"Like fine jewelers, Prana Trio craft's perfect settings for these poems ." ~David Dupont, Cadence Magazine.

"Beautiful... magical..." Marilyn Crispell, pianist.

Born in Belgium, raised in Israel and currently residing in Brooklyn, Vocalist and composer Tammy Scheffer’s music combines influences of contemporary jazz with her own expressive voice and a strong sense of melody. After graduating from the New England Conservatory in 2009, Tammy moved to Brooklyn and recorded a debut CD featuring her compositions for a sextet, to be released in 2010.

Since arriving to Boston in 2007 Tammy took part in various projects, performing at venues all over the United States. In 2008 she toured with Ayelet Rose Gotlieb’s project Mayim Rabim, and performed at PS 122 and Drom Club in NY, Chicago Cultural Center, Alevrno College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and other premier venues. In March 2008 she has been chosen to participate in the exclusive Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead workshop, a program that took place in Washington DC and Philadelphia, and included three concerts on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Other notable performances include the Virginia Arts Festival, the Regattabar in Boston, and the Tel Aviv Jazz Festival in Israel.
 Cover $10   brianadler.com/prana.htm ,  www.TammyScheffer.com

'Global Motion is always in stylistic motion, spanning bop, ECM-esque soundscapes and free-form chamber dreams.......' -
- Ed Enright - DOWNBEAT

- on Marc Mommaas:
‘A fearless improviser on both tenor and soprano, Mommaas has the ability and sense of spontaneous composition to start from almost nothing and build solos that were alive with energy and commitment, fairly bristling with power…..’
- ALL ABOUT JAZZ , John Kelman

Cover $12/$8 for students
 Cover $10   www.mommaas.com ,  ww.nhess.dk

Legendary drummer Paul Motian may be less known for his composing than his playing. Harrison spotlights Motian's compositions with a new ensemble of versatile string players in arrangements that are often ravishingly beautiful, connecting the dots between classical, jazz, and folk music.

"A great concept, with really interesting arrangemants." - Paul Motian

"Harrison suggests the music of the future"
- irish Times
 Cover $12   www.joelharrison.com

Since 2004 TIN/BAG, the bi-coastal duo of California trumpeter Kris Tiner and New York guitarist Mike Baggetta, has been dealing with a music that is spare, ethereal, and highly exploratory. Both are among a generation of young creative musicians contributing original new music and pushing a re-examination of the roles and possibilities of their instruments. Their performance is presented, in part, by a grant from The American Composer's Forum.

"Excellent... trumpeter Kris Tiner and guitarist Mike Baggetta explore abstract yet jazz-derived realms of expansive lyricism and liquid melody."
- Time Out New York

"Radiant... there's an open, intensely emotional quality to the duo's playing... spare, haunting, with hints of modernist avant garde gestures."
- The Wire (UK)

Kris Tiner is active on the West Coast as a trumpet player, composer, and improviser. His music has been described as "extraordinarily inventive" by Signal to Noise, and Cadence Magazine calls him "a really compelling voice." Besides co-leading the Empty Cage Quartet - a collaborative new jazz ensemble with releases on the Clean Feed label that has been hailed as "one of the most powerful and appealing jazz units currently active" (–All About Jazz), Kris is a regular member of the Industrial Jazz Group and the Los Angeles Trumpet Quartet, and he has collaborated with a broad range of creative musicians including Vinny Golia, Wadada Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Gerry Hemingway, Nels Cline, Ken Filiano, Kraig Grady,Tatsuya Nakatani, Jeff Kaiser, G.E. Stinson, Joe LaBarbera, Harris Eisenstadt, Lukas Ligeti and Brad Dutz.

Guitarist Mike Baggetta is one of his generations most original jazz improvisors and composers. He has performed and/or recorded with Tom Harrell, Conrad Herwig, Ralph Bowen, Adam Kolker, George Schuller, Jeff Hirshfield, Jamie Baum, Tony Reedus, Lukas Ligeti, Kevin Norton, Joe Fonda, Steve LaSpina, Bill McHenry, Matt Wilson, Bucky Pizzarelli and Ruth Brown among many others. It has been said that his performances are "totally compelling" (Jazz Journal - UK), "his melodic sense is truly beautiful" (Jazzreview .com) and that "each piece he performs creates new worlds of possibilities" (The Hartford Courant). Mike Baggetta recently received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award for his compositional talent, and the first album of his works for the Mike Baggetta Quartet - "Small Spaces" - has recently been released on the Fresh Sound New Talent label. Mike lives in New York City and is an endorsing artist for D'Addario Strings.

More info: www.kristiner.com/tinbag

Kirk Knuffke / Jesse Stacken Duo

Pianist Jesse Stacken and Kirk Knuffke have been playing together in the duo format for over three years. They began working through the compositions of Thelonious Monk, looking for ways to approach the tunes that showcase the duo format. They soon expanded the material to include Ellington tunes as well as a few by Steve Lacy, Misha Mengelberg Carle Bley, Lennie Tristano, and Charles Mingus. The duo recently released an album on Steeplechase records, entitled Mockingbird.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Jesse Stacken moved to New York City in 2002, where he now lives and performs with artists such as Michael Blake, Peter Van Huffel, Liam Sillery, and Erica vonKleist. Jesse has appeared at noted New York City venues including Carnegie Hall, the Jazz Gallery, the Jazz Standard, 55bar, the Cornelia St. Café, the Center for Improvisational Music, The Stone, Roulette, and Barbes. He leads the critically acclaimed Jesse Stacken Trio, which has been together since early 2005 and is about to release it’s second recording on the Fresh Sound record label. Other current projects include “No Truck” featuring trumpeter Kirk Knuffke, saxophonist Justin Keller, and drummer Ziv Ravitz, and the Stacken/Knuffke duo, which just released “Mockingbird” on Steeplechase records. Jesse has toured North and South America, Europe, and Japan, and is featured on recordings such as The Peter Van Huffel Quintet “Silvester Battlefield” (Fresh Sound), Liam Sillery “Minor Changes” and “Outskirts” (both OA2 records), Erica vonKleist “Project E” (self-released), and Sherisse Roger’s “Sleight of Hand” (self released) featuring Donny McCaslin, Joel Frahm, and Dave Liebman. Jesse has also recently performed with acclaimed artists Rufus Reid, Ingrid Jensen, and Chris Potter.
www.jessestacken.com

The newest member of the Matt Wilson Quartet trumpeter Kirk Knuffke has been based in New York City since 2005. Kirk studied improvisation with great jazz artists Ornette Coleman, Art Lande and Ron Miles. He currently leads his own groups, including the Kirk Knuffke Quartet and trios and a Sextet with Butch Morris. Besides his work as a member of Butch Morris' groups, Kirk plays frequently with the Nublu Orchestra, the Andrew D’angelo Big Band, Josh Roseman’s Extended Constellations, and Kenny Wollesen's Wollesonic. He has played professionally or recorded with, among others, Graham Haynes, Jim Black, Eddie Henderson, Daniel Carter, John Zorn, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Briggan Krauss, and Steven Bernstein.

“Big Wig” was Knuffke's debut record, released in May of 2008 on Clean Feed Records was greeted with strong international reviews. Another Clean Feed release is slated for January 2010. It consists of a new trio with Kenny Wollesen and Doug Wieselman. Knuffke’s recognition as a composer is demonstrated in the reviews of “Big Wig” and the receipt of the Jerome Foundation Composers Grant though Roulette in New York City; the commissioned works of which were performed at Roulette with a new trio in the spring of 2009.
www.kirkknuffke.com
 Cover $10

"One of the city's best alt-comedy shows."
– The NY Post
 Cover $10   www.myspace.com/morrisongod

A new twist on the ancient tradition of oral history.

SpeakEasy is people telling stories-- true stories. Period. No scripts. No crib notes. No rehearsals. SpeakEasy has a dynamic and constantly changing cast of storytellers that include such greats as Mike Daisey, Jonathan Ames, and Reno, along with homemakers, lawyers, dog walkers, street magicians and writers

You never know what you'll hear. So join us for what could be a life changing experience!

 Cover $10   www.speakeasystories.com

Now in its 10th year, The Songwriter's Beat is New York's premiere performing songwriter series.

Hosted and founded by Valerie Ghent, four up-and-coming songwriters perform new material in a supportive and intimate atmosphere.

This month's Songwriter's Beat features Marianne Bennett, The Wiggins Sisters Joe Cerisano and Kathleen Pemble. Founded in 2000, The Songwriter's Beat has presented over 280 songwriters from the Tri-State area as well as visiting songwriters from other parts of the United States, Canada, France, the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Cuba and Japan. Every third Wednesday of the month, four songwriters of varying musical styles perform original songs and are encouraged to try out their newest material and arrangements. The series culminates in a week-long songwriters festival each July, featuring performers from throughout the years.

The Songwriter's Beat welcomes songwriters from around the world, so when planning your trip to New York, allow time for The Songwriter's Beat!

The Songwriter's Beat is honored to receive support from The ASCAP Foundation.

 Cover $10   songwritersbeat.com ,  valghent.com

Katie Johntz was a finalist for the DISCOVERY/The Nation Poetry Award and the Sow’s Ear Poetry Contest. Publications include Mudfish, Sow's Ear, the Webster Review and the Berkeley Poetry Review. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and is a child and adult psychotherapist practicing in Brooklyn, NY.

Amy Lemmon is the author of the poetry collections Fine Motor (Sows' Ear Poetry Review Press, 2008) and Saint Nobody (Red Hen Press, 2009). ABBA: The Poems, a chapbook written in collaboration with Denise Duhamel, is forthcoming from Coconut Books. She teaches writing at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Katrinka Moore’s Thief was published by BlazeVOX [books] in 2009.

Joan Lauri Poole's poetry and prose have appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies, including Shenandoah, Mudfish, Mississippi Review, New York Quarterly, Sculpture Review, and This Full Green Hour: An Anthology by the One O'Clock Poets. She works in publishing and has also taught poetry workshops to undergraduates and elders. My Bed of Crimson Joy—her first book of poems—is forthcoming in 2010.

Carly Sachs is the author of the steam sequence and the editor of the anthology, the why and later. She lives in New York where she teaches yoga and tends bar.

Sarah Stern is a three-time Bronx Recognizes Its Own (BRIO) poetry winner, most recently in 2009. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications. She received Honorable Mentions from the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Awards and Lilith Magazine’s Poetry Prize. Her first manuscript, Sweet Water, was a finalist for the 2009 ABZ First Book contest.

Elizabeth Poreba has been a New York City high school English teacher for over 25 years. She has been published several times in Commonweal, a magazine of liberal Catholic thought. She has also appeared in Snowy Egret, Poetry East, and an upcoming Atlanta Review.

 Cover $7 (includes one house drink)

Since leaving home, as a teenager Natascha has studied Musical Theatre at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna and attained a masters degree in jazz voice from the University in Graz, Austria. Her teachers and musical role models include Mark Murphy, Andy Bey, Jay Clayton and Sheila Jordan.

Besides following her own career as a performer Natascha has lectured in Jazz Voice at the University of Cape Town (SA), the Lemmens Instituut Leuven (BE) and the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp (BE).

Recently Natascha played in the USA alongside jazz singer Jeanie Bryson daughter of the late Dizzy Gillespie. In South Africa Natascha was featured at the Melodi International Jazz Festival 2007 sharing the stage with legendary Zulu Vocal Trio “Mahotella Queens”, 4 times 2007 SAMA award winner Simphiwe Dana, Lira and saxophone giant Pharaoh Sanders
 Cover $10   www.natascharoth.com