Cliff Bell's

Malik Alston Quartet
2017-06-18 18:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Fathers day, June 18, The Malik Alston Quartet embodies the essence of jazz, combined gospel, soul & funk into one explosive sound. Grooves for your soul that will allow you to journey beyond.

Closed for Private event
2017-06-17 18:00, 2017-06-16 08:00 - 17:00, 2017-06-09 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Detroit)

Corey Kendrick Trio
2017-06-15 20:00 (America/Detroit)
The Corey Kendrick Trio combines the infectious swing of the Oscar Peterson trio and the intricate interaction of the Bill Evans trio with a modern harmonic sensibility to create a truly dynamic group sound. Established while studying under Rodney Whitaker at Michigan State University, the Corey Kendrick Trio has developed their melody-driven, straight ahead sound over two and a half years of extensive performing.
On their debut recording, Rootless, the Trio delves into the themes of life in transition and all the associated emotions, whilst exploring the sonic tapestry of the piano trio. From the anxiety of starting anew (The Unknown/The Unexpected), to the loneliness of an unfamiliar home (Alone In Michigan), to the pure joy of new friends and experiences (Blues al Pastor), to the indescribable emotions of new parenthood (Lullaby For A New Mother), Rootless runs the gamut both in terms of emotional content and stylistic possibilities

Allen Dennard & Pendulum
2017-06-13 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Pendulum is an instrumental quintet consisting of members from Detroit, MI and the Detroit metropolitan area. From jazz to hip hop and R&B, Pendulum’s compositions have aspects of various music genres. The personnel is Allen Dennard on trumpet, Stephen Grady on tenor Saxophone, Evan Mercer on piano, Rocco Popielarski on bass, and Kayvon Gordon on drums.

Johnny Rhoades Band
2017-06-11 19:00 (America/Detroit)
The Detroit Music Award nominee is a Detroit native; guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. Getting his start with Motor City Josh at the tender age of 19, Johnny has been on and off the road ever since; including tours to Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and of course the US. He gets his ‘old soul’ sound from an array of blues artist he grew up listening to, including; BB King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Ray Charles and more. Rhoades also had the honor of playing at BB king’s memorial celebration in Memphis, Tennessee. With over a decade and counting music career, he has played with the best of best in the blues, such as; Thornetta Davis, Motor City Josh, RJ Spangler, Brett Lucas, John Nèmeth, Paul Carey to name a few. From Classic blues covers, to his own songs, Johnny Rhoades is a force to be reckoned with. His most recent album, ‘Waiting On The Sun’ debuted in 2014 and can be found online at CD Baby, and iTunes.

Dwight Adams Quartet
2017-06-10 21:30 (America/Detroit)
Dwight Adams is a soul-inspired jazz trumpeter. He has played and recorded with Marcus Belgrave, Rodney Whitaker, James Carter, Shawn Wallace and Donald Walden, and tours with Stevie Wonder. He has served as a jazz trumpet instructor at both Ohio State University and Michigan State University and is currently on the faculty at WSU. He landed a gig as a member of Teddy Harris’ New Breed BeBop Society at the age of 16, and is now one of the brightest stars on the Detroit jazz scene. Adams earned a full scholarship to Kentucky State University, where he majored in music education and performance.

Philippe LeJeune
2017-06-08 20:00 (America/Detroit)
French pianist Philippe LeJeune is a perfect example of the mixture of jazz & blues which is especially an important strain in the jazz tradition. The young pianist attended a 1968 concert in Reims, France, by master boogie-woogie and blues pianist Memphis Slim, and immediately put an end to his classical efforts and began teaching himself the blues, scouring local record shops for LP’s by boogie woogie greats. In 1980 he was invited by Memphis Slim who had been a parisian citizen since 1962 to cut an album titled « Dialog In Boogie » as a piano duet. The French blues and boogie woogie pianist is one of those rare European pianist who is able to take part in the grand tradition of American jazz mixing swing, a sense of melody and the blues. His playing is always a brilliant assortment of sobriety and expressiveness. He plays blues and boogie-woogie with a light, almost delicate touch, and weaves subtle, varied right-hand figures around the solid left-hand boogie-woogie beat. His repertoire ranges from classic barrelhouse boogie woogie piano to Duke Ellington and Horace Silver tunes as well those of Milt Jackson and George Gershwin. LeJeune explores an impressive variety of blues styles and grooves, leaving listeners with a happy feeling.

Alexis Lombre Quartet
2017-06-06 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Alexis Lombre is a young jazz pianist who discovered early that the true essence of music is not just about what you hear but how music makes you feel. Her musical mission is to keep the ‘Soul’ in music alive. The recent release of her debut album, Southside Sounds, does just that, as it is a soulful reflection of her upbringing on Chicago’s Southside. This collection of her original compositions is an attempt to pay homage to the southside’s lively artistic, cultural heritage. Since its release, Southside Sounds has been aired on radio stations across the U.S and is currently charting at #70 on JazzWeek.

Alexis has performed at some of jazz’s major venues in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, Newark, St. Louis and Kansas City. Most recently, she celebrated the release of her debut CD at Chicago’s historic Jazz Showcase. She appeared at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival performing the National Anthem opening for Jimmy Heath, the Robert Glasper Experiment and the Donald Harrison Quintet. As an experienced bandleader, the Alexis Lombre Quintet was featured most recently at the 2016 Chicago Jazz Festival, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival in 2013 and 2015, the Bucktown Arts Festival, the Trinity UCC ‘Jazzapalooza’ Festival and many other festivals around Chicago. As a sidewoman, she performed at the 2016 Detroit Jazz Festival with the John Douglas Quartet, the 2016 Englewood Jazz Festival in Chicago with the Donald Harrison Quartet and, the 2016 Taste of Chicago with Donnie Trumpet (now Nico Segal) & the Social Experiment. She has also played and studied with other internationally known jazz artists such as Pharez Whitted, Bobby Broom, Ernest Dawkins, Ingrid Jensen, Kendrick Scott, James Carter, Bobby Watson and Benny Green.

In addition to herself on piano, her band will include Trunino Lowe on trumpet, Brian Juarez on bass & world traveling drummer Alex White.

Rob Crozier Trio
2017-06-04 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Detroit)
Rob Crozier is a professional musician, educator, composer/arranger and entrepreneur living in the Southeastern Michigan area. Mr. Crozier holds a BFA for Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation in Double Bass from University of Michigan.
On his latest release, “Tall Trees,” he stretches his music to explore the world of sound adding color, adventure, and newness through re-imagining standards, the use of electronics, and ethnic instruments.

Shawn McDonald
2017-06-04 11:30 - 14:30 (America/Detroit)
Sunday brunch. Shawn plays blues, boogie-woogie and jazz piano and is a strong vocalist as well. He has toured much of the world with Larry McCray, Alberta Adams, Joe Weaver & Johnnie Bassett. This week Shawn will be joined by drummer Max Bauhof.

Miles Brown Quartet
2017-06-03 21:30 (America/Detroit)
Bassist, composer, performer, and teacher Miles Brown is a versatile musician who has earned bachelor and doctorate degrees from the Eastman School of Music in jazz performance studies as well as a master’s degree from the Mannes College of Music in classical bass performance. As a jazz performer, Miles has led groups featured at the Syracuse Jazz Festival, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the JVC Jazz Festival, and the Blue Note. He has played with jazz masters such as Sam Rivers, Joe Magnarelli, Ralph Alessi, Walt Weiskopf, Harold Danko, Bill Dobbins, Joe Lovano, Ben Monder, and Kenny Werner; and he has recorded on the Native Language, Leading Tone, and Yummy House labels.
Miles will feature his dad, guitarist Steve Brown He was the Director of Jazz Studies at Ithaca, a position he held for 40 years until his retirement in 2008. Brown has played with such musicians as Jimmy Smith, Paquito D’Rivera, Chuck Mangione, Phil Woods & Ray Charles and he was a member of Chuck Israel’s’ National Jazz Ensemble, and toured the United States and Europe numerous times

organissimo CD Release Event
2017-06-02 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Pop music has been a rich resource jazz artists have mined for genera- tions and the music of the 1960s is no exception with many finding inspiration in the songs of The Beatles, the quintessential band of that era.

organissimo, the acclaimed Michigan-based trio centered around the powerful Hammond B3 organ, presents a new take on the Beatles oeuvre on its 6th album, B3tles – A Soulful Tribute To The Fab Four. While traveling the highways of the American South returning from a festival in Tupelo, MS, in 2016 the band passed the time listening to their favorite Beatles songs and inevitably discussed arranging them for the organ trio format. They eventually convened in Alfredson’s home studio to flesh out those ideas and pick songs, with arrangements coming together in a group setting as ideas flew back and forth.

Founding members organist Jim Alfredson and drummer Randy Marsh came up with a clever approach to the George Harrison classic “Taxman,” that opens the album as it also does Revolver which inspired the cover art on B3tles. Paul McCartney’s iconic bassline is present but squeezed into 7/8 time, instead of the original 4/4. The band deftly shifts back and forth between signatures as guitarist Lawrence Barris provides funky stabs and a George Benson-esque solo over the 4/4 vamp. Barris, the newest member of the band, contributed heavily to the arrangements. Metric shifts continue with his arrangement of “All You Need Is Love,” swung in 5/4 time, with interspersed measures of 3/4 and he also came up with the gospel feel of “The Long And Winding Road,” inspired by Aretha Franklin’s version from 1972 and the swinging versions “If I Fell” and “I Will.”

On “Dig A Pony,” a hidden gem from Let It Be, the band rips through a jazz waltz with a tricky solo from Marsh at the end. “Can’t Buy Me Love” grooves along with a mighty shuffle, an organ trio staple since the days of Jimmy Smith, which features percussion from Bill Vits. Mr. Vits and Mike List add to the psychedelia of “Within You Without You,” with Alfredson manning a massive modular synthesizer and running his Hammond through effects pedals, modulators and other studio wizardry to create a lush soundscape that embraces the listener.

B3tles presents a fresh look at beloved Beatles songs and the care organis- simo has put into their music makes this album a joyful and inspired listen.

Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra
2017-06-01 20:00 (America/Detroit)
The Scott Gwinell Jazz Orchestra comes in the first Thursday of every month. Scott is a professor at Oakland University and is a respected educator and band leader. https://www.wscottjazz.com/

Cliff Bell's Closed
2017-05-30 20:00, 2017-05-29 20:00 (America/Detroit)

Don't Mess with Bill: The Music of Bill Evans
2017-05-28 19:00 - 22:00 (America/Detroit)
Don’t Mess with Bill: The Music of Bill Evans. This project is headed guitarist Steve Shepard a long-time veteran of the Detroit Jazz scene. Steve has meticulously crafted the originals and repertoire of Bill Evans with an authenticity to the legendary voicings and language of Evans on the guitar. Rich Kowalewski is on Double Bass is in a melodic and conversational approach along with the unique coloring and shading of master drummer Rob Emanuel

Shawn McDonald
2017-05-28 11:00 - 14:00 UTC
Shawn plays blues, boogie-woogie and jazz piano and is a strong vocalist as well. He has toured much of the world with Larry McCray, Alberta Adams, Joe Weaver & Johnnie Bassett

Straight Ahead
2017-05-27 21:30 (America/Detroit)
The women of the all-female jazz band Straight Ahead have an impressive history of recording and touring the US and Europe while still maintaining strong ties in the greater Detroit community. Throughout its 25-year history, the core of the band has remained constant: pianist Alina Morr, bassist Marion Hayden and drummer Gayelynn McKinney.
The current touring edition also includes vocalist Kimberly Wright and for the first time outside of recordings, a male saxophonist, Yancyy. Hayden and McKinney are known throughout the Detroit music community and beyond as first-call players for any project involving modern jazz. Morr is sought after as a solo artist and brings to the table her expertise in and affection for Latin music as well as blues and gospel. Wright comes from an R&B and pop direction, having sung with Mary J. Blige and Kid Rock, and Yancyy represents a contemporary jazz and gospel perspective.

Dmitri Matheny Group
2017-05-26 21:00 (America/Detroit)
“his arrangements of film noir themes and original tunes such as the new “Buckshot Rubaiyat,” a Persian blues with a rumba beat. It’s dedicated to Bruno Mooshei, the late proprietor of the Persian Aub Zam Zam Club on Haight Street, where the composer enjoyed many of Mooshei’s fabled martinis.” – Jesse Hamlin
The Dmitri Matheny Group (quintet) is currently touring our popular Jazz Noir project, offering a fresh spin on familiar TV and movie themes (film noir, spy thrillers and crime dramas), plus a selection of new works, jazz classics and beloved standards from the Great American Songbook. Concert highlights include a Noir Medley of cinematic favorites and our original “Crime Scenes” suite, a dreamlike series of vignettes linked together with voiceover narrative in the hardboiled detective style of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler.

Nicole New
2017-05-25 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Nicole a passionate and provocative singer alluring crowds with her sensitivity and soulfulness. Nicole’s eclectic style of singing, drawing from her early influences of performing Jazz, Pop, Opera and musical theatre has transformed into a sound all her own. http://nicolenew.com/

Paul Carey Organ Trio featuring Shawn McDonald
2017-05-24 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Classic organ Jazz, swingin’ blues, funky grooves and some soulful singing too! Shawn McDonald on the Hammond B3 and vocals, Max Bauhof on the drums, Paul Carey guitar.

Marcus Elliot Quartet LAST NIGHT!
2017-05-23 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Marcus Elliot is a saxophonist/composer/educator of the Metro-Detroit area who is quickly gaining recognition for his imaginative improvising, and fervently thoughtful voice on the saxophone. Marcus has been playing professionally in the Detroit Jazz scene where he is studying, practicing and composing the music you will hear every Tuesday night.
http://www.marcuselliotmusic.com/

Bloomfield Hills HS Jazz Bands
2017-05-22 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
The Bloomfield Hills Music Department and band program is one of the top music programs in the state of Michigan. The school has been a past recipient of the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) award for one of the best communities for music education including this year (2017). The Band consistently earns top ratings at both district and state MSBOA (Michigan School Band and Orchestra Association) festivals. The group has traveled to perform at various festivals across the country and abroad. In recent years the group has traveled to London , Edinburgh, as well as New York City. In 2014 the Symphony Band was invited to perform at the Michigan Music Conference, an in-service for teachers held annually in Grand Rapids. The Jazz Band has consistently earned superior ratings at MSBOA’s State Jazz Festival including their most recent performance in 2017.

Speakeasy Sundays with Miss Holly Hock
2017-05-21 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Burlesque, Speakeasy Sundays with Miss Holly Hock who has won numerous awards, including Performer of the Year and Master of Tassels. Doors at 7 pm

Facebook Event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/229440460873130

Ticket Link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/speakeasy-sunday-may-edition-tickets-34058970297

Sean Dobbins and the Modern Jazz Mesengers
2017-05-19 21:00 UTC
Sean’s sound can best be described as hard-driving, solid rhythm with refreshing melodic sensibility. Some of Sean’s influences include Art Blakey, Jeff Hamilton, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ed Thigpen, Sonny Payne, as well as Detroit area greats Gerald Cleaver and the one and only Elvin Jones. Dobbins got his start as sought-after Detroit area jazz sideman at a young age, when he would regularly play with Blue Note artist Louis Smith. As Sean’s Career progressed, he found himself the recipient of many awards and accolades including the “Woody Herman Jazz Award”, an award for outstanding musicianship, as well as the Louis Armstrong Scholarship. Due to Sean’s great talent both as a player and an educator, he has been the focus of countless news articles jazz radio programs and documentaries.
http://www.seandobbinsmusic.com/

Marcus Elliot Quartet
2017-05-16 20:00 (America/Detroit)
Marcus Elliot is a saxophonist/composer/educator of the Metro-Detroit area who is quickly gaining recognition for his imaginative improvising, and fervently thoughtful voice on the saxophone. Marcus has been playing professionally in the Detroit Jazz scene where he is studying, practicing and composing the music you will hear every Tuesday night.
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Steve Wood Tribute to Brad Felt
2017-05-13 21:30 (America/Detroit)
Steve has recorded with a number of the region’s top players and bands, including Scott Gwinnell, Bill Heid, Brad Felt, Don Mayberry, Ron English, Ed Nuccilli, and the Toledo Jazz Orchestra. Steve has performed with a veritable who’s who of stars in jazz and musical theater, including Robert Goulet, Sammy Davis Jr., Jack Jones, Aretha Franklin, the Four Tops, and the Temptations. In recent years he has worked with a number of major jazz artists at the Detroit International Jazz Festival, including Kenny Burrell, John Faddis, John Clayton, and Mose Allison.
This performance is in tribute to his musical partner for decades, the late Brad Felt, a world class tuba player and composer. Mr. Felt was a veteran of multiple overseas tours including two stints with Howard Johnson’s Gravity. He received two fellowships from The National Endowment For The Arts for composition/ performance and one from The Michigan Council For The Arts. He and Steve co-led a band around Detroit for many years.

George V Johnson Jr
2017-05-12 21:00 (America/Detroit)
Now residing in the Big D! George V Johnson Jr., vocalist, lyricist, composer, educator, actor and recently named “Washington City Paper Best Vocals 2016”, is a unique and rare gem. A career that spans over 40 years was a student of the great Eddie Jefferson has performed with many jazz legends including John Malachi, James Moody, Lou Donaldson, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Brooks, Marcus Belgrave, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Wallace Roney, Randy Brecker, Eric Alexander and more. Made his Debut recording in 1981 with Pharoah Sanders on the CD “Rejoice” original lyrics to John Coltrane’s classic “Moments Notice,” Don’t sleep! Detroit is in for a special treat!

Imagine listening to a seasoned jazz musician rip into a bebop solo so sizzling and smooth it makes your senses tingle. Now picture that musician and his beloved instrument: The Voice of George V Johnson Jr! That’s the Art of Jazz Vocalese~~Ben Lozovsky (American University) Eagle On-line

Ian Finkelstein – piano
Marion Hayden – bass
Bass – Alex White
