Below, you’ll find details on all jazz programming at Birdland Jazz Club and Birdland Theater running May 9 – May 22. Artists appearing at Birdland Jazz Club include Bill Charlap Trio and Solo, NYC All-City Latin Ensemble and the Fat Cats, Eliane Elias, and George Gee Orchestra.
Downstairs at Birdland Theater, you’ll find Mafalda Minnozzi, Kristen Lee Sergeant, The Royal Bopsters with special guest Sheila Jordan, Oz Noy with Ugonna Okegwo and Ray Marchica and Alexa Tarantino Quartet. Regular events include David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, Frank Vignola’s Guitar Night, Birdland Big Band and Arturo O’Farrill & The Latin Jazz Ensemble.
May 9 (Monday) 8:30 PM – Birdland Theater
Mafalda Minnozzi
The Italian singer-songwriter Mafalda Minnozzi is an international sensation, having performed in over 1,000 concerts on 3 continents, released 18 CDs and 2 DVDs over 35 glorious years. Equipped with a purring voice and an unmatched imagination, Minnozzi has been utterly prolific, releasing 5 albums since the pandemic began and 2 documentary films. The first, SENSORIAL – Portraits in Bossa and Jazz, stayed on the Jazz Top 100 for 34 weeks straight. She followed that with April 2021’s To Naples – Port of the Soul, blending Brazilian and Italian rhythms and approaches; then, in June 2021, she released PRIMAVERA and ESTATE in September. In October, she released CINEMA CITY – Jazz Scenes From Italian Film, and in her performance at Birdland, entitled “FOTOGRAMMI – Scenes from Life and Music by Mafalda Minnozzi,” the songstress, backed by an all-star Brazilian ensemble, combines these latest projects into an enveloping narrative. The result is sure to be both universal and-as her intimate, sweetly-styled vocals always are-highly personal.
$30 tables / $20 bar + $20 food/drink minimum
May 10-14 (Tuesday-Saturday) 7:00 & 9:30 PM (5/3-5); 8:30 & 10:30 PM (5/6-7) – Birdland Jazz Club / Livestream Event, May 12 9:30
Bill Charlap Trio
One of the world’s leading pianists for the past thirty years, Bill Charlap served for many years as Tony Bennett‘s primary pianist, all the while leading his working trio with legendary drum/bass team Kenny Washington and Peter Washington to the heights of jazz honor. Nominated for a Grammy for the records Somewhere: The Songs of Leonard Bernstein and Live at the Village Vanguard, this trio’s communication is finely tuned, its energy boundless, its taste immaculate, and its repertoire expansive. Working together, these three gentleman of jazz are known for their telepathic connection, admirable restraint, and tight arrangements of standard material. They perform at Birdland for two consecutive weeks. Jazz fans will regret missing this band!
$40 tables / $30 bar + $20 food/drink minimum
May 11 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM – Birdland Theater
David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band
Inspired by the noble jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton and their colleagues, David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band breathes life and passion into America’s own great art form. Now in its 18th year of residency at Birdland,