ellington jazz series
Thomas C. Duffy, artistic director
Jesse Hameen II & Elevation
Rodney Jones, guitar
T.K. Blue, saxophone
Nat Reeves, bass
Zaccai Curtis, piano
Friday, February 3, 2023 | 7:30 p.m.
Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
Robert Blocker, Dean
Artist Profiles
Jesse Hameen II, drums
Drummer Jesse Hameen II is a musician with a mission. He is dedicated to entertaining and inspiring others to attain a higher level of spiritual consciousness. Driven by his desire, he encourage others to know that life’s conditions can be changed and improved.
When witnessing the development in his students, he declares “I am happy to have ingrained a piece of me in that development.”
Born in New Haven, CT, as Jesse Kilpatrick, Jr., his family upbringing and his background in Gospel, Afro-Cuban, R&B, and Jazz prepared him to begin successful road tours in 1963. He has since traveled and performed extensively throughout the world. He has been leading his own group, Elevation, since 1976.
Some of Jesse’s New Haven mentors are: Dickey Myers, Houston Person, Vernon Biddles, Frankie Williams, Curly Glover, Sonny Williams, Count Steadwell, Leo Stevens, Johnny “Hammond” Smith, Bobby Coles, Willie Ruff and Charlie Smith.
“Cheese,” as he is called by many of his peers and friends because of his spirited smile, has performed, recorded and/or appeared with the following artists on stages and national TV: Ruth Brown, Charles Brown, Grover Washington Jr., George Benson, Ms. Irene Reid, Gloria Lynne, Stanley Turrentine, Tommy Turrentine, Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, Ruby & The Romantics, Charles Earland, Jimmy McGriff, Jimmy Witherspoon, Hank Crawford, Lou Donaldson, Etta Jones, Lena Horne,
Tommy Flannagan, Rodney Jones, Leon Thomas, Pharaoh Sanders, Jimmy Scott, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Burrell, Brook Benton, Arthur Prysock, Jimmy Ponder, Melvin
“Sparks” Hasan, Major Holly, Doug Carn, Jean Carn, Bobby Watson, Harold Vick, Albert Daley, Walter Bishop Jr., Christian Sands, Freddie Hubbard, Jamil Nasser, Dr. Lonnie Smith, David “Fathead” Newman, Kenny Baron, George Adams, Benny Powell, Hamiet Bluiett, Curtis Fuller, Ronnie
Mathews, Billy Larkin, Eddie Buster, Bobby Buster, Russell Malone, Odean Pope, James Spaulding, Rusty Bryant and Sonny Fortune.
At 81 years old, Jesse has performed with countless musicians. This partial list is far from complete. His professional career, which spans more than 60 years, continues through today.
Being an educator, Jesse has taught components of music as an adjunct professor at The Hartford Conservatory of Music, Betsy Ross Arts Magnet Middle School in New Haven, ECA (Educational Center for The Arts) HS, in New Haven, Clara Muhammad School in Corona, NY, and Jazz Mobile In NYC. Jesse has also been a Guest Clinician at Juilliard and has taught classes at Wesleyan University. He has presented seminars and assembly programs in NYC public schools, libraries and in other cities nationwide for over fifty years.
Presently, Jesse is on the faculty of Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, as a private instructor and Director of the NMS Summer Jazz Program. Jesse has served as Chair of the NMS Jazz Department for the past twenty years. NMS is the largest
nonprofit community arts organization in the state of CT and one the 10th largest in the US.
Additionally, Jesse is on the faculty at Gordon College in Wenham, MA. He is a Commissioner of Arts and Culture for the City of New Haven.
As a Jazz preservationist, Jesse is one the founders of the rejuvenated New Haven Jazz Festival (2008–2017). He is on the Board of Directors for Jazz Haven, which has been the presenting organization for the Jazz Festival. Jesse implemented the inherent policy that every Jazz Haven Festival must have a residual effect by featuring youth artists and a Guest Clinician at the NMS Summer Jazz Program each year.
Jesse is President and Founder of Inspire Productions Recording Company. The company has produced two releases for the Savant Record Label: Thanks To You and Moving Out by vocalist Ms. Irene Reid; as well as Give Your Life to God and Sign Of The Times by Jesse Hameen II, Why Don’t You Say Yes Sometime? by trombonist Benny Powell, and Hit It by the Neo Bass Ensemble.
» jessehameenii.com
Rodney Jones, guitar
Guitarist Rodney Jones was born in New Haven, CT, while his father was a graduate student at Yale Divinity School. Rodney is a producer, composer, and arranger. Jones’s albums include The Liberation of Contemporary Jazz Guitar, Articulation, When You Feel the Love (Verve), The “X” Field,
Right Now!, The Undiscovered Few (Blue Note), Soul Manifesto (Blue Note), Soul Manifesto Live, and Dreams and Stories.
At the age of 19, Rodney was hired by the great Jazz Master Dizzy Gillespie and worked with him for three years. He was the staff guitarist for the The Rosie O’Donnell Show (6 years), as well as for Showtime at the Apollo (9 years), The Rhythm and Blues Awards, Songwriters Hall of Fame, and was the Musical Contractor for The Cosby Show and It’s a Different World.
He has written for, produced, and performed with Ruth Brown, Lena Horne, Maceo Parker, Christian McBride, Jimmy Smith, Chico Hamilton, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler, Kenny Burrell, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and others. He has been on the faculty of The Manhattan School of Music and The Juilliard School as a Professor of Jazz Guitar Studies. Jones’ book Hip Guitar Lines: The Lines, Fingerings, and Ideas That Will Transform Your Playing was published in 2020. He continues to be an innovator in the jazz guitar world.
» rodneyjones.com
T.K. Blue, saxophone
Blue, Talib Kibwe’s nickname, appears on over 85 recordings and performed with such artists as Don Cherry, Jaki Byard’s Apollo Stompers, Ted Daniels’ Big Band, Abdullah Ibrahim, Miriam Makeba, Randy Weston (T.K. was also his musical director and arranger), Sam Rivers, Archie Shepp, Xalam (from Senegal), Charli Persip, Sahib Shihab, Benny Bailey, George Lewis,
Artist Profiles cont.
Rufus Reid, Dizzy Gillespie, Pharoah Sanders, Dewey Redman, Andy Bey, Melba Liston, Patti Bown, Chico Hamilton, Carl Allen, Stefon Harris, Randy Brecker, Regina Carter, Bobby McFerrin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jimmy Scott, Jayne Cortez, Benny Powell, Mal Waldron, Winard Harper, Russell Malone, Gregoire Maret, Etienne Charles, Candido Camera, Bobby Sanabria, Steve Turre, Mulgrew Miller, Warren Wolf, Monty Alexander, and Arturo O’Farrill, just to name a few.
In 2017 T.K. released Amour, his 11th CD as a leader, cited as one of the best jazz recordings of the year by DownBeat magazine (four stars). Deeply indebted to organizations such as Jazzmobile, Jazz Interactions, The Henry Street Settlement, and The Muse, for his own jazz studies, Blue remained committed to music education from Pre-K to the graduate level. Having received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music and Psychology from New York University and a Master’s Degree in Music Education from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, Blue taught at Roosevelt Pre-K, Suffolk Community College, Montclair State University, and Long Island University LIU-Post where he was the director of jazz studies from 2007 to 2014. T.K. was commissioned by NYSCA and Transart Incorporated to compose a new suite dedicated to the early presence of African-Americans in the upstate New York Hudson Valley area. The result was a CD titled Follow The North Star, based on the life of Solomon Northup and his memoir, 12 Years A Slave. Having lived close to 10 years in Paris, Blue was hired by the USIA to embark on three state department tours of Africa. »
Nat Reeves, bass
For more than 40 years, Nat Reeves has been one of the top bassists in jazz. His supportive and stimulating playing has uplifted a countless number of sessions and recording dates (most notably with the great alto saxophonists Jackie McLean and Kenny Garrett) and he has led his own recordings, State of Emergency and Blue Ridge. Both as a performer and an educator, he has made a strong impact on the jazz world.
“As a bassist it is my function to concentrate on the band’s foundation. To become a better bass player and learn more about the instrument, I started listening to jazz. In jazz there is much more freedom to create one’s own bass part and develop a distinct sound. It is my job to project more than my notes and always sound fresh and alive.”
In 1979, Nat moved to New York City. “I listened, played on the streets, listened some more, and learned.” He first toured with Sonny Stitt in 1982 in Japan during what would be the great saxophonist’s last tour. The same year he met Jackie McLean, who became his mentor. Soon after, he began teaching at the University of Hartford and touring the world with Jackie McLean and other Jazz masters, including Kenny Garrett, Harold Mabern, Eddie Henderson, Steve Davis, Eric Alexander, Rene McLean, and most recently Pharoah Sanders.
In 2001 Nat began a full-time teaching career at The Hartt School, Jackie McLean Institute. “I build on what my students already know and try to convince them to be more aggressive with learning. I think
tkblue.com
of teaching like playing a gig: being well organized, accomplishing goals and solving problems. It is a lot of fun, and it makes me a better musician.” Although Nat retired from the University in 2021, he continues to perform and teach. Nat’s performance career is supercharged. “I’m excited for what is ahead.”
» natreeves.com
Zaccai Curtis, piano
Zaccai Curtis regularly performs with artists such as Donald Harrison, Cindy Blackman Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, Lakecia Benjamin, Ray Vega, and Chico Freeman, amongst others. Most recently, Curtis became a Chamber Music America “New Jazz Works” grant recipient (2017).
Zaccai, owns and operates an independent label, TRRcollective, which produced the Grammy-nominated album Entre Colegas (Andy González, 2016.) Zaccai has created the first ever music news app developed for record labels, titled The Riff: Music News. Zaccai is currently a professor of jazz studies at University of Hartford and University of Rhode Island.
» zaccaicurtis.com
About the Ellington Jazz Series
For fifty years, the Duke Ellington Fellowship has brought the giants of jazz to Yale’s concert halls and to the city’s public schools. In 1972, Yale’s president Kingman Brewster presented the first Ellington medals to thirty jazz greats, including the Duke himself. That year marked the beginning of a series of extraordinary jazz concerts by Eubie Blake, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Robeson, Marian Anderson, Odetta, Max Roach, and Charles Mingus, to name just a few.
The Ellington Series continues to present concerts and residencies by jazz legends as well as the new generation of artists.
2022-2023 Ellington Jazz Series
mar 3 Jane Bunnett and Maqueque
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
apr 2 Epitaph: 100 Years of Mingus
2 p.m. | Woolsey Hall
all concerts: Tickets start at $23, Students start at $10
Upcoming Events at YSM
feb 5 Daniel S. Lee, violin & Jeffrey Grossman, harpsichord
Faculty Artist Series
3 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
feb 8 Lunchtime Chamber Music
12:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
feb 8
Wei-Yi Yang, piano
Horowitz Piano Series
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Tickets start at $15, Students start at $7
feb 9
Tania León, guest composer
New Music New Haven
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
feb 12 Wendy Sharp & Friends
Faculty Artist Series
3 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Free admission
feb 14
Handel & Haydn Society
Oneppo Chamber Music Series
7:30 p.m. | Morse Recital Hall
Tickets start at $28, Students $13
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