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October 7, 2023
1-8 pm

General Admission $10 (bring your own chair)
Premium Seating $20 (chair provided in front)

About the Artists

Mecadon McCune Trio

Mecadon McCune is the most recent recipient of the James Moody Scholarship. This extremely proficient drummer will lead his band on stage in their West Orange Jazz Festival debut. 

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Carlos Frias and Circulo Social

Having opened for the iconic Tito Puente, our Latin Jazz segment will be led by percussionist and vocalist, Carlos Frias and his stellar band of exciting musicians. 

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JD Warren & the Rudiment

This phenomenal band is making incredible waves on the international and local Jazz Scene with Jeremy Warren performing before 90,000 fans in South America and Dermel Warren making her mark when she performs with Valerie Simpson and other industry notables. 

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Nat Adderley Jr.

This Grammy Nominated Pianist was also a songwriter for 20 years for Luther Vandross in addition to Natalie Cole, Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, and Doc Powell. Adderley also worked as a keyboardist for R&B singer Valerie Simpson. Nat's jazz lineage includes Cornetist Nat Adderley and the legendary Cannonball Adderley Quintet. 

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Generations of Jazz - Leonieke Scheuble

Generations of Jazz is an ensemble led by jazz pianist and organist Leonieke Scheuble. With Generations of Jazz, she has partnered with musicians that span more than 50 years of experience, ages 21-95. This soulful ensemble will have you swinging hard with tunes from over a century of great jazz.

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Ty Stephens Jazz and The SoulJaazz

A consummate multi-talented entertainer and performer, Ty Stephens has performed around the world, gaining an international audience with a cool, urban-tinged adult-contemporary sound, based on jazz, funk, and R&B. He has appeared on Broadway in the original productions of Sophisticated Ladies and Marilyn, An American Fable. He has recorded with industry legends Harry Belafonte, Peggi Lee, dance music icon Dan Hartmann, disco pioneer Nile Rogers (Beavis & Butt-Head), master drummer Baba Olatunji, renowned trumpeter Chuck Mangione, singer Gwen McCrae, Def Jam premier artist Alyson Williams, among others.

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Tribute to Warren Battiste Honor Lifetime Achievement

New Orleans native son Warren Battiste is another one of those unsung heroes in the annals of jazz who deserve more recognition for their contributing efforts to the cause of American music. Warren Battiste was born in New Orleans in 1925 and was taught to play the guitar by his father who was a banjo player at Preservation Hall. He was the first guitarist to play with Fats Domino on a regular basis and went on to play with Illinois Jacquet in New York. In New Orleans, Warren has performed at numerous jazz clubs on Bourbon Street, Preservation Hall, Snug Harbor, the Matador and many others. Warren also appeared in the film Shy People starring Jill Clayburgh and Barbara Hershey.  Warren has performed with fellow guitarist George Benson, organist Jimmy McGriff, and accompanied classic vocal groups such as The Platters and The Inkspots to name a few. In 2000, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Jazz from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

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Charisa - The Violin Diva

A progressive jazz artist and in-demand innovator, Charisa Rouse has collaborated with some dynamic artists across the musical borders, including Wynton Marsalis, Savion Glover, Quincy Jones, Kim Burrell, Common, Diana Krall, Musiq Soulchild and William McDowell, to name a few. As an opening act, she has set the stage ahead of Melissa Morgan and Freddie Jackson. In 2011, Charisa won grand prizes in both the McDonald’s Gospelfest Competition in Newark and the West Oak Lane Jazz Festival Competition in Philadelphia. She was also a semi-finalist in the Apollo Competition in front of an audience of 10,000. Her other festival performances include the Baltimore African American Heritage Festival (Baltimore), the Lincoln Park Music Festival (Newark, NJ), JVC Jazz Festival, (NYC, NY), Soul of Brooklyn (Brooklyn, NY), and the Ailey Dance Company (NYC, NY), and many more cultural organizations around the world. 

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The Sponsors

Columbia Bank

 

West Orange Recreation Department

 

Essex County Department of Parks

 

Advantage Pest Control

 

Brightest Star School of Performing Arts

 

First Mountain Preschool

 

Lynette Entertainment LLC

Mecaden
Carlos
JD Warren
Nat Adderly
Genration of Jazz
Ty Stephens
Tribute
Charisa
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