This is sure to be an epic night of music! Four of the most incredible musicians in the world are bringing their friendships and talents to Madison.
John Lee, current leader of the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band and long time bassist for Dizzy himself, leads a tremendous quartet this Saturday night! John is a celebrated musician, band leader, composer, engineer, and producer. He has performed on over 50 albums and performed with the likes of, in addition to Dizzy Gillespie, Paquito D’Rivera, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, McCoy Tyner, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Joe Henderson, Larry Coryell, Paquito D'Rivera, Gregory Hines, Claudio Roditi, Arturo Sandoval, Joachim Kühn and Philip Catherine.
Drummer Karl Latham's career has spanned the globe performing, recording and producing with Grammy Award winning artists, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members and multitude of internationally acclaimed musicians. Karl is best known for his exceptional ability to dig into a variety of musical styles. Karl is included in the Drummerworld Top Drummers list. In addition to performing as a freelance drummer, Karl can be heard drumming when leading his own group “Living Standards”, as a co-leader of Big Fun(K) with saxophonist/composer Don Braden and co leader with Ryan Carniaux and Mark Egan of the “2016 BMW Welt Jazz Award”nominated group “Constellations”. Karl is a proud endorsing drum artist for Yamaha Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Evans Drumheads, Innovative Percussion and Big Fat Snare.
A spectacular pianist, Alex Collins has been playing with the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars & Lee until Covid shut live performance down. We have been fortunate to get to know him and listen to his playing for about a year now since the great, John Lee brought him to Shanghai Jazz.
Steve Carrington is a spectacular saxophonist, born in East Baltimore, Maryland, Steve began playing the saxophone at age seven. After attending the Baltimore School for the Arts and Frederick Douglass High School (whose alumni include Cab Calloway), Carrington was awarded a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. His early influences were John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Grover Washington Jr., Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon, and Freddie Hubbard. Carrington has played with Cyrus Chestnut’s African Reflections band, Charles Mingus Epitaph, Roy Hargrove, Milt Hinton, Frank Wess, Jimmy Heath, Elvin Jones, Joey DeFrancesco, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, and the Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars among many others. Recently, he has been performing with Kool and the Gang. Carrington’s recordings include his debut album “A Caring Tone “ (2014) and “Mind Traveler” (2019).
Seatings at 6:15 and 8:35 with no music charge, $40 food & drink minimum per person. Reservations strongly recommended.