The Huntertones / Courtesy
The lineup for this year’s Starrlight Jazz Club series at Walton Arts Center was released this week.
The series of intimate shows inside the Walton Arts Center’s Starr Theatre will kick off on Sept. 10 this fall with a performance by Ohio-based group, The Huntertones.
After that, the series will include performances by the likes of Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, Samara Joy, Sullivan Fortner Trio, Clark Gibson Quintet, and more.
The full lineup, including specific dates is listed below.
Tickets to the full series range from $155-$240, and are on sale now at waltonartscenter.org. Individual performances will go on sale at a later date.
Artist descriptions provided by Walton Arts Center
The Huntertones
Friday, Sept. 10, 2021
The Huntertones brings people together around the globe with fun, imaginative and fearless music. Their high energy, horn-driven sound fuses inspired improvisation and adventurous composition melding jazz, funk, rock, and soul. This performance will feature songs from their recent album release, Time to Play – a musical joyride for fans new and old, produced by Louis Cato (Beyonce, A Tribe Called Quest, Marcus Miller).
Jane Bunnett and Maqueque
Friday, Oct. 22, 2021
Five-time Juno Award-winner Jane Bunnett’s bands and recordings showcase the finest musical talent from Canada, the U.S. and Cuba. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards®, received The Order of Canada, The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and, most recently, The Premier’s Award for Excellence.
With Maqueque, Bunnett has created something new and phenomenal in the world of jazz. What started out five years ago as a project to record and mentor young brilliant Cuban female musicians, has become one of the top groups on the Afro-Cuban jazz scene. They have played in major jazz festivals like Newport and Monterey, been featured on NPR’s program “Jazz Night in America,” were nominated for a Grammy for their newest release, Oddara, and were voted as one the top ten jazz groups by the prestigious DownBeat magazine’s critics poll.
Samara Joy
Friday, Dec. 10, 2021
With a voice as smooth as velvet, Samara Joy’s star seems to rise with each performance. Following her win at the 2019 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, she released her debut album in 2021, which features Samara backed by the Pasquale Grasso Trio. At just 21 years old, Samara has already performed in many of the great jazz venues in NYC, including Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, The Blue Note and Mezzrow, in addition to working with jazz greats such as Christian McBride, Pasquale Grasso, Jon Faddis, Kirk Lightsey, Cyrus Chestnut and NEA Jazz Master Dr. Barry Harris.
Sullivan Fortner Trio
Friday, Feb. 18, 2022
A Grammy Award®-winning pianist, composer and band leader, Sullivan Fortner pulls distinct elements from different eras, preserving tradition while evolving the sound. He seeks connections among different musical styles that are at once deeply soulful and wildly inventive. Both his works and his insights have been featured in culturally iconic publications from The New York Times to The Root. Accolades include winning the 2015 Cole Porter Fellowship by the American Pianists Association, the 2016 Lincoln Center Award for Emerging Artists and the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship.
Clark Gibson Quintet
Saturday, March 5, 2022
A star-studded original jazz music project featuring bandleader Clark Gibson on alto saxophone; premiere trumpet performer, Sean Jones; one of the finest trombonists in history, Michael Dease; two-time Grammy®-nominated organist and winner of DownBeat magazine’s 2016 rising star poll Pat Bianchi; and the 2009 winner of Jazz’s Most Valuable Player in Modern Drummer Magazine, Lewis Nash.
