Cliff Bell's

DeSean Jones
2021-10-25 19:30 - 2021-10-26 09:30, 2021-10-26 19:30 - 2021-10-27 09:30, 2021-10-27 19:30 - 2021-10-28 09:30, 2021-10-28 19:30 - 2021-10-29 09:30, 2021-10-29 19:30 - 2021-10-30 09:30, 2021-10-30 19:30 - 2021-10-31 09:30, 2021-10-31 19:30 - 2021-11-01 09:30, 2021-11-01 19:30 - 2021-11-02 09:30 (America/Detroit) and 13 more dates
De’Sean Jones is a Detroit based saxophonist, billboard charting recording artist and grammy nominated arranger. Over the past 20 years De’Sean has toured the world recording or performing with music Icons like Stevie Wonder, Faith Evans, along with a host of Detroit Legends; Marcus Belgrave, The Clark Sisters, Kierra Sheard and techno pioneer Mad Mike Banks of Underground Resistance.
As a bandleader & producer Jones has curated an eclectic approach that is widely viewed as progressive and undeniably rooted in the rich history of black culture. De’Sean actively pushes the boundaries of social consciousness through music in ways that are authentic, emotionally dynamic and intellectually stimulating.

All musical projects from De’Sean Jones can be accessed through his record label KNMDK Records.

Closed- Happy Halloween!
2021-10-31 00:00 - 23:59
See you later this week Wednesday for Noah Jackson & Full Circle at Cliff Bell’s!

Closed for a Private Event
2021-11-05 00:00 - 23:59
See you tomorrow for Alexis Lombre!

Alex Harding & Organ Nation
2021-11-07 19:30 - 23:00
There will be two separate shows for this performance at 7:30 pm and at 9:30 pm.
(Seatings begin at 5pm & 8:45pm respectively)
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Detroit-born baritone saxophonist Alex Harding first became active in jazz circles in his youth. Early on he studied with established jazz figures Yusef Lateef and Beans Bowles and was playing gigs with Donald Byrd and Wynton Marsalis before he was out of high school. Throughout the ’90s, 2000s, and 2010s, Harding toured, performed, and recorded without pause, collaborating with countless names in both jazz and pop circles that included everyone from the Marshall Allen-led Sun Ra Arkestra to work with David Lee Roth.
Harding was born in 1967 in Detroit, Michigan. After hearing Grover Washington, Jr. as a kid, he took up tenor saxophone, eventually switching over to baritone in high school. Though sax was his primary instrument, he would occasionally double on bass clarinet. He was already performing regularly around Detroit in his teenage years while studying with local jazz greats. By his early twenties he was performing internationally. He left Detroit for New York in the early ’90s, joining Julius Hemphill’s Saxophone Sextet and performing around town with Lester Bowie, Frank Lacy, Hamiet Bluiett’s Baritone Group, the Mingus Big Band, and many others. He also took part in shows and festival appearances with the Sun Ra Arkestra and the Roy Hargrove Big Band. He recorded multiple albums with longtime friend pianist Lucian Ban, including 2002’s Somethin’ Holy and a 2008 collaboration between the two friends and Romanian electronic musician Silent Strike entitled 3am. In the late 2000s he joined the Broadway production of FELA!!! both in New York and on tour. He eventually returned to Detroit, but stayed incredibly active in the studio and on the road. Harding and Ban reunited in 2019 for another collaborative album, Dark Blue.

Jim Snidero
2021-11-10 19:30 - 23:30
Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance
(Seatings begin at 5p & 8:45p respectively)
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Described in a recent 5-star review in Downbeat Magazine as having “incredible prowess and
tender musicality”, New York saxophonist and composer Jim Snidero encapsulates what is both unique and compelling about jazz. Hailed as having a sound “at the highest level among his fellow alto saxophonists of the 21 st century” (All About Jazz), and improvisation that is “mind-boggling and, at the same time, hugely enjoyable’ (The Guardian), Snidero is a veteran
recording artist (EMI, Milestone, Savant,…) making both Downbeat critic and reader polls, and sideman (Mingus Big Band, Jack McDuff, Frank Sinatra) that can truly say “been there, done that”.
He will be joined by:
Rick Roe- Piano
Sean Dobbins- Drums
Noah Jackson- Bass

Find out more about Jim Snidero HERE!

The Johnny O'Neal Trio
2021-11-11 19:30 - 23:30, 2021-11-12 19:30 - 23:30
After forty-plus years as a professional pianist, vocalist and entertainer, Johnny O’Neal has earned the title of “master” with fellow musicians and audiences around the world. Highlights of his awe-inspiring career include stints with Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as well as a Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 on solo piano opening for Oscar Peterson and induction into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998. There is little wonder he was tapped to play virtuoso pianist Art Tatum in the Academy Award-winning Ray Charles biopic Ray.
While playing with Blakey, he accompanied some of the great jazz divas, including Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. Johnny has also been tapped for appearances by Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Nancy Wilson, Anita O’Day, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Stitt, Benny Golson, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Clark Terry, among others. Performances on the festival circuits in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Africa have gained him an international following.
The Detroit native considers himself a piano player first, but was encouraged to sing in his sets more by Joe Williams. Johnny recalls Williams advising him, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” Astonishingly, he is largely self-taught. His playing evokes the influences imbued in him by his idols Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, and he has reshaped these elements into his own very swinging and melodic approach. In live performances, he is apt to catch his audience off-guard with his blues shouting or soulfully rendered yet unpretentious vocalizations.

The Johnny O'Neal Trio
2021-11-12 19:30 - 23:30, 2021-11-13 19:30 - 23:30
Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance.
(Seatings begin at 5p & 8:45p respectively)
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After forty-plus years as a professional pianist, vocalist and entertainer, Johnny O’Neal has earned the title of “master” with fellow musicians and audiences around the world. Highlights of his awe-inspiring career include stints with Ray Brown, Milt Jackson and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as well as a Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 on solo piano opening for Oscar Peterson and induction into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998. There is little wonder he was tapped to play virtuoso pianist Art Tatum in the Academy Award-winning Ray Charles biopic Ray.
While playing with Blakey, he accompanied some of the great jazz divas, including Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. Johnny has also been tapped for appearances by Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Nancy Wilson, Anita O’Day, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Stitt, Benny Golson, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis and Clark Terry, among others. Performances on the festival circuits in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan, Israel and South Africa have gained him an international following.
The Detroit native considers himself a piano player first, but was encouraged to sing in his sets more by Joe Williams. Johnny recalls Williams advising him, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” Astonishingly, he is largely self-taught. His playing evokes the influences imbued in him by his idols Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, and he has reshaped these elements into his own very swinging and melodic approach. In live performances, he is apt to catch his audience off-guard with his blues shouting or soulfully rendered yet unpretentious vocalizations.

Luther S. Allison Trio
2021-11-14 19:30 - 23:00
Show times are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance
(Seatings begin at 5p & 8:45p respectively)
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Hailing from Charlotte, North Carolina Luther S. Allison is a multi-instrumentalist specializing in both piano and drum set. In 2017 Allison earned his BM in Studio Music & Jazz from The University of Tennessee and his MM in Jazz Studies from Michigan State University shortly thereafter. Allison is the featured pianist on Diego Rivera’s Connections and Michael Dease’s Reaching Out, and is the featured drummer on Michael Dease’s Father Figure, and Markus Howell’s Get Right. Allison has performed nationally and internationally alongside the likes of Rodney Whitaker, Etienne Charles, The Baylor Project, Gregory Tardy, Michael Dease, and is currently the pianist for Ulysses Owens Jr.’s Generation Y Quintet. In addition to teaching piano and drum set at the Brevard Jazz Institute summer camp in Brevard, NC Allison has worked as a clinician in Mexico, China, Japan, St. Lucia, and Trinidad & Tobago. Allison is currently based in New York City where he is on faculty for both the jazz division and percussion division at The Calhoun School and performs regularly.
