The mountains. The mesa. And world-class jazz… year 'round.
Jazz happens here
Saturday, February 7– 7:00 PM
Harwood Museum
The Marcos Varela Trio
Emelio Modeste, sax; Michael Ode, drums; Marcos Varela, bass
$35 / $30 (Harwood & Taos Jazz Bebop Society members)
Bassist Marcos Varela is known for his powerful tone, musical sensitivity and great versatility. Currently a member of the Gary Bartz Quartet and the Julia Keith Native American Big Band, Varela has worked with Billy Hart, George Cables, the Mingus Big Band, Geri Allen, Wynton Marsalis, Sullivan Fortner, Theo Croker, and The Last Poets, among countless others.
Varela shines also as a composer. His San Ygnacio Project is music inspired by his indigenous borderland heritage– blending colorful landscapes of sound with uptempo bop and romantic ballads.
Joining Varela are two exciting young players: Emilio Modeste, saxophonist, the lead horn player for Stanley Clark's N4EVER band, and Cindy Blackman-Santana; and Michael Ode, drummer, currently with Kenny Garret.
Harwood Museum of Art, 238 Ledoux St, Taos, NM
Sunday, February 15– 12:00 PM (DOORS)
Daleee Jazz Brunch
The Swamp Cats!
Bringing some soulful, high-energy Mardi Gras-style fun!
$10 at the door– cash please
Taos Jazz Bebop Society members: FREE
The Swamp Cats ("Los Ciénegatos") is a high-energy brass ensemble founded in 2012 by Santa Fe percussionist and bandleader Milton J. Villarrubia III. Rooted in the world-famous New Orleans brass and marching band tradition, the group features top New Mexico instrumentalists– thoroughly steeped in the elixir of New Orleans jazz– playing trombone, trumpet, tenor sax/clarinet, sousaphone, snare drum and bass drum to deliver a "massive, soulful, and captivating sound."
Daleee at KTAOS Solar Center, 9 NM-150, Taos, NM
ARRIVE AT 12:00 FOR BRUNCH SERVICE. SHOW STARTS AT 1:00
Sunday, May 17– 7:30 PM
Taos Center for the Arts
The Louis Hayes Quintet
"Celebrating Tootie Heath"
Hayes has been leader or co-leader of a series of electrifying groups of jazz luminaries such as Freddie Hubbard, Kenny Barron, Junior Cooke, Woody Shaw and Dexter Gordon. He has played and recorded with John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, J J Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, Wes Montgomery, Joe Henderson, Cedar Walton, George Benson as well as Ravi Shankar, John Lee Hooker and others. That amounts to nearly 800 recordings– an amazing career that continues with the Louis Hayes Quintet. Now, at 88, and on tour with the band to promote their new release, ARTFORM REVISITED…you'll hear "quintessential jazz"– JAZZ TIMES. "Hayes' wrist has lost none of it's elasticity or lightness. He leads his troop masterfully…"– CULTURE JAZZ.
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​​Taos Center for the Arts, 133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte, Taos, NM
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Louis Hayes and Tootie Heath were both named NEA Jazz Masters of the Drums. The two men shared a birthday– May 31– and were such tight friends that they phoned each other almost every day for humor, stories and shop-talk. It was a bond of love and respect… and deserves a celebration.
Louis Hayes came up in the fertile musical ground of 1950's Detroit with the likes of Yusef Lateef, Kenny Burrell, Doug Watkins and others. At the tender age of 18, he found himself in New York as a member of the great Horace Silver Quintet. Later he joined Cannonball Adderley, where he propelled the band to joyous musical heights. In the mid-'60's he joined piano master Oscar Peterson, during which time he and bassist Sam Jones became known as the "dynamic duo"– the most powerful rhythm duo in jazz.
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Jazz happens here
The mountains. The mesa. And world-class jazz… year 'round.