Presented by the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School and City Parks Foundation's 2021 Charlie Parker Festival
The School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School is partnering with City Parks Foundation for the 2021 Charlie Parker Festival. Live from the Glassbox Theater at The New School this event will feature guitarist Steve Cardenas, bassist Ben Allison and drummer Allison Miller performing original music in tribute to the great Mr. Charlie Parker.
Steve Cardenas
Steve Cardenas has many diverse credits as a performer and recording artist. Beginning his musical career in his hometown of Kansas City, he has been an integral part of the New York City jazz community since 1995.
Steve has performed with many well-known and highly esteemed musicians. Notably, he was a longstanding member of the Paul Motian Electric Bebop Band, Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, Steve Swallow Quintet, as well as Joey Baron's band, Killer Joey. Steve is currently a member of the John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet, Ben Allison and Think Free, Jon Cowherd Mercy Project and Adam Nussbaum Lead Belly Project. He has also performed regularly with such diverse artists as Madeleine Peyroux, Eliane Elias, Norah Jones and many others.
Steve has toured extensively throughout Europe, North and South America and Asia, performing at countless international jazz festivals, theaters and clubs. Steve also leads his own group and has six recordings as a leader which includes a new release ‘Blue Has A Range’ on Sunnyside Records.
Steve is also a well-respected educator. He is on faculty at The New School For Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City where he directs the Thelonious Monk Ensemble, Improv Ensemble and Guitar Duos, as well as offering individual lessons. He has also been on faculty at the California Institute of the Arts, Siena Summer Jazz Workshop, Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony, Stanford Jazz Workshop and Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music.
Additionally Steve is co-author, with editor Don Sickler, of the Thelonious Monk Fakebook, Hal Leonard Publishing. The Thelonious Monk Fakebook marks the first time all of Monk's compositions have appeared in one volume, many of them appearing for the first time.
Ben Allison
Bassist, composer, producer & educator Ben Allison has been performing and recording his own brand of original music for nearly three decades. He has released 13 albums of original music, 7 of which reached #1 on the national jazz radio charts, garnering him 9 SESAC Performance Awards.
As a bandleader, he has organized and led many tours throughout the world, headlining at international festivals, concert halls, theaters, and clubs. He wrote the theme for the popular NPR radio program On The Media, which is heard by over 1,500,000 listeners weekly, and has written music for numerous TV commercials, short films and theatrical productions. As a bassist, he has appeared on over 100 albums by various artists.
Ben is an active voice for artists rights, education and empowerment. At the age of 25, he formed the Jazz Composers Collective, a non-profit organization that fostered and presented new music. He acted as the Collective’s Executive Director from 1992 until 2005.
Ben served two terms as President of the New York Chapter of the Recording Academy and chaired the Advocacy Committee from 2012-2019. He has testified in front of Congress and was a strong voice in the creation of the Music Modernization Act, the most significant copyright reform bill of the past 40 years. Ben performed his Carnegie Hall debut in February 2012.
Allison Miller
NYC-based drummer/teacher/composer Allison Miller engages her deep roots in improvisation as a vehicle to explore all music. Described by critics as a “Modern Jazz Icon in the Making,” Miller won DownBeat’s 67th Annual Critics Poll “Rising Star Drummer” and JazzTimes’s 2019 Critics Poll for “Best Jazz Drummer.” Boom Tic Boom, Allison’s longtime band, won Jazz Journalists Association’s 2019 award for “Best Mid-Sized Ensemble.” Her composition, “Otis Was a Polar Bear,” is included on NPR’s list of The 200 Greatest Songs by 21st Century Women+. She is also the first recipient of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Commissioning Grant. She premiered this multimedia commission, Rivers In Our Veins, in January 2020 with a seven concert tour featuring her critically acclaimed band, Boom Tic Boom, tap dancer, Claudia Rahardjanoto, and video designer, Todd Winkler.
Miller, a three time Jazz Ambassador for the U.S. State Department, was Monterey Jazz Festival’s 2019 Artist in Residence, alongside bassist/producer Derrick Hodge. Simultaneously Boom Tic Boom celebrated its 10th anniversary with the release of their 5th album, Glitter Wolf, which was included in many “Best Jazz Of 2019” lists, including NPR, Rolling Stone and JazzTimes magazine. The band has toured extensively throughout the US, Europe and Asia as well as being featured on such programs as NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Tiny Desk with Bob Boilen, WNYC’s Soundcheck and New Sounds with John Schaefer, and Jazz Night in America with Christian McBride.
Allison is part-time faculty at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music (where she is a Melba Liston Fellow), Stanford Jazz Workshop, Centrum, Geri Allen Jazz Camp, and is the Artistic Director of Jazz Camp West. She has been appointed Arts Envoy to Thailand for her work with Jazz Education Abroad and endorses Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals, Vic Firth heads, Evans drumheads and Sunhouse percussion.
show less
