Monk mania reigns in New Haven for beginning Thursday, April 11, and culminating Saturday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m. with drummer and composer T.S. Monk leading The T.S. Monk Sextet in concert at Yale University’s Woolsey Hall, 500 College St.
The concert marks the grand finale for the Monk-centered events — everything from talks to young students by T.S. Monk to the opportunity to have dinner with the maestro who is the son and keeper of the flame of the legacy of the iconic jazz pianist/composer Thelonious Monk (1917-1982), one of the great originals in jazz history. Concert tickets: general admission, adults $20; students 18 and under, $5; VIP adults, $30; VIP students, $15.
T.S. Monk, who performed last year at the New Haven Jazz Festival, is no stranger to the Elm City. In fact, he’s quite at home there since he has many relatives living throughout the area. His uncle, Conley Monk, moved to New Haven many years ago, and his cousin, Pamela Monk Kelly, who has lived and taught in the city, has even written a book chronicling the Monk family history.
Monk, who is the chairman of the board of trustees and a co-founder of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, grew up in Harlem, literally tripping over modern jazz giants who were visiting his legendary father in the Monk family’s tiny, monastic apartment on West 63rd Street.
It wasn’t unusual for little Monk Jr. to toddle into the kitchen where his father, the famously eccentric genius, would be jamming on a strategically placed piano with a young saxophonist named John Coltrane, or maybe shooting the breeze with such fellow titans as Max Roach or Art Blakey.
“Everybody probably knows about the tiny apartment with my father’s piano in the kitchen,” Monk once told The Courant.
“So there was really nowhere to go there for a kid like me who was always opening the door to let in someone like Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Art Blakey, Max Roach, Horace Silver or John Coltrane.”
As Monk, his father’s heir apparent, became hooked on music, he was given his first set of drum sticks by Roach and his first drum set by Blakey. In the 1970s, he played in his renowned father’s band, then morphed his way through fusion and R&B;, later to record acclaimed, straight-ahead jazz albums. Forging his own unique voice as a drummer, composer, bandleader and ardent jazz advocate, T.S., in his earnest way, has shown that the son also rises and never sets on the Monk Empire.
Presented by Jazz Haven, the New Haven-based, non-profit group, other Monk events in New Haven, in addition to the concert, are:
THURSDAY: “T.S. Monk hosts ‘All About Jazz,’ an Inter-district Student Assembly,” 10 a.m., Woolsey Hall; New Haven public school students, free; neighboring school districts, $5 per student.
FRIDAY: “T.S. Monk Master Class 4th Grade Talented and Gifted Students and CO-OP Jazz Band Students,” 10 a.m., Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, 177 College St.
FRIDAY, “Dinner with T.S. Monk at Kelly’s Restaurant,” 6:30 p.m., 196 College St.; tickets, $55, includes ticket for the Saturday night concert at Woolsey Hall.
Tickets and information: Marcella Monk Flake at 203-675-3155 and http://www.jazzhaven.org.
Matters Of The Heart
Because of the monumental blizzard of 2013, bassist/guitarist Carlos Hernandez Chavez and singer Graciela Quinones had to dump their pre-Valentine’s Day celebration of the classic Latin love song genre, which had been scheduled for Feb. 9 at the “Music @ Japanalia Series” at Japanalia Eiko.
Despite the heartbreak of being jilted by Mother Nature just two months ago, the two engaging entertainers and resilient romanticists present their “Songs of Love and Despair/Canciones de Amor y Despecho” Thursday, April 11, at 8 at Japanalia, 11 Whitney St., Hartford.
Chavez, the great Hartford troubadour, and the warmly expressive Quinones will be joined by guitarist Edwin Rios and pianist Gabriel Lofvall in the celebration of the melodic glories and wondrously weepy romances of the great Latin American Songbook of the 1930s and ’40s. Superb, emotionally moving, lavishly lachrymose material, it’s drenched in love, drama and, of course, much heartbreak.
Melancholy never sounded better.
Tickets: $40 VIP stage-side table seating; $25 general row seating; BYOB. Information: 860-232-4677.
Also at Japanalia, singer Dee Daniels performs Saturday, April 13, at 8 p.m. Admission: $48 VIP stage-side table seating; $28 row seating. Taking a break from his tour with Rickie Lee Jones, guitarist Jeff Pevar appears there Sunday, April 14, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: same as Chavez/Quinones performance.
The Master Returns
Just about any time master guitarist Bill Frisell plays in Connecticut, he draws a capacity crowd that quickly mellows into a captivated audience.
Frisell is back in Connecticut performing Thursday, April 11, at 9 at Bridge Street Live, 41 Bridge St., Collinsville. Once again, the outwardly low-key but emotionally expressive guitarist is set to display his signature sound and inflection, graced with versatility, fluidity and sensitivity.
Beyond category, Frisell can mix jazz and blues with rock and country, or whatever. And he seems to have collaborated with just about everybody from Bono to John Zorn, from Paul Bley to Rickie Lee Jones, from playing on the soundtrack for a Wim Wenders’ film to sitting-in with the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets: $25 and $35. Information: 860-693-9762.
Conjurers Cast Spell
Alto saxophonist Daniel Bennett and his collaborators distill the Manhattan-based leader’s intoxicating blend of “experimental folk/jazz” Sunday, April 14, at 3 p.m. in the free Baby Grand Jazz Series at the Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St.
Bennett’s original, hybrid concoction has been hailed by The Village Voice “as buoyant enough to conjure notions of East African guitar riffs and Steve Reich’s pastoral repetition.” The Boston Globe labels Bennett’s brew “a mix of jazz, folk and trance.”
Bennett, who also plays flute and piccolo, is joined by fellow conjurers, guitarist Mark Cocheo and drummer Tyson Stubelek.
Information: http://www.hplct.org and 860-695-6300.
Conference Call
Conference Call, a celebrated, creative collective quartet, demonstrates its vital mix of synergy and democratic collaborative spirit as it performs Friday, April 12, at 8:30 and 10 p.m. at New Haven’s Firehouse 12, 45 Crown St.
The group features the widely celebrated, German-born woodwind virtuoso Gebhard Ullmann, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, bassist Joe Fonda and percussionist George Schuller.
Fonda, a longtime Connecticut favorite with an international reputation, and Stevens have collaborated together productively for nearly 25 years. And Schuller, who joined the 15-year-old band six years ago, is the splendid successor to the drum chair previously held by such paragons of percussion as Han Bennink, Gerry Hemingway and Matt Wilson.
Tickets: $18, first set; $12, second set. Information: www.firehouse12.com and 203-785-0468.
Bakir At Integrity
Hartford-based guitarist Sinan Bakir leads his trio Saturday, April 13, at 2 p.m. in the popular, admission-free jazz performance series at Ed Krech’s Integrity ‘n Music, 506 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield.
Joining Bakir for the concert at Krech’s cozy jazz shrine are bassist Matt Dwonszyk and drummer Cemre Dogan. Information: 860-563-4005.
Other Notes
Flutist Ali Ryerson and guitarist Joe Carter create cool, classy chamber jazz Sunday at 3 p.m. at The First Congregational Church of Stratford, 2301 Main St. Information: http://www.firstchurchstratford.org.
JPJ 454, featuring violinist Jerry Guerrero, guitarist Jeff Cox, bassist Paul Fuller and conga player Gregg Allen, plays Thursday, April 11, at 9 at Zen Bar, 317 Farmington Ave., Plainville. Information: 860-747-8886.
