeat as one of “25 for the Future,” Miho developed her signature jazz chamber orchestra “M_Unit”. Hazama is a classically trained,

jazz-oriented pianist with a bold and unique compositional voice and her 13-piece jazz chamber orchestra unit includes strings, horns, woodwinds, and a piano/bass/drums rhythm section.

Her three albums have received overwhelming critical acclaim, with her debut album, Journey to Journey, receiving the Jazz JAPAN rising star award and her most recent album, Dancer In Nowhere, earning her a GRAMMY nomination. Do not miss this brilliant composer and her jazz orchestra as they make their Center debut with a distinct hybrid of big band jazz, contemporary classical music, and pop.

For more on Miho Hazama, visit https://www.mihohazama.com/.

Fall Jazz Artists

Samueli Theater at Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Terence Blanchard and The Turtle Island Quartet

September 23, 2023 at 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM

Catherine Russell

September 30, 2023 at 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM

Miho Hazama and M_Unit

October 28, 2023 at 7:00 PM & 9:00 PM

Box Office

In person

The Box Office

600 Town Center Drive

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Monday 10am to 2pm

Tuesday through Friday 12pm to 5pm

Saturday and Sunday: Closed

Phone: Monday – Friday 10am to 5pm

(714) 556-2787

Online - SCFTA.org

Group Sales - (714) 755-0236

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