Billing: Lean On Me: José James Celebrates Bill Withers

Minneapolis born, New York-based singer James defies convenient categorization as a quick listen to any of the nine full-length titles released since his 2008 debut The Dreamer might suggest. Instead James’ recordings suggest a restless spirit equally interested in paying homage to his influences, as he is in forging a new path by introducing disparate elements of hip-hop, neo-soul, and classic funk. From covering Rahsaan Roland Kirk on his debut, to 2015’s tribute to Billie Holiday Yesterday I Had The Blues, to last year’s Bill Withers inspired Lean On Me, James does not merely interpret the material, but infuses his own musical stamp on it. Regardless of stylistic choice, James is a smooth baritone with great musical intuition and taste, able to deliver a vocal in a manner that manages to be simultaneously intense and intimate, harrowing without being cloying, and always provocative.

Six time GRAMMY Award nominee, vocalist Freelon received her first major musical break when pianist Ellis Marsalis recommended her to Columbia Records after working with her in the early 90s, leading to her self-titled debut in 1992. Since that time, the smooth-toned Freelon has gone on to become one of the most consistently respected singers of the past 25 years, releasing a dozen critically acclaimed recordings including 1993’s ballad driven Heritage, 2000’s gospel-influenced Soul Call, and 2002’s daring Songs of Wonder, a tribute to the inimitable Stevie Wonder. Freelon is also no stranger to theatre and film, including being featured writer, composer and producer of The Clothesline Muse, a multidisciplinary production that incorporates elements of music, art and spoken word.

Israeli composer/drummer Yogev Shetrit has been active on the world fusion music scene for the past twenty years, the majority of which was spent in the funk and hip-hop ensemble Coolooloosh, which received international exposure by extensive tours all over the world. In addition, Shetrit worked primarily as a sideman, recording numerous sessions and performing extensively in collaboration with traditional Israeli ensembles. Shetrit also had an opportunity to work with Cuban piano legend Chuchito Valdez’s ensemble when he toured Israel. In addition, he played with Tia Fuller, Kevin Mahogany, Paulo Morello and others. More recently, Shetrit chose to focus on his own compositions, finally forming his own trio in 2015, with Stav Goldberg on piano and Noam Tanzer on bass, Shetrit recorded his first studio album as a bandleader and composer in 2016. The album, titled "New Path", was launched in September 2016 and since then, the Yogev Shetrit trio has toured all over the world in many Festivals and clubs.The “New Path” project contains instrumental pieces composed, arranged and produced by Shetrit. He elegantly fuses traditional North African music, Gnawa, Andalusian music from his Moroccan heritage, along with contemporary jazz, Jewish and Mediterranean music.

Back by popular demand after their stellar performance at last year’s Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Saxophonist, clarinetist and vocalist Aurora Nealand has become a prominent force within the New Orleans jazz community since arriving in 2005. While most recognized for fronting her traditional jazz band, The Royal Roses, the musically restless Nealand is involved in numerous other projects, including a rockabilly group, her solo project The Monocle, and endeavors in the improvisational music scene. Her five recordings as a leader suggest a playful, versatile musician that wishes to celebrate the past, while also keeping a keen eye on the future. One of the Crescent City’s most revered and sought after pianists since making it his home in the mid-1980s; Tom McDermott has been a prolific purveyor of the New Orleans sound, having recorded nearly 20 recordings under his name. A thoroughly entertaining pianist steeped in tradition, McDermott is equally comfortable playing the music of Jelly Roll Morton or one of his own crafty compositions, which draw on his dazzling dexterity and innate sense of swing.

Representing the vanguard of the younger generation of modern Cuban jazz, Havana native and pianist Jorge Luis Pacheco has received plenty of critical acclaim over the past decade, including at the International Piano Competition in Montreux Switzerland in 2014. Pacheco’s charismatic blend of traditional Cuban music, with the more extroverted extrapolations of forward thinking Cuban jazz has won over fans around the globe. To date, Pacheco has recorded 3 sessions as a leader, each of which demonstrates his fiery technique and dizzying dexterity.

Bob DeFlores grew up in Hollywood immersed in showbiz culture--his parents were actors who appeared in film, on radio and in nightclubs. Bob began collecting and restoring films in 1953, initially as a hobby. Eventually he quit his job as an art director for a Minneapolis architectural firm to devote all of his time to researching and preserving films. Over the years, he amassed a library of over 6,000 works, including rare newsreels, cartoon shorts, sports footage, full-length features, and jazz and big band material. Among his rarest finds are the only known prints of Outside the Law with Lon Chaney (1921), Fatal Marriage with Lillian Gish (1916, originally titled Enoch Arden), and Song O'My Heart with tenor John McCormack (1930). But Bob's focus is early jazz and big band films, and particularly films of Bing Crosby. His collection includes rare prints of Please (1933), The Fifth Freedom (1951), and Here Is My Heart (1934). Bob developed a personal relationship with Bing, providing him with copies of rare, assumed lost films; in exchange, Bing allowed Bob to borrow and copy materials from his private film vault. In addition to his years as a collector, Bob has put together film programs for hundreds of organization, lectures on film preservation at schools, and has assisted television stations assemble documentaries, tributes and special broadcasts, including Minneapolis in 19 Minutes and Ken Burns' Jazz and Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. He supplies the Grammy Awards and Kennedy Center Honors with rare footage.