7pm EDT via ZOOM (link sent in confirmation email)
$20/$10 members
THE LOCKDOWN SESSIONS - Every Saturday. Hear a set recorded by musicians in their respective lockdown stations, and join us for for the culminating concert where each musician will present their set and answer any questions & chat.
Reservations are required at $15/$5 members. We will send you a Zoom link with instructions approx. 30 minutes before the Lockdown Session.
Each Lockdown Session will be recorded on the day, so anyone who purchases a ticket will have access post-concert.
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS
ANTONIO SANCHEZ
Born in Mexico City, 5 time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez began playing the drums at age five and performed professionally in his early teens in Mexico’s rock, jazz and latin scenes.
Since moving to New York City in 1999, Antonio has become one of the most sought-after drummers in the international jazz scene. Following 18 years and 9 albums as one of the most revered collaborators with guitarist/composer Pat Metheny, he also has recorded and performed with many other most prominent artists like Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden and Toots Thielmans.
In 2014 Sanchez’s popularity soared when he scored Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) which ended up fetching 4 Academy awards (including best picture) and for which Antonio won a Grammy award. Additional film/tv projects include EPIX network's Get Shorty and Hippopotamus among others.
LIONEL LOUEKE
Starting out on vocals and percussion, Lionel Loueke picked up the guitar late, at age 17. After his initial to exposure to jazz in Benin, he left to attend the National Institute of Art in nearby Ivory Coast. In 1994 he left Africa to pursue jazz studies at the American School of Modern Music in Paris, then went to the U.S. on a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. From there, Loueke gained acceptance to the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, where he encountered his Gilfema bandmates Biolcati, Nemeth, Parlato and other musicians with whom he would form lasting creative relationships.
Praised by his mentor Herbie Hancock as "a musical painter," Lionel Loueke combines harmonic sophistication, soaring melody, a deep knowledge of African music, and conventional and extended guitar techniques to create a warm and evocative sound of his own. JazzTimes wrote "Loueke's lines are smartly formed and deftly executed. His ear-friendly melodicism draws both from traditional African sources and a lifetime of closely studying the likes of Jim Hall and George Benson, and his rhythmic shifts come quickly and packed with surprises."
STEVE LEHMAN
Described as “a state-of-the-art musical thinker” and a "dazzling saxophonist,” by The New York Times, Steve Lehman (b. New York City, 1978) is a composer, performer, educator, and scholar who works across a broad spectrum of experimental musical idioms. Lehman’s pieces for large orchestra and chamber ensembles have been performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), So Percussion, the American Composers Orchestra, the JACK Quartet, the PRISM Saxophone Quartet, and the Talea Ensemble. His recent recording, Mise en Abîme (Pi, 2014) was called the #1 Jazz Album of the year by NPR Music and The Los Angeles Times. And his previous recording, Travail, Transformation & Flow (Pi, 2009), was chosen as the #1 Jazz Album of the year by The New York Times.
The recipient of a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship and a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Award, Lehman is an alto saxophonist who has performed and recorded nationally and internationally with his own ensembles and with those led by Anthony Braxton, Vijay Iyer, Bennie Maupin, Jason Moran, Georgia-Anne Muldrow, George Lewis, Meshell Ndegeocello, and HPrizm of Antipop Consortium, among many others. His recent electro-acoustic music has focused on the development of computer-driven models for improvisation, based in the Max/MSP programming environment. Lehman’s work has been favorably reviewed in Artforum, Downbeat Magazine, The New York Times, Newsweek, and The Wire, and on National Public Radio, the BBC, and SWR.
GABRIEL CHAKARJI
Gabriel Chakarji is a young pianist and composer who is deeply passionate and committed to the power of music. Originally from Caracas Venezuela, he grew up in a multicultural environment full of music that expands from afro-Venezuelan Folk, Caribbean, Brazilian music to Jazz and Gospel. Gabriel began studying classical piano at the age of nine. After high school, he studied composition at Ars Nova School of music. In his teens, he took part of the Simon Bolívar Jazz Big Band touring with this orchestra to New York and Boston in 2011. His experience, versatility, and passion made him one of the most sought-after pianists in his country. His participation in the Album “Tiempo” of Linda Briceño earned him a nomination for the Latin Grammy Awards in 2013.
At age 21 Gabriel moved to New York with a scholarship to study at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music under the guidance of great masters of jazz and improvised music like Reggie Workman, George Cables, Billy Harper and Jane Ira Bloom. He quickly became active in the scene of the city performing in venues like Dizzy’s Club, Blue note, Smalls Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Fat Cat, Cornelia Street, BonaFide, Subrosa, etc. In 2016 he performed at the late night set at the Blue Note duo with Gadi Lehavi after Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock’s duo set. That same year he toured to the Bern Jazz festival and Mexico City Jazz Festival. Appearances as a sideman with numerous artists such as Luisito Quintero, Linda Briceño, Jhon Benitez, Ali Bello and much more. Gabriel is also involved in the education program of JALC (Jazz at Lincoln center) giving concerts and workshops in public schools.
The influences of cultures, rhythms and harmonies became Gabriel’s own personality. His compositions and playing are rooted in social justice and multiculturalism.