4/30: International Jazz Day in Austin

Austin, Texas -- The Austin jazz community has curated various events in celebration of International Jazz Day, held annually on April 30.

Austin’s three full-time jazz clubs (Elephant Room, Parker Jazz Club, and Monks Jazz) are all participating with a slate of line-ups for the evening celebration. A jazz enthusiast could plan a full evening into the early morning hours for the full experience, though ticketed events at Parker and Monks are expected to sell out in advance. Monks Jazz At Monks Jazz in east Austin, the festivities hit at 6:00 p.m. with a double dose of jazz. The evening begins with the Austin Youth Jazz Orchestra, led by Dr. Diego Rivera. Dr. Diego Rivera is a widely regarded top-flight saxophonist and serves as the director of Jazz Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. The Austin Youth Jazz Orchestra features Austin area students and is sponsored by the Austin Jazz Society, offering performance opportunities and a defined curriculum supported by faculty mentors featuring leading educators and professional jazz musicians. The evening at Monks continues with the Elias Haslanger/Mike Sailors Quintet. Elias Haslanger is an Austin native, needing no introduction to the jazz community in Austin. He cut his chops at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) and the Manhattan School of Music, toured with Maynard Ferguson’s Big Bop Nouveau, recorded with legends like Dr. James Polk and the late Ellis Marsalis, and has performed over the years with the likes of Alejandro Escovedo, Sheryl Crow, Grupo Fantasma, Asleep at the Wheel, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen, and many others. Haslanger has recorded albums as a leader with Heart Music and Cherrywood Records, spanning back to 1994. Mike Sailors, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, studied at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Michigan State University, and the University of Texas at Austin. After several formative and productive years in New York City, he moved to Austin in 2019, taking a faculty position at the Butler School of Music at UT. He leads the Jazz Trumpet Studio within their Jazz Studies department. His extensive resume includes a who’s-who of jazz clubs and jazz festivals in New York City, across the country, and around the globe. A prolific arranger in his own right, he has collaborated with Mack Avenue Records, Decca Records, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (as their copyist and editor), to name a few. Sailors has performed with the likes of the Gerald Wilson Orchestra, Jon Hendricks, Rodney Whitaker, and Peter Bernstein, among others. In addition to performing as a featured soloist with numerous symphony orchestras, he has been a featured artist-in-residency with several university jazz programs. Sailors and Haslanger recently hit the studio to record an album due for release in fall 2024 under the Bandstand Presents label. During the pandemic, Monks' founder Collin Shook pivoted to live stream programming and raised funds for artists out of work after it found a permanent home in east Austin. Prior to this, Monks spent several years popping up in numerous local businesses and ad hoc venue spaces as a roving series of listening-oriented live jazz sets. The venue continues to maintain a robust calendar. It is open to all ages and maintains a BYOB policy. 

Parker Jazz Club Parker Jazz Club in downtown Austin will also partake in the International Jazz Day celebrations with a performance by the Wasabi Big Band led by multi-instrumentalist, curator, host, and club owner, Kris Kimura. Tickets for the 7:30 p.m. set are available through the club’s website. Parker is an ages 21+ venue. Kimura, a protege and mentee of the late Tony Campise, opened Parker in 2018 in the heart of Austin’s historic warehouse district. The club quickly established itself as one of the premiere listening rooms in the city. Garnering a national reputation, Parker has attracted national touring acts such as the Count Basie Orchestra, the late Joey DeFrancesco, Jon Cowherd & The Mercy Project, Jerry Weldon (Harry Connick Big Band), Doug Lawrence (Count Basie Orchestra), Jeff Hamilton, Eric Reed, Herlin Riley, Benny Benack III, Gunhild Carling, Aubrey Logan, and more. Parker has also hosted drop-in guests such as members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and multi-Grammy Award vocalist Samara Joy. The club also regularly features veterans of the Austin jazz scene, area university jazz orchestras, and high school jazz ensembles as part of its regular programming. Elephant Room Rounding out the late-night portion of International Jazz Day in Austin, it is fitting that the long-time center and soul of the scene, the famed Elephant Room (located in the basement of downtown Austin's historic Swift Building), will serve as the bookend of Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day with live jazz until the early morning hour. Local legendary guitarist Mitch Watkins and his Trio continue their long-standing Tuesday residency at 6:00 p.m., followed by all-star headliners in a special presentation from local organization Women in Jazz, founded by Austin's First Lady of Jazz, Pamela Hart. A 2018 Austin Jazz Society Hall of Fame inductee, Hart, will be holding court in the basement with Kari Shaff and Shawnda Birch on vocals, supported by Peggy Stern on piano, Chris Jones on bass, Karrie Sheehan on drums, and percussionist Laura Mordecai. Women in Jazz hits the stage at 9:00 p.m., performing until 1:00 a.m. with a $7 cover charge at the door (no advance tickets) for ages 21 and up. Sahara Lounge If you want to begin the International Jazz Day festivities ahead of April 30, the celebration gets a running start on the evening of Friday, April 26 at the Sahara Lounge (an ages 21+ venue) with pianist/composer Paula Maya and Bossa Nova at 7:00 p.m. for one set. Maya’s fusion of jazz and bossa nova incorporates classical, blues, Brazilian, Cuban, and African influences. Foundational experiences in her youth surrounded by familial influences in classical music remain impactful in her artistic expression in worldly terms. Every fourth Friday, she continues her residency at Austin’s signature world music venue, the Sahara Lounge, located in east Austin. American Federation of Musicians (Local 433 of Austin) On Sunday, April 28, the American Federation of Musicians (AFM Local 433 of Austin) will host an Emerging Artist Showcase to celebrate the coinciding Jazz Appreciation Month. The Local is housed on the third floor of the IBEW Local 520 building in southeast Austin. The showcase is a family-friendly event and free to the public. Music begins at 2:00 p.m. with The Golden Hour Quartet with Lauryn Gould (multi-instrumentalist/vocalist). Gould earned music degrees at Texas State University and the University of Limerick and is involved with an array of local ensembles and music education initiatives across the community, as well as leading her own studio. The quartet draws inspiration from hot jazz, swing, and the influences of 1930s and 1940s era icons such as Don Byas, Slam Stewart, and Lester Young. Bourbon & Beth (Sharon Bourbonnais & Beth Galiger), backed by Ernie Durawa and Mark Epstein, offers a blend of blues, country, rock & roll, and jazz at 3:30 p.m. On vocals and piano, Bourbonnais can be found performing regularly at the Driskill Hotel Bar, local wineries, and the Elephant Room, among other venues. Over the years, she has balanced her time between performances, collaborations with a who's-who of Texas music, and teaching in local school districts. Galiger, with range on flute, sax, and fiddle, also keeps a performing schedule with teaching. She has performed with Bill Oliver, Jon Emery, and Slim Richey, among others. The Alex Coke (sax flute) and Carl Michel (guitar) sextet take the stage at 5:00 p.m. to conclude the afternoon’s celebration. The Coke/Michel collaboration harnesses the spirit of exploration from their time with the late Tina Marsh and her Creative Opportunity Orchestra. This sextet and their 2023 album, "Emergence,"  have proved to be popular in the Austin jazz community and have long-time followers with appearances at Monks, the Elephant Room (including a showcase during 2024’s South by Southwest Music Festival), Central Market Cafe, Waterloo Records, and Captain Quack’s in south Austin. Manteca Beat House Concert Also, on Tuesday evening, April 30, Paul Klemperer and Manteca Beat will perform at a house concert in Austin from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Originally from the Boston area, Klemperer’s formative experiences included finding his way into the local jazz clubs and studying with heavyweights such as Archie Schepp, Max Roach, and Ray Copeland. Klemperer has called Austin home for over 40 years and remains a fixture on the jazz scene, keeping a busy schedule between various projects, creative community outreach, and music education initiatives. In addition to his work as a band leader and educator, he has performed with a range of artists, including Marcia Ball, Doyle Bramhall, Angela Strehli, Seth Walker, and others. An ongoing musical project, Manteca Beat is a lively blend of various musical flavors that Klemperer refers to as “Americano music,"  drawing influences from blues, Latin, classic jazz, and rhythm and blues while offering a sense of adventure. Details about the house concert can be found on the event listing on the International Jazz Day website. Of course, along with the announced events in conjunction with International Jazz Day, there are plenty of shows on the ongoing jazz calendar across the Austin area. The rest of the month’s events are posted on the Austin Jazz Review calendar (see tab at the top of the page), including a range of venues for ages 21 and up as well as family-friendly environs.  --- Photo Credit/Courtesy: International Jazz Day & The Herbie Hancock Institute