Pianist Carmen Staaf, winner of the 2009 Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Pianist Competition, was chosen for the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute in 2014. Back on the road, now with a Master’s degree in hand, she’s wasted no time.
In 2017 she recorded the critically acclaimed Science Fair with drummer Allison Miller, Ambrose Akinmusire, Dayna Stephens and Matt Penman. She performs regularly with Miller’s Boom Tic Boom. Last Summer she toured as Music Director with Dee Dee Bridgewater. Carmen has appeared on the Playboy Festival with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis, at Kennedy Center alongside Kenny Barron and Fred Hersh and at major jazz clubs and festivals worldwide. An active educator, she has served on faculty at Berklee, New School, Stanford Jazz Institute, Swarbabhoomi Academy of Music, Chennai, India, and Jacob’s Pillow. She also serves on the piano faculty at Litchfield Jazz Camp. This is her third appearance at Litchfield Jazz Festival.
Carmen, arranger as well as pianist for the sextet, has chosen to use the same instrumentation Mr. Hancock did on the original recording. She is proud to include, on bass, Avery Sharpe. Avery is perhaps best known for a two-decade stint with the great McCoy Tyner. Reggie Workman convinced him to master in bass at UMASS where he was studying economics—and soon he was performing with Art Blakey, Archie Shepp, Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis and Pat Metheny. Avery is a long-time faculty member at Litchfield Jazz Camp. This is his 9th appearance at the Festival. Don Braden, on alto flute, is a world-renowned saxophonist, recording artist, producer, educator and composer. He has been Music Director of Litchfield Jazz Camp for 23 years. Dave Ballou, on flugelhorn, is Professor of Music at Towson University and another long-time Camp faculty member and Fest featured artist. He has worked with Clark Terry, Sheila Jordan, Dewey Redman, Andrew Hill and Dave Liebman and has been a member of noted big bands including Maria Schneider’s, Woody Herman’s Young Thundering Herd and The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Jen Wharton is on bass trombone. Wharton, who has deep roots in jazz, commercial, chamber and Broadway music, says that, “like a virus, I won’t stop until I have conquered the world!” She is a member of two multiple Grammy-nominated ensembles, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society and Alan Ferber Big Band. She has performed with Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, Ken Peplowski Big Band, DIVA, and Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, among others. She teaches at Montclair State University. The sextet’s drummer is TBA at this writing.
Avery Sharpe’s appearance is Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts councils.
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