Craig Handy at Hen And Chicken

From the time he arrived in New York at age 23 in 1986, saxophonist Craig Handy was acknowledged as a musician with big, burly tenor sound, sharp wit, and above all, individuality.

Labelled “a young star,” by New York Times jazz critic Peter Watrous at the tender age of 27, Handy breathed life into these accolades through a number of important associations.
Tapped almost immediately by the pioneering and profoundly influential drummer Art Blakey, Handy went on to hold his own on the front line of legendary bebop drummer Roy Haynes’ band, work with South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, and weave sensuous obbligati behind Betty Carter on the kind of tunes most young artists are presumed not to understand. ...

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From the time he arrived in New York at age 23 in 1986, saxophonist Craig Handy was acknowledged as a musician with big, burly tenor sound, sharp wit, and above all, individuality.

Labelled “a young star,” by New York Times jazz critic Peter Watrous at the tender age of 27, Handy breathed life into these accolades through a number of important associations.
Tapped almost immediately by the pioneering and profoundly influential drummer Art Blakey, Handy went on to hold his own on the front line of legendary bebop drummer Roy Haynes’ band, work with South African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, and weave sensuous obbligati behind Betty Carter on the kind of tunes most young artists are presumed not to understand.

Since his early time with Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Handy has contributed his lyrical, arresting, intensely passionate and uncompromising improvisations to ensembles led by Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Ray Drummond, Elvin Jones, George Adams, Kenny Barron, John Hicks, and David Weiss, among many others.
Handy was also a convincing and telegenic actor in Robert Altman’s 1994 film Kansas City, portraying saxophonist Coleman Hawkins.
Delivering a Mingus-like brash and confident tone to the Mingus Dynasty, Big Band, and Orchestra for over 20 years, Handy also served as its musical director for much of this time.

Most recently, he’s received rave reviews for his performances with vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, leading Stephen Holden of the New York Times to comment: “Mr. Handy was the other key player. Throughout the show he exhibited a combination of sensitivity and audacity that suggested a telepathic connection to Ms. Bridgewater, as he explored the timbrel limits of the flute and saxophones in much the same way that she used her voice.”

This is a fresh line up for Craig. He plays regularly with Nicola in Europe who recommended he work with Jonathan, who then suggested Rod as the perfect fourth band member. They will play music from Craig’s recent New Orleans inspired 2nd Line Smith project (which is awesome, see video clips on main gig page), Jonathan’s acclaimed originals, and from the canon of the great Cedar Walton.
May be a highlight gig of the year, it’ll cook???

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