Jazz At The Cherry proudly presents Kenny Stahl & Friends on Sunday, August 20th at 2:00pm. Doors open at 1:30pm for wine and light fare (included in the ticket price). Joining creative and innovative flautist Kenny Stahl for an afternoon of scintillating contemporary jazz will be local favorites Leon Joyce Jr., Scotty Wright, and Steve Uccello.
Tickets are $35, available online at eventbrite.com or by calling (831) 624-7491. You won’t want to miss this one! Reserve your tickets today.
Meet the Musicians:
A seasoned recording artist and composer, Kenny Stahl is one of the hottest jazz flute performers playing today. He has worked with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Jaco Pastorius, Ira Sullivan, Cal Tjader, Richie Cole, Herb Jeffries, Paul Horn, and many others. Stahl has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival many times; among his other noted performances are appearances at the Great American Music Hall and the Kuumbwa Jazz Center. In addition, he has performed or recorded with such artists as Diana Krall, Lee Greenwood, Paul Horn, Pierre Bensusan, Roger Glenn, and Richie Cole, among others. Raised in Chicago, Kenny has studied and performed many forms of jazz, from the mysteries of Monk to the preludes of Bach, with stops along the way for Latin, Be-bop, Brazilian and Contemporary.
Drummer Leon Joyce Jr.’s musical career began in high school, but was shaped and nurtured when he joined the Marine Corps in 1976. Born in Meriden, Connecticut, Joyce received his musical training through private instruction under John Oblon and Jimmy Rozelle. His musical education was greatly expanded during the 21 years he spent in the Marines where he received in-depth training and experience, emerging as a premier drummer and bandleader. Leon has worked with a variety of top artists, including Nancy Wilson, Larry Coryell, Patti LaBelle, Ellis Marsalis, and the Ramsey Lewis Trio. Joyce has made numerous appearances at some of the most prestigious international jazz music festivals, including the Montreaux and Lugano Jazz Festivals in Switzerland. Since relocating to the Monterey Peninsula from Chicago in 2011, Leon has been a mainstay of the regional and West Coast jazz scene.
Scotty Wright is a veteran jazz pianist and vocalist. His vocals cover a wide spectrum of jazz singing with a warm, rich-toned voice and a relaxed delivery. Scotty’s repertoire includes interpretations of classic songs by Gershwin, Porter, Kern, and Rodgers & Hart, as well as jazz standards by Miles Davis. In everything Scotty sings, one is certain that the song has never been heard quite the same way before, nor will it be again. It is this element of the unexpected, what Scotty calls the ‘music of the moment,’ that is the essence of great jazz.
As an upright bassist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, Steve Uccello is experienced in many genres, including jazz, blues, folk, bluegrass, R & B, mariachi, and classical. As a freelance artist, he plays gigs around the Monterey and San Francisco Bay areas and is a regular bassist with the local Monterey group, Along Came Betty. Steve was a featured soloist at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 2009 and 2017.
