2 shows: Wednesday November 8
2:00 PM (doors), 3:00 (show)– SOLD OUT!
6:00 PM (doors), 7:00 (show)– SOLD OUT!
Red-Hot & Red
Jazz Native Americans– back by popular demand!
Steve Figueroa- piano, Milo Jaramillo- bass,
Louie Speaking Eagle, drums
Taos Country Club, 54 Golf Course Dr, Ranchos De Taos, NM
They're back! And they'll put the festival into high gear on day one!
It's going to be a memorable night! The setting is Taos Country Club, where guests can drink and dine in very classy surroundings.
The band was a knock-out when they opened the Festival in 2021. We fully expect them to do it again!
Playing a tasty blend of classic jazz– spiced by Latin and sauced with R&B, the band is led by Steve Figueroa, the superb pianist from Laguna Pueblo. Rounding out the group are the groovy bassist Milo Jaramillo from Isleta Pueblo, and swinging drummer Louie Speaking Eagle, from the Zacatec Nation.
FREE Kick-Off Party!
Night Two– Welcoming a Special Guest from Japan
Thursday, November 9, 7:30 PM
Taos Center for the Arts
Taos Festival Allstars
With Special Guest– pianist Tadataka Unno
Doug Lawrence, tenor sax; John Webber, bass; Jerome Jennings, drums
$30 / $25 (Members)
World-traveling jazz greats invite a friend from far away for a brilliant night of music!
Doug Lawrence is known world-wide as the lead tenor saxophonist with the legendary Count Basie Orchestra. His enveloping sound and magnetic performance style have been thrilling audiences for many decades. Doug has worked with a veritable “who’s who of jazz”, including Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Jimmy Cobb, and Joey DeFrancesco. These days he tours and records with such top names as George Cables, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Peter Bernstein, Billie Eilish, Jerry Weldon and Steve Jordan. John Webber, bassist, has had long-running collaborations with Johnny Griffin, George Coleman, Eric Alexander and Jimmy Cobb– and performed with Etta Jones, Horace Silver, Milt Jackson, Brad Mehldau, and many others. Jerome Jennings is a drummer, activist, bandleader, sideman, and Emmy Award-winning composer. He has performed, toured and recorded with legendary musicians Sonny Rollins, Hank Jones, Gerald Wilson, Christian McBride, Ron Carter, George Cables, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton Marsalis (Jazz@Lincoln Center), Tadataka Unno, and The Count Basie Orchestra, among many others.
Night Two brings together three world-class jazz artists who have been featured in previous Taos Jazz festivals– Doug Lawrence, tenor sax; John Webber, bass; Jerome Jennings, drums–and an exciting guest artist, Tadataka Unno.
Tadataka Unno is Japan’s most famous jazz pianist. He first came to international prominence while being mentored by two of the greatest jazz piano legends– Hank Jones and George Cables. Soon after, he joined the legendary Jimmy Cobb Quartet and recorded and toured the world with the master drummer. He has toured and recorded with a great many of the biggest names in jazz including with trumpeter Roy Hargrove for the last two years of Mr. Hargrove’s life.
This will be a rare performance in the USA for Tada. Since he experienced a brutal assault in New York in 2020, he has been reluctant to visit the US. But when his mentor George Cables (who was originally scheduled to play) had a scheduling conflict, Tada happily agreed to replace him. We feel fortunate and honored to have him. It will be a joyful experience for him to take a star turn with old friends in Taos.
2023 FRANK MORGAN TAOS JAZZ FESTIVAL– November 8-11
Night Three– Big Guitar Magic
Friday, november 10, 7:30 PM
Harwood
SOLD OUT!
Dave Stryker Quartet
"an urban tale spinner, a sharp stylist…a storyteller in sound of the highest degree." –JAZZ TIMES
With Bob Fox, piano; Terry Burns, bass; John Trentacosta, drums
$30 / $24 (Members)
“I’ve followed Dave Stryker since his early days... he just gets better and better, with one of the most joyous feels around.” – Pat Metheny
Dave Stryker began his career playing gigs in Harlem with the soulful organist Jack McDuff. There he met Stanley Turrentine, which led to a nine year run, touring the world with Turrentine. Over his career Stryker has performed with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard, Jimmy Smith, James Moody, Jimmy Heath Eliane Elias, Joe Lovano and many others. Stryker’s band spent the summer of 2022 touring as the opener for Steely Dan. Recent gigs have included Birdland, The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and tours of Europe, Canada and Japan.
The players have a long history together–Pianist Bob Fox played with Stryker in the Stanley Turrentine band. Drummer John Trentacosta played with Dave Stryker in New York throughout the 8o’s in various musical settings. And bassist Terry Burns actually grew up with Stryker and has played with him many times over the years, so their performance in the Frank Morgan Taos Jazz Festival will be a happy time for the band– and a swinging time for all of us.
“Guitarist / composer Dave Stryker possesses golden tone, urgent style, and the kind of heated technique that can blow the roof off any gig. " – Ken Micallef, JAZZ TIMES
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Day 4 – Grace Kelly in Matinée AND Evening Concerts!
saturday, november 11,
Matinée show– 3:00 PM
taos center for the arts
Grace Kelly's Family Show!
An all-out fabulous Grace Kelly show– specially-priced for you and the kids.
With Adam Bravo, piano & synth; Cooper Appelt, acoustic & electric bass; Anthony Fung, drums
$25 / Family Group with kids. Teens 18 & under: FREE!
$30 / $25 (Members)
“Grace Kelly is a jazz innovator… Making jazz young” – BILLBOARD Magazine
Bring as many kids as you like! Pay at the door– or buy in advance!
Here's an amazing opportunity for your kids to see star saxophone/ vocalist Grace Kelly onstage– and maybe even be exposed to live jazz for the first time. We've set the ticket price at just $25 per family with kids, and FREE for teens– to really give young people a chance to get to know jazz. And who better to make it exciting than saxophonist-singer-songwriter-composer-band leader Grace Kelly! What a way to fall in love with jazz!
In addition to being a world-traveling jazz and pop superstar, Grace is also an experienced educator. Her collaboration with Leo P. in their innovative online "Saxy School” has a huge following. And last year she became the youngest member of the Board of Trustees of the Berklee College of Music.
Grace's kind of jazz is YOUNG, EXCITING and ACCESSIBLE​.
Grace and her dynamite band wll dip into jazz, pop, latin, blues and even hip-hop. She will play a medley of her "Gracified Arrangements" – songs that are featured on her upcoming album, "At the Mov​ies… Grace Kelly With Strings." You'll discover how she takes a familiar song and transforms it into a jazz song!​ Most of all, she'll entertain and inspire your kids… and THRILL YOU with the full-on Grace Kelly experience!
Keep scrolling for Grace's Evening Show!
Festival Finale!
saturday, november 11
Evening Show– 7:30 PM
taos center for the arts
SOLD OUT!
Grace Kelly- Festival Finale
She's back for another star turn– with more musical surprises from her exciting, expanding career.
With Adam Bravo, piano & synth; Cooper Appelt, acoustic & electric bass; Anthony Fung, drums
$30 / $25 (Members)
“Grace Kelly has an electric charisma that instantly ignites the room”– Jon Batiste
Saxophonist-singer-songwriter-composer-band leader Grace Kelly is a one-of-a-kind talent with an enormous and ever-expanding range. In fact you might even say she's "genre-fluid.” Her interests have so many offshoots– from classic jazz to electro-pop, to classy ballads with strings– that she can't be pinned down.
Touted for her scorching alto sax stylings and purring vocals, Grace has performed and recorded with renowned artists including Lin Manuel- Miranda, Dave Brubeck, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Huey Lewis, Harry Connick Jr., Gloria Estefan, Questlove, Jon Batiste and Wynton Marsalis. As a solo artist Grace has rocked the jazz world with sold-out concerts, 14 acclaimed albums and a resumé that includes performing at the Hollywood Bowl as well as being part of the house band for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” – all before reaching her mid-20s.
This summer she was named "Rising Star on the Baritone Sax" by Downbeat, no doubt due to her baritone sax collaborations with Leo P. in their innovative online "Saxy School.” Her knock-out performances with The Fearless Flyers, an offshoot of the Vulfpeck band, also rocked the bari-sax world.
Grace's upcoming project, “At The Movies: Grace Kelly with Strings”, features a fifteen-piece string ensemble inspired by “Charlie Parker with Strings.” She gives her favorite movie music (Disney Medley, Back To The Future, etc.) as well as songs by legendary film composers (John Williams, Ennio Morricone) and contemporary artists like Billie Eilish (No Time To Die from the latest James Bond film) fresh new arrangements, fully merging it with her signature sound. She's thrilled to have two special guests, Sean Jones and Cory Wong on the recording.
In addition to working on the album and maintaining a busy touring schedule, Grace makes collaborative videos with internet stars like Mia (the violinist on many videos) and Alexander (singer, Eurovision star) This is her 9th annual appearance in the Taos Jazz Festival. We fully expect more surprises from Grace on November 11.
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“A jazz innovator… Making jazz young” – BILLBOARD
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“Charismatic and immensely talented… all the chops in the world.”
–DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
The 2023 Frank Morgan Taos Jazz Festival is funded in part by the Richard B. Siegel Foundation, Taos County Lodger's Tax Fund, Kind World Foundation,
The Western States Arts Foundation (Westaf) and the National Endowment for the Arts,
the Town of Taos, and supported by the Historic Taos Inn.