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Walter Smith III – tenor saxophone

Matt Stevens – guitar

Jason Moran – piano

Matt Brewer – bass

Bill Stewart – drums

“A tenor saxophonist for our times.” – The Guardian

Acclaimed tenor saxophonist and composer Walter Smith III returns to Smoke, debuting a phenomenal group featuring pianist Jason Moran, guitarist Matt Stevens, bassist Matt Brewer, and drummer Bill Stewart. Smith will premiere a major new work commissioned through Chamber Music America's prestigious New Jazz Works program, supported by the Doris Duke Foundation. Selected as one of only 14 recipients nationwide, he will debut the music throughout this special week-long engagement before recording the project to complete the commission.

One of the most compelling voices in contemporary jazz, Smith has spent nearly two decades at the forefront of the music as both a bandleader and sought-after collaborator. His distinctive sound has been heard alongside Roy Haynes, Terence Blanchard, Eric Harland, Ambrose Akinmusire, Jason Moran, Christian McBride, Gerald Clayton, and many others. As a composer, he continues to expand the language of modern jazz with music that is at once sophisticated, lyrical, and expressive.

JazzWise praises Smith for expressing his deep modern jazz roots with "an airy tenor sax tone and a ferocious yet understated technique." Meanwhile, DownBeat highlights his “killing” tone and melodicism, noting his “vast and beautiful flow of ideas.”

*Livestreams are Available for 48 Hours in Every Time Zone

Mark Turner – tenor saxophone

Jason Palmer – trumpet

Joe Martin – bass

Jonathan Pinson – drums

“One of the most influential saxophonists of his generation.” – The New York Times

Tenor saxophonist Mark Turner makes his Smoke debut as a leader with his quartet featuring trumpeter Jason Palmer, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Jonathan Pinson. The group celebrates the New York release of Turner’s ECM recording Patternmaster.

The New York Times writes, “Every jazz musician strives to establish a voice. Some go so far as to create a language. Mark Turner is one of those: a tenor saxophonist with a vocabulary and syntax so personal that he’s recognizable within a single phrase.”

Throughout his career, Turner has collaborated with artists including Billy Hart, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Larry Grenadier, Jeff Ballard, Ethan Iverson, and many others, while creating a celebrated body of work as both a leader and collaborator. On Patternmaster, Turner, Palmer, Martin, and Pinson further develop their quartet sound. JazzWise praises the group’s “phrasal eloquence and narrative drive,” describing an ensemble with “a bracing, at times danceable, swinging energy.” DownBeat notes that “Turner’s sound is unmistakable—yielding, vocal, a bit matte, with a beautiful lyricism and remarkable control above the natural range of the horn.”

*Livestreams are Available for 48 Hours in Every Time Zone

Nicole Glover – tenor saxophone

Renee Rosnes – piano

David Wong – bass

Carl Allen – drums

“Few jazz pianists are as scarily satisfying.” — The Times (UK)

Renee Rosnes, one of the essential pianists and composers working today, opens Smoke’s annual two-week celebration of Thelonious Monk with a quartet of some of her favorite colleagues.

“Her style at the keyboard is powerful and modernistic, combining classical technique and sharp, clean phrases with a dramatic compositional style,” says Stereogum. “The music is reminiscent of mid-’60s Blue Note albums by players like Joe Henderson, Andrew Hill, Bobby Hutcherson (with whom Rosnes worked), Sam Rivers, Wayne Shorter, and Tony Williams; it swings, and never loses touch with the blues, but it’s also abstract and biting.”

Rosnes is joined by tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist David Wong, and drummer Carl Allen.

*Livestreams are Available for 48 Hours in Every Time Zone

Joel Ross – vibraphone

James Francies – piano

Luca Alemanno – bass

Jeremy Dutton – drums

“A pianist with liquid dynamism in his touch.” — The New York Times

Pianist James Francies makes his Smoke leader debut with his trio plus special guest Joel Ross, as the second half of Smoke’s annual two-week celebration of Thelonious Monk.

At 30, Francies has already built an extraordinary résumé, working across jazz, hip-hop, and R&B with artists including Pat Metheny, Chris Potter, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Eric Harland, Terrace Martin, Common, Ms. Lauryn Hill, and The Roots. A Houston native and Blue Note recording artist, he has developed a sound that draws freely from the jazz tradition while embracing the possibilities of contemporary music. Writing about his most recent album, Purest Form, the Houston Chronicle noted that Francies “finds modern ways to take the familiar and make it new.”

Ross is a distinctive new voice on the vibraphone and, like Francies, a Blue Note recording artist. Together, Francies and Ross are leaders of a new generation of jazz musicians, deeply engaged with the tradition while pushing the music forward.