Jamieson Ross kicks off the JAS Café 2024 summer series tonight on the rooftop of the Aspen Art Museum. The series includes seven concerts, six at the Art Museum and one at the Jerome Hotel.
While Jim Horowitz can’t wait to hear all the great acts he has scheduled for the JAS Café Summer Series, the JAS founder and CEO can’t help but savor how sweet these artists will be to come play at the organization’s new location. The Paul JAS Center is expected to open in downtown Aspen in 2025.
“Any of these JAS Café artists and summer shows can perform at the future Paul JAS Center,” said Horowitz. “For 10 years, we have presented a variety of music for a variety of audiences to appeal to locals and visitors alike. We look for artists who respect the past but equally embrace the future and know how to connect with audiences. Especially in our intimate spaces, this is an absolute prerequisite for success in Aspen, and it will be our focus in the acts we bring to our future home at the Paul JAS Center.”
Horowitz said the Paul JAS Center will be a hub for culture, education and entertainment and will feature intimate performance space and special event spaces.
This year’s JAS Café Summer Series features six different rooftop shows at the Aspen Art Museum and a seventh show at the Jerome Hotel.
The series begins with three programs this week.
Tonight, Grammy Award-winning artist Jamison Ross, who fuses R&B, gospel, blues and soul, takes the stage for two sold-out shows.
Jazz pianist Jarrod Lawson, who will make his JAS debut, will perform with his quartet on Saturday. Lawson won the ‘Soul Artist of the Year’ award at the 2015 Jazz FM Awards and has been hailed by Echoes magazine as ‘the hottest talent for soul music hits in at least a decade’.
Bria Schonberg, described by The Wall Street Journal as “like a Scandinavian angel, (playing) the trumpet like a red-hot devil and (singing) like a dream,” will be joined by trumpeter and vocalist Benny Benak III and his quartet. She will perform on Sunday.
Next month, on Saturday, August 10, JAS presents a celebration of calypso and reggae in the Jerome Hotel Ballroom. Vocalist René Marie will join 20 students selected for JAS Academy’s Afro-Caribbean Big Band program for a celebration of the music of Caribbean vocalist Harry Belafonte, led by Trinidadian-born composer and trumpeter Etienne Charles.
Sharing the bill on that date will be Jamaican virtuoso pianist Monty Alexander, paying homage to reggae legends such as Bob Marley and the Harlem-Kingston Express. Alexander is backed by the entire JAS Academy Afro-Caribbean Big Band.
On Friday, August 16, Säje will perform at the Aspen Art Museum. Saje won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocal for the song “In the Wee Small Hours of Morning” from her self-titled debut album.
Säje is the brainchild of singer-songwriters Sarah Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Jonah Kendrick, and Erin Bentlage. The group utilizes four-way harmonies to create a rich tapestry of sound. Their debut album peaked at #2 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart in its first week and reached #4 on the iTunes Jazz chart.
Shemekia Copeland brings her Grammy Award-winning blues makeup to the Aspen Art Museum to perform on August 17. Copeland sings intelligent songs that are at once rootsy and rocking, slow and soulful, with a strong intention that makes her a force to be reckoned with at concerts.
“I’m so glad Shemika is putting out these songs that the world needs to hear,” Mavis Staples said in a recent interview with Blues Music Magazine. “Her voice is strong and soulful and her message comes from the heart.”
The series closes on Sunday, August 18 with an all-star jazz group, the Lao Tyzer Trio, and special guests Eric Marienthal on saxophone, Elliot Yamin (American Idol finalist) on vocals and Karen Briggs on violin.
All Aspen Art Museum shows are nightly at 6:30 p.m. ($75) and 8:45 p.m. ($55). The Renée Marie/JAS Academy/Monty Alexander show at the Jerome Hotel begins at 7:30 p.m. ($75 for reserved seating, $45 for general admission and standing room only).
Asked if he could single out a few must-see artists from the series, Horowitz replied, “That’s impossible. It’s like picking your kids’ favorites. That said, there are three returning artists to JAS Café who have had great receptions and success performing here over the past five years; they already have a following here and their shows are always sold out in advance.”
Horowitz highlighted the “soulful gospel, jazz and soul voices and sounds” of the Hammond B-3 organ trio consisting of drummer Jamieson Ross and Canadian-born jazz trumpeter, vocalist and singer Schoenberg. Both will play on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Another returning favorite performing at JAS Café on August 17 is Grammy-nominated blues singer and multi-time artist Shemekiah Copeland, from a family of bluesmen that literally spans generations.”
For more information on the JAS Café series, please visit jazzaspensnowmass.org.
