The parallel dimensions of opera and jazz collide with this condensed chamber group featuring operatic vocals, piano, and clarinet and soprano saxophone. Multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Aaron Johnson defines, examines and explores the parallels between Italian composer Giacomo Puccini’s Bel Canto Operatic tradition and the sublime sounds of Sidney Bechet’s New Orleans.
Co-presented by the Millbrook Arts Group
All Ages Welcome
FREE ADMISSION
Aaron Johnson is a Saxophonist and Scholar of Jazz History and Culture whose music and unrelenting energy have captivated listeners and musicians in a short period of time. A disciple of Charlie Parker and the Bebop era, Johnson is an artist possessing a wild musical imagination, a fearless heart and a probing intellect.
He has lectured, given talks and moderated panels regarding the state of Jazz, it's history, identity, culture and function at notable institutions such as New York University, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The National Jazz Museum of Harlem and the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia).
Aaron has appeared in concerts and jazz club settings as a sideman to notable Jazz artists and rising stars such as Jonathan Batiste, Connie Crothers, Bruce Harris, Michael Mwenso, James Langton's NY All Star Big Band and The Jimmy Halperin Quartet as well as leading his Quintet with Trumpeter Benny Benack III at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center. In 2009 and 2014, Aaron produced historically accurate recreations of Benny Goodman's Orchestra (2009, Oregon) and Charlie Parker with Strings (2014, NYC).