A Taos Native Returns to Headline the Harwood
A Taos Native Returns to Headline the Harwood
A Taos Native Returns to Headline the Harwood
2021 FRANK MORGAN TAOS JAZZ FESTIVAL
Grace Kelly
George Cables
November 10– 14, 2021
Django Festival Allstars
Wednesday, November 10
Red Hot & Red
7:00 – Venue to be announced
The Festival opens with a FREE Kick-off Party – with music by the Native New Mexico jazz trio, Red Hot & Red. Playing a tasty blend of Jazz, spiced with Latin and sauced with R&B, the band is led by Steve Figueroa, keyboardist from Laguna Pueblo. Rounding out the group are bassist Milo Jaramillo from Isleta Pueblo, and drummer Speaking Eagle, from the Zapotec Nation.
Thursday, November 11
Grace Kelly's "Joy Party"
7:00 PM – TCA
Grace has a huge following around the world– and that includes Taos. This is her seventh consecutive appearance as headliner of the festival– she returns every year to honor her friend and mentor, Frank Morgan. Grace has toured the world, and performed and recorded with many jazz greats, including Phil Woods, Lin Manuel-Miranda, Dave Brubeck, Lee Konitz, Harry Connick Jr., Gloria Estefan, Questlove, Wynton Marsalis and Jon Batiste. Grace is a natural performer, spreading captivating energy and joy. She can dazzle an audience with all-out pyrotechnics on her horn, and a moment later charm us with her kittenish voice and original songwriting.
“Grace Kelly has an electric charisma on-stage that instantly ignites the room. She is also one of the most kind-hearted, easy-going people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.” –Jon Batiste.
Friday, November 12
George Cables Trio
7:00 PM – Harwood Museum
Pianist George Cables helped to define modern mainstream jazz piano of the 80s and 90s. In addition to his years working with Frank Morgan, he has performed and recorded with an eye-popping list of jazz stars including Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzie Gillespie and Art Pepper. “An individualist whose comfort with bebop-based modern jazz has an unimpeachable stamp of authenticity.”– Steve Futterman, The New Yorker. “ His solos reveal a deep sense of groove and pacing, and a mind at work”– Kevin Whitehead for NPR.
Saxophonist, singer, and composer, Grace Kelly continues to climb the ranks of today’s true jazz stars. She plays with the heart and passion of an old soul yet with the genre-bending zest and energy of a 24-year-old. Last year she was a regular with Jon Batiste and Stay Human, bandleader for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”. “Grace Kelly has an electric charisma on-stage that instantly ignites the room. She is also one of the most kind-hearted, easy-going people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.” –Jon Batiste.
Her 10th CD, Trying To Figure It Out, was voted #2 “Jazz Album of The Year” in the 2016 Downbeat Magazine Readers Poll. In recent years, she has been featured on Amazon’s Emmy-nominated TV show Bosch, CNN.com, Glamour Magazine, Forbes, Billboard, Vanity Fair, Huffington Post, and in many appearances on NPR. As a songwriter, she has won multiple ASCAP Composer Awards and International Songwriting Awards.
TCA
FREE Screening!!
The highly acclaimed film documentary of the life and untimely death of the legendary Lee Morgan is a stunner. And a Q&A after the film with legendary drummer (and friend of Lee Morgan) Tootie Heath made it an especially memorable night.
"Spellbinding…Hallucinatory…Exuberant"
– The Guardian
"A visual and textural triumph"
– Variety
Saturday, November 13
Django Festival Allstars
The 2017 Frank Morgan Taos Jazz Festival was supported by generous contributions from The Richard B. Siegel Foundation, Harwood Museum, Martin Foundation For The Creative Arts, Taos County Lodgers Tax Fund, Kind World Foundation and Taos Inn. We thank you all!