DeSean Jones
2021-12-01 19:30 - 2021-12-02 09:30, 2021-11-30 19:30 - 2021-12-01 09:30, 2021-11-29 19:30 - 2021-11-30 09:30, 2021-11-28 19:30 - 2021-11-29 09:30, 2021-11-27 19:30 - 2021-11-28 09:30, 2021-11-26 19:30 - 2021-11-27 09:30, 2021-11-25 19:30 - 2021-11-26 09:30, 2021-11-24 19:30 - 2021-11-25 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.

Trunino Lowe Quartet
2021-11-28 19:30 - 23:00
There will be two shows at 7:30pm & 9:30pm for this performance.
(Seating will begin at 5pm & 8:45pm respectively)
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Trunino Lowe is one of Detroit’s young promising musicians. Born & raised on Detroit’s
Eastside. Trunino is a proud graduate of Detroit Public Schools where his love for music began.
It wasn’t until he attended the Detroit School of Arts where he began to pursue his career as a
professional musician. Trunino now serves as a bandleader, Sideman, Composer, and mentor.
Mentored by Detroit Trumpeters Kris Johnson, Dwight Adams, Rayse Biggs, and John Douglas.
He’s a part of the jazz lineage of Detroit and strongly believes in continuing the Legacy.
Trunino has performed with some of the finest musicians the world has to offer. He’s
played with the likes of Marion Hayden, Wendell Harrison, Marcus Elliot, Rodney Whitaker,
Sean Dobbins, Ralphe Armstrong, Karriem Riggins, Russell Hall, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri
Lynn Carrington, Emmet Cohen, Maurice Brown, & others. Performed on some very prestigious
stages such as, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (NYC), Jazz Showcase (CHI), Detroit Jazz Festival,
Baker’s Keyboard Lounge (DET). He’s Also performed internationally in France, Germany, and
Denmark.

Closed for the Holiday- Happy Thanksgiving!
2021-11-25 00:00 - 23:59
From all of us at Cliff Bell’s, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
We are grateful for all of your help in keeping jazz alive and well in Detroit!
We’ll see you tomorrow with The Diego Rivera Quartet.

There’s only ONE…

Dave Meder Trio
2021-11-21 19:30 - 23:00
Showtimes are at 7:30p & 9:30p for this performance
(Seatings begin at 5p & 8:45p respectively)
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In this performance, the Dave Meder Songs and Stories Trio brings a fresh approach to the traditional jazz trio format: moving seamlessly from old gospel standards to bold deconstructions of avant-gardists like Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill, to intricate explorations inspired by American minimalists like Philip Glass and John Adams. They will also be celebrating the release of Meder’s sophomore album, Unamuno Songs and Stories, a stunning response to recent social upheavals in the United States. The trio is lauded for its remarkably “postmodern sense of stylistic adventure,” incorporating what All About Jazz describes as “a vibrant hybrid of the whole American spectrum.”

Rafael Leafar
2021-11-19 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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Rafael Leafar is a rare multi-instrumentalist who can combine great passion, intellectual discipline, and a spiritual fire that is evocative of great artistic creativity. He has established himself as a remarkable composer and musician not defined by any one particular genre or style. Hailing from Detroit, Rafael’s connection to music was Jazz; fostered from a musical family at an early age.
His parents invested life changing moves to make certain to access of opportunity to quality schools back and forth from suburban education and playing opportunities in Detroit that would eventually prove fruitful graduating from Sterling Heights High School, DSA, Detroit Civic Jazz Orchestra, & The New School for Jazz.
Over the years since 2009 major recording & performances with; Reggie Workman, Robert Hurst, Marcus Belgrave, Luis Resto, Vincent Chandler, Jeff Tain Watts, Marion Hayden, Sterling Toles, Detroit Jazz Festival Band, Kamau Kenyatta, Video7.
Artist Statement
Music to me is a vehicle to develop creative thought to help me achieve a greater understanding of life, existence, and the universe.
My vision in music is similar to the journey of creative minds like John Coltrane and the predecessors who originated before us. Visionaries that established milestones and arouse to challenges; choosing to pursue the path to push music forward. Utilizing and expanding my creative imagination, while pushing the boundaries of improvisation, empowers me with the strength to express my ideas, emotions, life’s experiences, soul and spirit through the music.
Art in which I can command the ability to express complete freedom that conventional systematization typically does not allow for, motivates me to create. At my core, I’m an experimental sound scientist who doesn’t like to be artistically confined. I am always searching for more possibilities in music and striving for growth through musical experiences, especially those within the African diaspora, using tensions of improvised sound to find meaning. This is where my passion and motivation are derived from, with the dream that I could one day create a new influential voice in music.
Find out more HERE!

Closed for a Private Event
2021-11-18 00:00 - 23:59
See you tomorrow for the JD Allen Trio!

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.

The Johnny O'Neal Trio
2021-11-13 19:30 - 23:30, 2021-11-12 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.

The Johnny O'Neal Trio
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.
