Featuring Performances by:
Alex Al * Kenny Barron * Gary Bartz * George Cables * Kim Clarke * Chris Colangelo * The Dirty Dozen Brass Band * James Genus * Keyon Harrold * Antonio Hart * Billy Hart * Craig Haynes * Vincent Herring * Sheila Jordan * Steve Jordan *Dave Kikoski * Kiyoshi Kitagawa * Russell Malone * Roy McCurdy * Gary Novak * Bill O’Connell * Jimmy Owens * Patrice Rushen * Tom Ranier * Tom Scott * Jaleel Shaw * Erena Terakubo * Nasheet Waits * Buster Williams * David Wong * Nioka Workman’s Firey String Sistas
Musical Director: Steve Jordan
“BIRD CALLS” will commemorate the August 29 centenary of bebop titan Parker, who wrote his name large in jazz history and revolutionized music during a furiously creative career before his untimely death at 34 years of age in 1955. Jazz critic Gary Giddins has noted that Parker was “the only musician after Louis Armstrong to influence all of jazz and almost every aspect of American music – its instrumentalists and singers, composers and arrangers.”
The show will also feature special appearances by JFA Board Member Danny Glover, Emmy, Tony, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Jeffrey Wrightand GRAMMY-winning historian Phil Schaap, reminiscences by jazz legends Sheila Jordan, Sonny Rollins, Roy Haynes and Barry Harris, and archival material focusing on Charlie Parker’s contributions to American music.