JazzBuffalo and Road Less Traveled Productions have teamed up to launch a new jazz concert series that brings jazz back to the theatre district of downtown Buffalo. Concerts will be held in the historic lobby of the old Forbes Theatre and Buffalo Christian Center, built in 1914, located at 500 Pearl Street near Tupper.
The new jazz concert series will take place on scheduled Wednesdays from 7 pm to 9 pm with a modest entrance fee of $10 and will offer a lobby bar with seating and standing room. The series will take place throughout the 2016/2017 production season of the Road Less Traveled Productions Theatre. A total of 7 Wednesdays in the fall and 9 Wednesdays in winter and spring of 2017. To kick off the series on Wednesday, September 14th JazzBuffalo has scheduled one of Buffalo’s premier leaders in Jazz, Phil DiRe.
Phil DiRe and Friends will consist of Phil DiRe on tenor sax, Bobby Militello on alto sax, Jim Colemon on bass, Bobby Jones on piano, and Lou Marino on drums. An ensemble representing many years of jazz in Buffalo.
The fall jazz concert series will also include:
- September 21: see the Greg Millar Quartet, the former Charles Earland guitarist leads a group featuring Ron Peterson on the real B3 Hammond organ, Rey Scott (formerly Sun Ra) on sax, and Abdul-Rahman Qadir on drums
- September 28: The Mary McMahon Project, which will feature 2014 JazzBuffalo Female Vocalist winner Mary McMahon along with Dave Schiavone, Lisa Hasselback, Wayne Moose, Rick Strauss, Tom Kasperek, and Tony Zambito
- November 2: Mark Marinaccio and Friends provides a 9-piece band performing a fusion of jazz, funk, and pop of all originals you won’t want to miss!
- November 9: the fantastic jazz vocalist Cindy Miller from Rochester, who performed at this year’s Buffalo News Albright-Knox Summer Jazz Series and at the Lewiston Jazz Festival, brings her jazz vocalese styling with Wayne Moose on bass
- November 16: Carina and the Six String Preacher have built quite the following of their special brand of jazz noir arrangements, which features Carina Mastrantonio on vocals and Vincent Mastrantonio on guitar
- December 7: The Hard Bob Project will deliver Kelly Bucheger arranged classic hard bop and soul jazz from the music of Lou Donaldson, Gene Ammons, and others. The band will feature Kelly Bucheger, Tim Clarke, Lisa Hasselback, and others.
- December 14: John Bacon, Jr. and Jazz Current closes out the fall portion of this series with John Bacon, Jr. originals and arranged tunes featuring some of our brightest young jazz artists in Dann Ziemann, Alec Dube, Jared Tinkham ,Brian Tervo, and Alex McArthur.
JazzBuffalo thanks, Scott Behrend, John Hurly, and Gina Gandolfo-Lopez for their supportive alliance to bring jazz back to the theatre district of downtown Buffalo!
This is another concert series presented by the non-profit organization JazzBuffalo (Greater Buffalo Jazz Society) to help build jazz awareness and appreciation in Greater Buffalo and to keep jazz alive in WNY. Providing opportunities for both jazz musicians and audiences to experience the American Art form we call jazz.
Keep Jazz Alive In WNY!!
