(MADISON, NJ) -- Author, producer and music historian Charles L. (Chuck) Granata will present a 90-minute program focusing on the importance of Women in Jazz at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! program on March 5th. The event takes place at the Madison Community Arts Center.
Joining Granata will be noted film producer/director Jim Burns, who will show excerpts from his film She’s Got Jazz, a documentary about four rising young stars who are changing the face of jazz in the 21st century. Along with electrifying performances by trumpeter/vocalist Bria Skonberg, saxophonist Grace Kelly and vocalists Veronica Swift, and Brianna Thomas, the film features comments about the artists by veteran jazz artists such as trumpeter Chris Botti and vocalist Catherine Russell. The film takes viewers inside New York’s jazz scene with exhilarating live performance footage from several of the city’s hottest venues and intimate interviews with the artists themselves, who discuss what it’s like to shake things up in a music genre that has been traditionally dominated by men.
In addition a panel discussion framing the topic, Leonieke Scheuble, a brilliant young jazz pianist from Rockaway, NJ, who embodies the best qualities of a multitude of predecessors, will perform selections from the jazz canon written or made famous by notable women, including Dorothy Fields (“The Way You Look Tonight”), Ann Ronnell (“Willow Weep for Me”), and Irene Higginbotham (“Good Morning Heartache”). A question-and-answer period will follow the presentation.
Scheuble is currently a Jazz Studies student at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ. She performed at the NJJS 50th Anniversary concert last October in Morristown and is the leader of the Three Generations of Jazz trio featuring her father, drummer Nick Scheuble, and legendary bassist Bill Crow. She also leads a hard bop quintet, including veteran performers such as tenor saxophonist Adam Brenner and trumpeters such as Joe Magnarelli and Rick Savage.
Granata, a Livingston resident, has written four books on music and sound recording and has contributed to and supervised the creation of dozens of album projects, including four that were nominated for Grammy Awards.
As has become customary, the program will begin with a half-hour Rising Stars opening act. The March 5th Rising Stars performance will feature a quintet from the Raritan Valley Community College Jazz Ensemble. The group is led by alto saxophonist Ian Dalida of Somerville, NJ. Other band members are: bassist Nicolas Gallegos of Ringoes, NJ; vocalist Victoria Mango of East Brunswick, NJ; pianist Felipe Primero of Phillipsburg, NJ; and drummer Payton Teague of Flemington, NJ. The RVCC Jazz Ensemble is directed by New York-based bassist John Loehrke.
The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, New Jersey. Admission to this event will be $10 for members and $15 for non-members payable at the door with cash or credit card. There will be light refreshments for purchase. Proof of vaccination is required; masks are optional. Funding for the NJJS Socials has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts though the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts.
Leonieke Scheuble photo by Allison Brown
