Jazz Vespers on 4/14

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Nicole Zuraitis is a GRAMMY® Award-winning (2024) jazz singer-songwriter, pianist and arranger, New York-based bandleader, and winner of the prestigious 2021 American Traditions Vocal Competition Gold Medal. With a “heart as big as her remarkable voice,” (Jazz Police), Nicole has positioned herself as one of the top artists and "prolific songwriters" (Broadway World) to watch in jazz and beyond.  

As a recording artist, Nicole has released five albums as leader, and her sixth album How Love Begins, co-produced with eight-time GRAMMY-winner Christian McBride (2023), features all original music and was awarded the GRAMMY for BEST JAZZ VOCAL ALBUM. In addition to leading her quartet, Nicole is the premier vocalist for the Birdland Big Band and frequently headlines iconic NYC jazz clubs like Dizzy’s Club at Lincoln Center, Birdland, the Blue Note, the Carlyle, 54 Below and the late, great 55 Bar. She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Savannah Philharmonic, Asheville Symphony,and Macon Pops, and has supported iconic singers like Melanie, Morgan James, Darren Criss, and Livingston Taylor on piano and vocals. 

Nicole's arrangement of Dolly Parton's Jolene, co-written with renowned drummer and bandleader Dan Pugach, was nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY®, springboarding her career and making her a household name in the modern-day jazz landscape. In 2020, she was named in the top 40 under 40 for 2020 in Connecticut Magazine, and her weekly livestream during the Covid-19 crisis, "Virtual Piano Lounge," was featured in Forbes Magazine.  Nicole has collaborated with an extensive list of luminaries, including Christian McBride, David Cook, Gilad Hekselman, Veronica Swift, Benny Benack, Stephen Feifke, Cyrille Aimee, Antonio Sanchez, Dave Stryker, Omar Hakim, Rachel Z, Helen Sung, and Bernard Purdie. She is a proud educator and currently vocal faculty at NYU and SUNY Purchase. 

An ardent activist with a decade-long track record of giving back, her 2023 album release coincided with a self-produced music festival and day of activism for Save the Sound.Org. For more information, visit www.nicolezmusic.com or tag @nicolezmusic.

Jazz Vespers on 3/17

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By the time she blew out the candles for her recent 25th birthday, Lucy Wijnands had toured all over the world, completed a 16-week residency singing with the world-famous Birdland Big Band, became a regular at Manhattan’s Mezzrow and other jazz clubs, won the prestigious Ella Fitzgerald competition, and picked up a degree in jazz studies from SUNY Purchase’s Conservatory of Music, graduating as an Ella Fitzgerald Scholar and President’s Award recipient.

Jazz Vespers on February 18

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Grammy-winning saxophonist, composer and producer Joe Lovano is fearless in finding new modes of artistic expression. With a Grammy Win for his 52nd Street Themes and 14 other nominations, he has won DownBeat Magazine ’s Critics and Readers Polls countless times as Tenor Saxophonist, Musician of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year and Triple Crowns from DownBeat. He has also received numerous awards from Jazz Times and the Jazz Journalists Association for Tenor Saxophone, Album of the Year and Musician of the Year.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 29, 1952 he attended the famed Berklee College of Music in Boston where years later he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate. Since 2001 he has held the Gary Burton Chair in Jazz Performance and is a founding faculty member since 2009 of the Global Jazz Institute at Berklee directed by Danilo Pérez. He is a guest lecturer at New York University’s Jazz Program, Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music as well as Clinician at Universities around the globe

Valen-Ash-Day at PRCC

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Join us for a meaningful Valentine's + Ash Wednesday celebration as a community! We've got a short service for ash imposition, a heartwarming gift exchange, and a scrumptious spaghetti dinner planned. Feel free to bring your loved ones—it's a casual gathering. Kindly RSVP so we can make sure there's enough for everyone!

Details:
📅 Date: February 14, 2024
⏰ Time: 5:30 pm
📍 Location: PRCC Common Room (1st floor)
For the gift exchange, let's keep it budget-friendly at $5 per gift (one per family, but more gifts are always welcome).

We're looking for food makers and donations! If you'd like to whip up a tasty spaghetti meal or contribute any food/beverage, please reach out to Rose in the office.

Let's make it a memorable evening together!

Jazz Vespers on 12.17 at 4pm

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Vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli regularly leads her quartet in performances at the country’s finest jazz clubs and performing arts centers and she has headlined domestic and international jazz festivals including the 2023 Delaware Water Gap COTA Jazz Festival, 2023 Cayman Arts Festival on Grand Cayman Island, the 2021 & 2018 WBGO Jazz on the Mountain Festival in New Paltz, NY, the 2019 Providencia Jazz Festival in Santiago, Chile, the 2016 All That Jazz Festival in Eleuthera, Bahamas and the 2014 Maree Sonore Festival in Venice, Italy. She premiered pianist Fred Hersch’s song cycle “Rooms of Light” and toured the U.S. premiering Wynton Marsalis’s “Abyssinian Mass.”

As a US State Department “Jazz Ambassador” she has performed and taught throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and South America. “Dream Ago,” her 2017 release which consists primarily of original material, received a rare 5- star review from Downbeat Magazine and her 2019 release “Pick Up My Pieces: Gabrielle Stravelli Sings Willie Nelson” was featured by noted music critic Will Friedwald in the WSJ and awarded the 2020 Bistro Award for Outstanding Recording. IG: @gabriellestravelli

Bassist Patrick O’Leary has toured the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Australia, and Japan with a veritable who’s who of jazz greats including Lionel Hampton, Illinois Jacquet, Diana Krall, Hal Galper, Bob Dorough and Teri Thornton. Born in Buffalo, O’Leary studied piano and bass at Potsdam State University’s Crane School of Music earning a BS in Music.

During his tenure as the bassist for the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, Pat recorded the Grammy-­nominated CD “Sentimental Journey” for Atlantic Records. Pat performed with legendary jazz pianist and vocalist Bob Dorough for 20 years. Other leading artists with whom O’Leary has played include Bobby Short, Eartha Kitt, saxophonists James Moody, Junior Cook, Lee Konitz and Joe Lovano, pianists Barry Harris and Junior Mance, and vocalists Joe Williams and Marlena Shaw.

As a US Department of State Jazz Ambassador, O’Leary has toured 11 west African countries, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and South America performing concerts and teaching masterclasses. In recent years Pat has taken a special interest in fusing jazz, classical and ethnic folk music culminating in the “Montenegro Jazz Suite” and his “Serbian Jazz Suite” which featured The Belgrade Radio and Television Orchestra,a 100­-member choir and jazz quartet.