Diane Moser's Composers Big Band plays the music of Jaki Byard!

Wednesday June 13th
8PM-11PM
$15 cover
Trumpets Jazz Club
6 Depot Square
Montclair, NJ 07043
973.744.2600

On Wednesday June 13th, Diane Moser's Composers Big Band dives into the big band music of Jaki Byard. Mr. Byard, who died in 1999 and who would have been 90 on June 15th, was considered one of our most ingenious and influential pianists in the history of Jazz. It is unusual that Diane Moser's Composers Big Band plays the music of a composer who has passed on, but there are two connections to Jaki Byard in the band that makes this a special night. Lead alto saxophonist Ed Xiques played with Mr. Byard and his big band in the 1950's in Boston and Diane Moser, who studied with Mr. Byard in the late 80's while attending graduate school at the Manhattan School of Music. In the 1970s, Byard created his big band Jaki Byard and the Apollo Stompers with New England Conservatory students, and took the group out for regular club dates. Later on, he used the same name for a group of veteran players he led on New York dates, as well as two commercial recordings, Phantasies I and II. In 1979 the band was voted Best House Band in New York City while playing at Ali's Alley and in 1995 he was presented with an award by then Mayor Rudolph Guliani for his work with the Apollo Stompers in recognition of Harlem Week and its 100th anniversary.

More Information: http://www.trumpetsjazz.com/main.html