Artists Announced for NJPAC’s Preliminary Fall Jazz Season
Stanley Jordan by Jay Matsueda
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center at One Center Street in Newark has announced its shows for the preliminary fall season of jazz. Tickets went on sale last week for the following.
Omar Sosa
November 8
The eccentric eclectic Cuban pianist-composer Omar Sosa will bring in his Quarteto Americanos of San Francisco heavyweights like bassist Ernesto Mazar Kindelan, drummer Josh Jones and main man Sheldon Brown on sax, clarinet and flute for an evening of Latin Jazz plus pizzazz. The New York Times called Sosa “one of those rare birds whose keyboard skills are near those of Chuck Corea and Chucho Valdes.”
Arturo Sandoval
November 13
He’s better than ever at 75! The legendary Cuban trumpet virtuoso—who still practices every day—has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama, was a Kennedy Center honoree last year, has 10 Grammy Awards, and was portrayed by Andy Garcia in the 2000 film For Love Or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story. “Freedom,” he says, “is the most important word in any dictionary in any language in the world.” His brand of Afro-Cuban, percolating jazz and Latin-Jazz is the gold standard.
Stanley Jordan Plays Jimi
November 22
“This is my fantasy Jimi Hendrix concert if Jimi were still alive and playing today,” says guitarist Stanley Jordan, 65. Jordan was 11 when Jimi died. That’s when he took up guitar. The Princeton grad eventually developed his signature two-handed touch technique, taken right from Jimi’s own left-handed tapping.
(Story continues below…)
Nat Adderly, Jr. Quartet
November 23
West Orange pianist-composer-arranger Nat Adderly. Jr.—who was Musical Director for Luther Vandross for many years—will be the featured artist on another installment of NJPAC’s “Dorthaan’s Place,” its popular Sunday jazz brunch series at the NICO Kitchen + Bar curated by Newark’s First Lady of Jazz, Dorthaan Kirk. Seatings are at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition
November 23
This 14th Annual Sarah Vaughan Competition gets underway at 3:00 with a cast of celebrity judges that will include trumpeter Jon Faddis, bassist Christian McBride, and vocalist Janis Siegel of Manhattan Transfer. The Divine One, Sarah Vaughan, is “Newark’s greatest musical gift to the world,” according to NJPAC.
For more information, visit https://www.njpac.org/tickets-events/.