Two big shows! 8:00p – 9:15 and 9:45 – 11p.
Celebrate Valentine’s Day at Cliff Bell’s with a special program of love songs from legendary Detroit vocalist Shahida Nurullah, in collaboration with award-winning New York City based pianist Ben Rosenblum and his trio, on tour in Detroit for one night only!
Deeply steeped in the generations of great Jazz and Blues that centers the rich musical legacy of Detroit (which includes Kenn Cox, Donald Walden, Marcus Belgrave and Thomas “Beans” Bowles), Shahida Nurullah is one of the motor city’s premier and most treasured jazz vocalists. Her outstanding musical intelligence is vibrantly reflected through a versatile repertoire that includes blues, jazz, samba, bossa nova, show tunes and more. Shahida has performed at the Detroit International Jazz Festival on a number of occasions including with Charlie Gabriel of the Preservation Hall Band and with clarinetist Eddie Daniels in a jazz version of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. Shahida performed in the inaugural festival with Kenn Cox and the Guerilla Jam Band. She performed an “American Songbook” concert with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and as a guest vocalist with the Preservation Hall Band at Preservation Hall New Orleans, LA. Shahida and her trio regularly play at clubs throughout southeastern Michigan, including The Dirty Dog Jazz Café and Cliff Bell’s. Shahida recorded and performed with internationally lauded pianist Geri Allen’s band “Open on All Sides,” throughout Europe. The New York Times lauded her performance with Allen at New York’s Knitting Factory and she is a recipient of the Spirit of Detroit Award.
Shahida is joined by internationally-touring jazz pianist Ben Rosenblum and his trio. Rosenblum has been called “mature beyond his years,” (Sea of Tranquility), an “impressive talent” (All About Jazz) who “caresses [the music] with the reverence it merits” (Downbeat Magazine). Since the release of his debut trio album, Instead (4 stars, Downbeat), Rosenblum has toured with his trio throughout the United States, including multiple extensive tours of the Northeast, Midwest, South and West Coast, and internationally in Canada, Europe and Japan. He was a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall’s Stern-Perelman Auditorium – with Reona Ito’s New York Harmonic Band – and has appeared at prestigious venues throughout the world, including at the Appel Room at Lincoln Center, Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Ravinia, Himawari-No-Sato Concert Hall in Yokohama, Bird’s Eye in Basel and the Library of Congress. His second album, River City, was called “richly romantic” and “well-realized” by JAZZIZ Magazine, which featured the title track as part of their Fall 2018 CD.
This evening will feature Rosenblum’s regular touring band, with Marty Jaffe on bass and Ben Zweig on drums. The trio has come to perform at Cliff Bell’s on multiple previous tours, and is honored to be joined by Shahida for what promises to be an incredibly special night!