Justin Haynes Plays the Music of Keith Jarrett
presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, April 4, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Keith Jarrett is widely acknowledged to be one of the most accomplished and influential pianists in modern music. Celebrated in both the classical and jazz worlds, Jarrett came to wider attention in bands led by Art Blakey, Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis before establishing his ground breaking trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack Dejohnette. Join pianist Justin Haynes, bassist Jon Hamar and Hunter Deacon as they salute one of the living legends of jazz.

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Bond Goes Jazz with Chad Volkers and David Slack
presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, March 7, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Bond. James Bond. The series has not only created some of the most popular cinema of the past half-century, it has also produced some truly great music. In this special performance, guitarist Chad Volkers and bassist Dave Slack dive into this vast catalogue to offer their distinctive interpretations of this classic material.

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Will Boyd Plays the Music of Kenny Garrett
presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, February 7, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Saxophonist and composer Kenny Garrett has been one of the dominant voices in modern jazz since his emergence on the international scene in the 1980s. He cut his teeth alongside Knoxville legend Donald Brown in bands led by Art Blakey and Freddie Hubbard and also had a productive stint with Miles Davis before becoming a band leader himself in the 1990s. Join Will Boyd and company as they pay tribute to one of modern era’s most influential saxophonists.

Larry Vincent Plays Larry Vincent
presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, January 3, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Guitarist and composer Larry Vincent returns to Jazz Lunch to play a set of his own original music. A native of Venezuela who has called Knoxville home since the late 1980s, Vincent’s music draws from a variety of influences and captures a kaleidoscope of moods, encompassing whisper-soft ballads and South American flavored pieces on the acoustic guitar, to straight ahead jazz and rock inspired fusion on the electric.

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JAZZ LUNCH @ THE SQUARE ROOM

presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, December 6, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Vocalist Kayley Farmer returns to Jazz Lunch just in time for the holidays to sing spirited versions of classic favorites. The song list includes Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Christmas Song, Winter Wonderland, White Christmas and others.

Kayley Farmer - vocals
Scott Simmerman - piano
Chad Volkers - guitar
Jay Farmer - bass
Keith Brown - drums

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JAZZ LUNCH @ THE SQUARE ROOM

presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, November 1, noon to 1pm
The Square Room, 4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Alto saxophonist Tim Green is one of the most highly-regarded young musicians on the international jazz scene today. A native of Baltimore, Green has performed with the likes of Christian McBride, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Michael Bublé, Queen Latifah, Hubert Laws and many others. For this special performance, Tim will be performing music made famous by two of the most influential alto saxophonists of all time: Charlie "Bird" Parker and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley.  

Tim Green - alto saxophone
Hunter Deacon – drums
Bill Swann – piano
Taylor Coker - bass

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JAZZ LUNCH @ THE SQUARE ROOM

presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, October 4, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Mike Baggetta / Jerome Harris / Billy Mintz - Spectre

In this first performance on an East Coast tour, join guitarist Mike Baggetta, bass guitarist Jerome Harris and drummer Billy Mintz for a very rare chance to hear them performing, among other pieces, music from their latest album, Spectre.

Spectre was recognized as one of the best new Jazz albums of 2016 by the New York City Jazz Record and Guitar Moderne among other publications.

“NY guitar poet Mike Baggetta's new recording with his potent trio veers daringly and compellingly from patient, elegiac freedom to searing, oozing sludge rock without the slightest hesitation or apology. One cannot resist its myriad charms. Cool!” - Nels Cline, Guitarist

“Mike Baggetta makes stealthy, mysterious music … he’s trying to do something personal with collective improvisation without ever getting in the way of beauty.” - Ben Ratliff, New York Times

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JAZZ LUNCH @ THE SQUARE ROOM

presented by Melinda Grimac, Alliance Sotheby's International Realty

Wednesday, September 6, noon to 1pm
The Square Room
4 Market Square, Knoxville, TN 37902
$15 includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4
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Miles Davis' landmark album Bitches Brew was his first recording to sell more than half a million copies. A major source of inspiration for jazz, funk and rock musicians alike and a progenitor of jazz fusion, the album won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 1971. Join Matt Nelson and company as the revisit this classic material.

Matt Nelson - bass
Joe Jordan - trumpet
Ben Cohen - saxophone
Chuck Mullican - saxophone
Seth Hopper - violin
Mike Baggetta - guitar
Jake Smith - guitar
Hunter Deacon - drums

 

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Join vocalist Kayley Burton Farmer as she explores the wealth of songs from the Great American Songbook on the topic of the Big Apple. Songs to be featured include Autumn in New York, Lullaby of Birdland, Broadway, Manhattan and others.

Kayley Burton Farmer - vocals
Scott Simmerman - piano
Chad Volkers - guitar
Jay Farmer - bass
Keith Brown - drums

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Join guitarist Chad Volkers and friends as they explore the smoother side of the guitar in jazz. Artists whose work will be featured include Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Joe Pass, with compositions by Donald Fagen, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bob James and Stevie Wonder.

Chad Volkers - guitar
Jason Thompson - saxophones
Justin Haynes - piano
Taylor Coker - bass
Martin Whitaker - drums
David Knight - percussion

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Though sometimes overlooked, the quintet with a front line of trumpet and trombone has a rich history in straight ahead jazz. Giants like Clark Terry & Bob Brookmeyer, Woody Shaw & Steve Turre, JJ Johnson and Nat Adderley, et al, left behind an enormous body of work. For this special concert, trumpeter Thomas Heflin (a former KJO member) and trombonist Mitch Butler team up to pay tribute to the great masters of brass who pioneered this exciting sound.

Thomas Heflin - trumpet
Mitch Butler - trombone
Keith Brown - piano
Tommy Sauter - bass
Kenneth Brown - drums

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Many of Knoxville's music fans are aware that the University of Tennessee has a new bass professor, but most don't yet realize what a gem they actually have. Jon Hamar is an extremely versatile player in both the jazz and classical realms. What is less well known is that he is also a composer of enormous depth. Join us for a special program highlighting the many talents of one of Knoxville’s newest musical treasures. 

Jon Hamar - double bass and composer
Mark Boling - guitar
Mike Baggetta - guitar
Keith Brown - drum set

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$15 admission includes a delicious lunch buffet served up by Café 4

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Mike Baggetta - Guitar / Electronics
Matt Nelson - Bass
Nolan Nevels - Drums

Drawing from the works of the Free-Jazz pioneer, saxophonist and composer Ornette Coleman, Mike Baggetta has assembled a group of fearless improvisors with whom to reinterpret Coleman’s music with a newfound experimentalism paying tribute to the spirit of its creator. Expect classic Ornette tunes like Lonely Woman and Ramblin’ next to lesser known masterpieces like What Reason Could I Give and War Orphans, among others.

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“Mike Baggetta makes stealthy, mysterious music... he's trying to do something personal with collective improvisation without ever getting in the way of beauty.”

- Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

“NY guitar poet Mike Baggetta… veers daringly and compellingly from patient, elegiac freedom to searing, oozing sludge rock without the slightest hesitation or apology. Cool!”
- Nels Cline, Guitarist

“There are plenty of guitarists with chops but few whose fingers can write and paint pictures this musically.”

- Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz

Mike Baggetta is a guitarist and composer from New York City, recently relocated to Knoxville, TN. It has been said that he is “a guitarist of slippery proficiency” (The New York Times), that his performances are “totally compelling” (Jazz Journal, UK) and that his melodic sense is truly beautiful” (Jazzreview.com).

Mike’s singular and very personal musical style seeks to blur the lines between composition and improvisation, while connecting a wide range of musical genres that influence him. He has earned accolades from the press that call this approach “…beguilingly atmospheric…” (Time Out New York) and that “Baggetta’s music [is] quietly transgressive… Even when he plays a lot of notes, his playing can sound almost static, as though ideas were being snagged out of thin air.” (The Hartford Courant)

Baggetta’s latest disc Spectre, his 4th release as a leader on the Fresh Sound New Talent label, features extensive use of live sampling as an integral part of the compositions, alongside Jerome Harris on acoustic bass guitar and Billy Mintz on drums. He has also previously released 4 recordings of his quartet music featuring Jason Rigby, Eivind Opsvik, Cameron Brown, George Schuller and RJ Miller, in addition to several albums by his co-led duo TIN/BAG with West Coast trumpeter Kris Tiner.

Mike Baggetta has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Town Hall, The Alternative Guitar Summit, Gateshead Jazz Festival and many other leading concert venues worldwide. He has worked with David Torn, Donny McCaslin, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Jerome Harris, Dominique Eade, Nels Cline, David Wax Museum, Tim Berne, Craig Taborn, Ches Smith, Tyshawn Sorey, Jon Irabagon, Gerald Cleaver, Greg Tardy, Adam Kolker, Billy Mintz, Cameron Brown, Tom Harrell, Jamie Baum, Jeff Hirshfield, Conrad Herwig, George Schuller, Jason Rigby, Eivind Opsvik, Jeremy Udden, Tony Reedus, John Lindberg, Kevin Norton, Joseph C. Philips’ Numinous, Bill McHenry, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas and Ruth Brown among many others.

Baggetta is an Endorsing Artist for D’Addario Strings and has also received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award.

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$15 admission includes lunch buffet provided by Café 4.

Robinella Bailey is one of East Tennessee's most celebrated vocalists. She has toured the country, opening for the likes of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Nickel Creek, Earl Scruggs and many others and released half a dozen recordings under her own steam. I-Tunes music review proclaimed "Robinella's voice is so versatile - so utterly loose, carefree and expressive no matter what the material is - that she glides into every tune..." 

In this, her second appearance at Jazz Lunch, she pays tribute to the Queen of Soul, Ms. Aretha Franklin. Don't miss this very special performance.

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$15 admission includes delicious lunch buffet served up by Café 4.

At 6 feet, 6 inches tall, Dexter Gordon was both literally and figuratively a giant of the tenor saxophone. One of the earliest tenor men to adapt the language of bebop, Dexter was an important early influence on both John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. In a career that spanned more than 40 years, Dexter created an immediately recognizable sound, distinguishable by his large, dark tone, unique sense of swing, and playful melodic sense.

In this special program, saxophonist Jamel Mitchell will draw from Gordon's iconic recordings, performing classics such as "Fried Bananas," "Second Balcony Jump," "Cheesecake," "Laura" and others.

Featuring:
Jamel Mitchell, tenor saxophone
Keith L. Brown, piano
Jon Hamar, bass
Keith R. Brown, drums  

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$15 admission includes a delicious Lunch buffet served up by Café 4.

Join Hammond B-3 organist Matt Coker and his group as they perform music from guitarist John Scofield's first recorded collaboration with Medeski, Martin & Wood: A Go Go. Sure to be a funky, good time for all!

Matt Coker: Hammond B-3 organ
Larry Vincent: guitar
Ashton Williams: bass
Buddy Honeycutt: drums

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NYC guitarist Mike Baggetta debuts a new project in Knoxville, playing reinterpretations of the hits made famous by Tennessee’s own Patsy Cline. Audience members can look forward to Country classics like Crazy and Walkin’ After Midnight, heard through the arrangements of Baggetta’s modern Jazz and Improvised music style, with hints of the styles of Ornette Coleman and Paul Motian throughout… Not to be missed!

Mike Baggetta is a guitarist and composer living in New York City. It has been said that he is “a guitarist of slippery proficiency” (The New York Times), that his performances are “totally compelling” (Jazz Journal, UK) and that "his melodic sense is truly beautiful” (JazzReview.com). The Mike Baggetta Quartet has recently released Thieves and Secrets, their third album of Baggetta’s original works on the Fresh Sound New Talent label. In addition to leading the Quartet, Baggetta co-leads Tin/Bag, a new music duo with California trumpeter Kris Tiner, a trio featuring Jerome Harris on acoustic bass guitar and Billy Mintz on Drums, as well as being involved in many varied projects as a sideman. Mike’s singular and very personal musical style seeks to blur the lines between composition and improvisation, while connecting a wide range of musical genres. He has earned accolades from the press that call this approach “…beguilingly atmospheric…” (Time Out New York) and that “Baggetta’s music [is] quietly transgressive… Even when he plays a lot of notes, his playing can sound almost static, as though ideas were being snagged out of thin air” (The Hartford Courant). Baggetta has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center, Town Hall and many other leading concert venues worldwide. He has worked with Tom Harrell, Adam Kolker, Billy Mintz, Cameron Brown, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Dominique Eade, Jamie Baum, Jeff Hirshfield, Conrad Herwig, Ralph Bowen, Jeremy Udden, Jerome Harris, Tony Reedus, Donny McCaslin, John Lindberg, Gerald Cleaver, Jon Irabagon, Joseph C. Philips’ Numinous, Kevin Norton, Bill McHenry, Brad Shepik, Steve Cardenas, Ruth Brown and Tyshawn Sorey among many others. Baggetta has also received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award and is an Endorsing Artist for D’Addario Strings.

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Pianist Ahmad Jamal has been one of the most successful small group leaders in jazz for over five decades and one of the most influential innovators since Charlie Parker. A native of Pittsburgh, Jamal's economical and imaginative piano trio concept has been praised for having "all the surprise and dynamic variation of an imaginatively ordered big band." 

Originally from South Carolina, Justin Haynes came to Knoxville to study at the University of Tennessee under Donald Brown. Haynes has performed across the Southeast with trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, is a member of Robinella's band and serves as the Contemporary Music Director at Middlebrook Pike United Methodist Church. 

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Join vocalist Kelle Jolly and company as they pay tribute to legendary song writer Harold Arlen. Song selection includes "Stormy Weather," "That Old Black Magic," "If I only Had a Brain" and many others.

Will Boyd, woodwinds
Will Doran, piano
Clint Mullican, bass
 Nolan Nevels, drums

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Vocalist Kayley Farmer returns to Jazz Lunch to present selections from the beloved songbook of composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist Lorenz Hart. The pair collaborated on more than 500 songs for 28 different musicals over the course of their careers. Songs to be included in the program include "Everything I've Got," "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "This Can't Be Love," "My Romance," "Thou Swell" and others.

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Alex Norris is a native of Columbia, Maryland. After graduating from the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, Norris relocated to New York City in 1992 to pursue a career as a professional jazz trumpet artist. He has since earned an international reputation working in the bands of Betty Carter, Slide Hampton, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Chris Potter, Brian Blade, Carl Allen, John Patitucci, Mulgrew Miller, Greg Tardy and many others. 

Trumpeter Woody Shaw is widely considered to be one of the great innovators in jazz in the late 20th century. He forged a style that is as exciting to hear as it is difficult to master. The band will feature:

Alex Norris, trumpet
Greg Tardy, tenor saxophone
Keith Brown, piano
John Hamar, bass
Keith Brown, drums

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Special thanks to the Tennessee Arts Commission

Brothers Cannonball and Nat Adderley co-led one of the most successful groups in jazz during the 1960s. The Adderley Brothers initially played music in the hard-bop style, but soon forged a sound that came to be called "soul jazz," and in later years experimented with the avant-garde. The group produced several cross-over hits, most notably "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," a tune penned by pianist Joe Zawinul. KJO veteran musicians Mike Spirko (trumpet) and Will Boyd (saxophone) team up to present a retrospective of this group's most enduring work.

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Pianist Gene Harris pioneered a blues and gospel-infused approach that was at once warm, soulful, fiery and dynamic. His recording career began in the late 50's and continued until his death in 2000. During that span, he recorded dozens of albums as a leader and dozens more as a sideman. He is best remembered for his work with his own trio, The Three Sounds and as a member of the ever-popular Ray Brown Trio. 

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Herbie Hancock's 1974 album Thrust is widely considered a landmark in the jazz-funk idiom. The recording debuted two pieces that have since become standards of the modern jazz repertoire: "Actual Proof" and "Butterfly," and two other pieces that are less well known, but no less brilliant. Drummer Hunter Deacon and friends will recreate this classic album from beginning to end. Come prepared to get your groove on. Bell-bottoms, dashiki's and platform shoes are optional. 

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