Kick off the Catskill Jazz Factory's third annual Joy of Jazz Week at the Bard Spiegeltent for the Harlem on the Hudson Experience, a curated jam session featuring twenty of today’s best Jazz musicians and offering a program that recalls the classic jam sessions of the 1940s at now-legendary venues like Minton’s Playhouse.
Join the Catskill Jazz Factory in bringing the legacy of these classic jam sessions to life with a night of high-energy jazz, drinks, dancing and more. Curated by Rodney Jordan, bassist of the Marcus Roberts Trio, the night will feature performances by musicians participating in this year’s Catskill Jazz Factory residency including residency leader Marcus Roberts, Jason Marsalis, Ron Westray and Chris Washburne.
The classic jam sessions of the 1940s, notably in clubs dotting 52nd street as well as in Harlem at Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House, became the academies and proving grounds for all of Jazz's greatest legends. These sessions provided an opportunity for world-class musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Charlie Christian, and many more to explore new ideas and pioneer the development of bebop and modern jazz in the NYC music scene.
Through the Harlem on the Hudson event, the Catskill Jazz Factory seeks to re-capture the original spirit of the jam session in bringing back the same level of spontaneity and excitement of the classic sessions, while also instilling a sense of structure and collaboration.
Presented by Catskill Jazz Factory and Fisher Center.
About Rodney Jordan: Rodney Jordan is one of jazz's most recognizable and respected bassists and member of the Marcus Roberts Trio since 2009. A native of Memphis, Jordan studied Jazz and Classical music extensively as a youth, developing a versatility that would lead him to hold the principal bass chair in Albany, GA's Symphony Orchestra while also gigging extensively with Jazz masters like Marcus Printup, Mulgrew Miller, James Williams, Milt Jackson, George Coleman, and Russell Gunn. A devoted educator, Jordan joined the faculty in the School of Music at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL in 2001 where he now holds a rank of associate professor of jazz studies.