Fri 5/1 @ 7:30PM
The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra concludes its 2025-26 season, its 41st, with a concert paying tribute to an event that wasn’t about jazz at all: the landmark 1969 Woodstock, although of course they’ll bring out the jazz elements within music by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone, Santana and more, in arrangements by CJO artistic director Paul Ferguson, featuring the brass section including trumpeters Jack Schantz and Scott McKee; trombonist Chris Anderson; and saxophonists Brad Wagner and Chris Burge, with pianist Jackie Warren, bassist Aidan Plank, guitarist Dan Bruce and drummer Dustin May supporting them.
And there’ll be a special guest: Cleveland blues/rock vocalist Mary Bridget Davies, who made a splash in New York when she performed her show A Night With Janis Joplin there. She’ll be singing some of the songs Joplin performed at Woodstock, including “Piece of My Heart” and “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)”.
In addition, the concert will include the premiere of a new piece by Plank called “Billy,” written as a tribute to pianist/composer/arranger and longtime Duke Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn. Although CJO frequently premieres work by its members, this will be the first time it’s performed a piece by Plank. The piece in included on Plank’s new album Where We Started.
The concert takes place at the Maltz Performing Arts Center. Go here for tickets.