NJPAC presents one of the most exciting ensembles in American jazz today, the all-star octet SFJAZZ Collective, led by the brilliant sax virtuoso Joshua Redman, celebrating jazz as a vital, ever-changing art form with special guest The Brad Mehldau Trio in one remarkable evening at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 25 at 8 pm in Prudential Hall.
Tickets are $50, $44, $36, $28 and $17, and may be purchased by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, or by visiting the NJPAC website at www.njpac.org. This performance is part of the Wachovia Jazz series. All jazz events at NJPAC are presented in cooperation with WBGO/88/3FM.
An all-star jazz ensemble comprising eight of the finest performer/composers at work in jazz today, the SFJAZZ Collective - launched in 2004 by SFJAZZ, the West Coast's largest non-profit jazz institution and the presenter of the annual San Francisco Jazz Festival - is in the midst of an international concert tour, led by Joshua Redman. In each performance, as at NJPAC, the program will feature the classic works of Herbie Hancock, newly arranged by Grammy-winner Gil Goldstein. Joining the group will be the critically acclaimed Brad Mehldau Trio, led by the dazzling pianist/composer Brad Mehldau.
SFJAZZ Collective's line-up includes returning members Bobby Hutcherson, Joshua Redman, Nicholas Payton, Miguel Zenon, Renee Rosnes, Matt Penman, Eric Harland, and new member Andre Hayward. According to Redman, Herbie Hancock was a natural choice for this season: “All of the members of the Collective have been hugely influenced by Hancock as an instrumentalist, a bandleader, a creative artist and a composer." It was Hancock's ties to Collective member Bobby Hutcherson and his influence on younger generations of jazz musicians that made him an ideal choice. Ultimately, though, it was Hancock's eclecticism, open-mindedness, and flexibility that made him the composer of choice for the Collective. Hancock shares with the Collective a willingness to explore, a sense of adventure and a real commitment to try different things.
Last season, the Collective's focus was on the music of John Coltrane, and the resulting album recently won praise from The New York Times - “a vivid and engaging acoustic jazz outing, quite possibly one of the best we'll hear this year ... The rare accomplishment of the SFJAZZ Collective is that it can contain such fierce talent without succumbing to it."
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in the heart of an emerging downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States. Home of the Grammy Award-winning New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, NJPAC has been widely cited as a catalyst in the revitalization of New Jersey's largest city, attracting over 4 million visitors (including more than 800,000 children) in its first eight years of operation.
This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
WCBS-TV/CBS2 is the official television partner for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
NJPAC is a wheelchair accessible facility and provides assistive services such as TTY ticket purchase, designated seating, Sennheiser infrared listening devices and seat cushions.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
