Sat 6/22
Organism features a group of the area’s top jazz players including David Thomas on Hammond B-3 organ, Howie Smith on sax, Bob Ferrazza on guitar, and Bill Ransom on drums.
Together they represent well over a century of performing experience. Individually, each has a stellar resume.
Thomas teaches at the Cleveland Public Schools and Cleveland State, and has performed with artists as diverse as James Cleveland, Dizzy Gillespie, Albert Ayler and David Ruffin, as well as R&B group Sweet Thunder, which he co-founded. He’s also the minister of music at St. Timothy’s Baptist Church.
Smith is known as a composer as well as a player, with numerous recorded compositions. He’s got an impressive discography stretching back nearly 40 years, encompassing jazz, classical and pop music, and a new release as a band leader called Opal Dream.
Ransom has played with R&B group Levert, Najee, James Newton and Marion Meadows, among others. He leads the Jazz Meets Hip Hop project that’s part of Tri-C’s JazzFest.
Ferrazza is an associate professor at the Oberlin Conservatory who got his start studying under Cleveland guitar legend Bill DeArango. He has performed with many noted jazz musicians including Joe Lovano, Art Farmer, Jack McDuff, and David “Fathead” Newman.
You can hear this ensemble of the elite of Cleveland jazz musicians at Nighttown for a mere $10. If you’re a student with I.D, the cost is a paltry $5.
Photo: Bob Ferrazza