The Carnegie Room, at the Nyack Library, presents jazz vocalist Alexis Cole on Friday July 31st, 2015. Featuring accomplished musicians John DiMartino on piano, David Finck on bass and Kenny Hassler on drums, the show will be an invention in the moment. The repertoire for the evening will include selections from their album Close Your Eyes (Venus Records 2013), which features Cole and DiMartino together on popular jazz standards like “In the Still of the Night,” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and lesser known songs like Hoagy Carmichael’s “Small Fry.” She’ll also recap her recent Carnegie Hall performance, a tribute to Billy Strayhorn performed with Cole playing piano and singing.
The musical friendship between vocalist Alexis Cole and pianist John DiMartino goes back to the 2010 Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference in New York City. Both Cole and DiMartino were at a party for Cole’s record label, Motéma, and they played one song together. It was musical love at first sight, and the two have played countless performances together, locally and around the country, resulting in the recording of their album in 2013, Close Your Eyes (Venus Records). DiMartino’s creativity and sense of adventure jibe well with Cole’s love of reckless improvisation, and last time the two were featured at the Carnegie Room, they performed an all request set, selecting requests from the audience to construct the entire evening’s music.
Bassist David Finck has played with and produced records for artists as diverse as Dizzy Gillespie and Elton John. His skills both as a bassist and as a producer have led him to a diversity of musical experiences producing for artists from André Previn to Peter Cincotti. Finck is a consummate professional and an artist of depth and integrity.
Eliot Zigmund has been a professional musician for over 50 years. A New York City native, steeped in the jazz tradition of the city, he has performed and recorded extensively with such jazz luminaries as Bill Evans, Michel Petrucciani, Jim Hall, Lee Konitz, Benny Golson, Eddie Henderson, Stan Getz, Eddie Gomez, Steve Swallow, Art Lande, Mel Martin, Vince Guaraldi, Richie Beirach, and many others. Eliot is also involved in jazz education, is a former faculty member of both William Paterson University Jazz Studies, NJ, and NYU Jazz Studies, NYC, and currently does workshops and clinics around the world as well as private instruction. In recent years Eliot divides his time between his home in Teaneck, NJ, his gigs in and around NYC, and his touring schedule abroad.
Alexis Cole plays the Carnegie Room at the Nyack Library on Friday July 31st at 8pm. There is a $25 advance ticket charge. Tickets and information are available at Rockland County Jazz and Blues Society Website. Tickets can be purchased on site on the day of performance for $30.
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More About Alexis Cole
Called "one of the great voices of today," by Jonathan Schwartz, Alexis Cole has been compared to classic jazz singers such as Sarah Vaughan and Anita O'Day. She's performed with the Boston Pops and New York Philharmonic on stage at venues from Avery Fisher Hall to the Kennedy Center. She records for Motéma Music, NY, Chesky Records, NY and Venus Records, Japan. Her nine recordings, which feature musical luminaries such as Fred Hersch, Eric Alexander, Matt Wilson, Harry Pickens, Don Braden and Pat LaBarbara, have received high praise in the jazz press and are spun on radio world-wide. In addition to her many performances on great stages, Alexis can be seen at top jazz venues like Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Birdland, The Jazz Standard, Blues Alley, and Billboard Live, Tokyo. Cole is the recipient of a Swing Journal Gold Disk award, and was a winner of the NY Jazzmobile and Montreux Jazz Festival vocal competitions, and a finalist of the Sarah Vaughan Competition. Alexis studied voice and piano at the University of Miami and William Paterson University, and holds a Masters of Music from Queens College. She has also trained in Indian Classical singing at the Jazz India Vocal Institute in Mumbai. She heads the Jazz Voice Program at SUNY Purchase and also teaches privately and at City College. She performs and conducts master classes around the world.
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More Nyack Jazz Week - Rockland County Jazz and Blues Society
NyackJazz Week is an annual celebration of jazz & blues presented by the Rockland County Jazz and Blues Society in Nyack and neighboring towns in Rockland County, NY. Each year, one full week of consecutive nights of great music (indoors & out, many free to the public) feature a range of New York and world-renowned artists. Highlights will include free outdoor concerts at local parks, a concert in the historic Carnegie-Farian Room at The Nyack Library, and Premier Concerts on Friday, July 26th with Rising Star Guitarist Rez Abbassi Quartet (The Turning Point), and Saturday, August 1st Bernie Williams/Gil Parris Quartet (The Hudson House, Nyack).
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More About the Carnegie Room at the Nyack Library
“With the beaming bearded portrait of the wry Scotsman Carnegie, watching over the room, the space is a welcoming place to both perform and enjoy the music. To be able to see such high quality performances … in the intimate setting of the Carnegie Room is perhaps one of the best-kept secrets of the metropolitan area’s jazz scene.” – Huffington Post
“Since Mr. Yaslowitz took over as director of the Nyack concert series in 2008, a year after it moved to the Carnegie Room from St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, the number of concerts has tripled, to three a week. The status of some programming, notably in the jazz arena, has arguably been elevated as well since the Rockland County Jazz and Blues Society agreed to curate last fall.” – New York Times
“The Carnegie Room isn’t quite Carnegie Hall -the Room seats just ninety-seven people, all in folding chairs, compared to the Hall’s twenty-eight hundred. But both owe their existence to the same philanthropist; both have a seasoned-wood, Gilded Age feel; and both aregood places to listen to music.” – The New Yorker
“The Carnegie room is an elegant setting. With its warm wood details and its limestone clad fireplace, the room’s large open hearth is used as a backdrop, framing the gleaming black Yamaha Grand piano at center stage. Seating just one hundred, it is an extraordinarily intimate setting for piano or chamber music.” – Huffington Post
“One of the most enjoyable concert series in New York is actually 33 miles north of the city, in the charming Hudson River village of Nyack. There the Carnegie Room Concerts presents major artists in the warm, intimate, relaxed setting of the historic Nyack Library.” – Vanity Fair
“What an extraordinary concert hall. so beautiful. So much history and culture. The acoustics are tremendous! The excitement in the air was electric! The house grand piano was Magnificent. Truly an opportunity of a life time! ” – Tall Music Society
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