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Programs & Exhibits > Baby Grand Jazz

CHANGE IN LOCATION: Hartford Public Library's popular Baby Grand Jazz series will be held at Center Church (675 Main St. Hartford, CT) as scheduled, every Sunday at 3 p.m. from January 8th through April 23rd. The final performance on April 30th will take place at another location to be announced. The adjustments were made after the temporary closure of the Downtown Library due to water damage.

Seating will be first come, first seated, starting at 2 p.m. each Sunday. No registration is required. Concerts will continue to be streamed on Hartford Public Library's Facebook Page and YouTube channel.

Parking: Street parking is available and free on weekends. Parking in the Hartford Parking Authority lot behind the Downtown Library is still available, a short walk away from Center Church. Find more information on directions to Center Church here.

Accessibility: The Center Church Meeting House is accessible to all. A wheelchair lift is located on the south side of the portico of the Meeting House (accessed via a ramp in the Memorial Garden - we recommend calling our performance coordinator, Jana, at 860-881-5646, when you arrive). Find more information about accessibility at Center Church here.

We look forward to seeing you on Sundays and thank Center Church for accommodating our concert series!

Thank you to our presenting sponsor, The Kaman Foundation, for its continuing support. Special thanks to our longtime partners The Hartford Jazz Society and WWUH 91.3 FM.

Sign up for Baby Grand Jazz email updates here.

AA Team – January 8th

POSTPONED: Unfortunately, the kickoff to Hartford Public Library's Baby Grand Jazz concert is being postponed due to illness. We will announce information about a new date when it becomes available.

Puerto Rican born master latin percussionist, Anthony Carrillo has joined with New York based pianist and midwestern import, Amy Quint-Millan in creating the latin jazz ensemble AA Team as well as the larger band, YÁMBAWA. Upon first meeting in 2015, the unlikely duo has fervently produced music of diverse styles and rhythms drawing from their extensive musical experiences including that of American jazz, Puerto Rican bomba, plena and salsa, Cuban guaracha and santeria, Colombian salsa and folkloric rhythms, Brazilian samba/bossa nova, pop, metal rock and most recently southeast Asian music. In 2018, their larger fusion band released an EP including jazz standard I Will Wait for You and pop hit Time after Time/I Can See Clearly as well as Puerto Rican reggaeton/lembon and salsa with a timba flair. AA Team is a more intimate ensemble and has recorded original music as well as standards with their own personal twist as can be heard in their interpretation of Dust in the Wind featuring tabla and Cuban percussion. Their YouTube channel contains a treasure chest of rich arrangements featuring solo piano meditations, Bata and Santeria, Rumba, Jazz and Salsa. Together they have combined their extensive experience and diverse talents to create a rich and fresh repertoire loaded with powerful musical chemistry.

Amy Quint Millan - piano

Anthony Carrillo - percussion

Ariel Robles - bass
Camilo Molina - drumset

The Michelle Tucker Quintet – January 15th

Michelle Tucker is a Boston based percussionist and music educator trained in jazz, orchestral and rock/pop styles. In addition to teaching drum set and percussion at Indian Hill Music, Michelle performs throughout New England leading her own jazz groups - The Michelle Tucker Quintet and The Luna Collective, as well as freelancing as an orchestral timpanist and percussionist. The Michelle Tucker Quintet was assembled from members of The Luna Collective, the group that Michelle co-founded to play a weekly session at The Luna Theater in Lowell, Ma from 2015 until the COVID shutdown of 2020. The Luna Collective featured a different theme each Thursday night, often based on an album or specific member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. The MTQ builds off of the knowledge Michelle gained from five years spent transcribing, arranging and rehearsing the music of The Jazz Messengers. Currently, all compositions and arrangements are Michelle’s. Michelle is a transgender woman, and while that does not have any direct bearing on her ability to play the drums, she feels it is important to be visible as a trans woman, with the hope that her leading a life in jazz will contribute to the normalization of trans identities.

Mark Zaleski - alto sax

Mike Caudill - tenor sax

Rusty Scott - piano

Sahil Warsi - bass

Michelle Tucker - drums

UConn Jazz Faculty Ensemble – January 22nd

The stellar roster of musician-educators from the state's flagship land-grant research university share a like-minded, post-bop aesthetic. Each player has a distinctive, contemporary improvisational voice and a wealth of international playing experience. This is no derivative jazz sextet. Expect "smart, economical writing and fabulous blowing." (Marc Myers, JazzWax)

Earl MacDonald - piano, UConn Director of Jazz Studies

John Mastroianni - alto saxophone

Sean Nelson - trombone

Christopher Morrison - electric guitar

Steven Bulmer - string bass

Jonathan barber - drum set

Alden Hellmuth Quintet – January 29th

Alden Hellmuth is a saxophonist and composer originally from Hartford, CT and based in NYC. She has performed, as both a leader and sideman, at venues and festivals all over the North East, including Smalls, Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, Le Poisson Rouge, The Sidedoor, and the Composers Now Festival. In 2021 she was selected for the prestigious Focusyear Band based in Basel, Switzerland, where she performed with greats like Lionel Loueke, Aaron Parks, Kris Davis, Jorge Rossy, and Larry Grenadier, and in 2022 was selected as a New Music USA Next Jazz Legacy semi-finalist. She has performed in bands led by Dezron Douglas, Josh Evans, David Bryant, Nat Reeves, Pablo Held, and many more, and in 2017 toured with Jeremy Pelt and Louis Hayes. She has also arranged pieces for Moses Sumney, Brandee Younger, and other artists.

Alden Hellmuth - alto saxophone

Yvonne Rogers - piano

Lucas Kadish - guitar

Hannah Marks - bass

Tim Angulo - drums

Ken Serio Quartet – February 5th

Drummer Ken Serio and bassist Jedd Chlebowski started to play together in 2016, soon after guitarist Sinan Bakir joined and they have been playing, touring and recording regularly as a unit since then. They play with intense energy and grace and their repertoire is eclectic, covering tunes from jazz standards and compositions to rock and contemporary music as well as originals. Tomoko Ohno, born in Tokyo, began piano studies at the age of 4. As a teenager, she began playing professionally in the Tokyo area jazz scene. She has performed at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital, Carnegie Hall, The Blue Note, Birdland, in addition to appearing on live radio broadcasts by WBGO and WNYC, and ABC TV's Good Morning America. Miss Ohno also leads her own group, and has released three CDs on the Japan-based Tokuma label. Miss Ohno is also active as a composer, and has been the recipient of a grant from The Meet The Composer Foundation.

Sinan Bakir - guitar

Tomoko Ohno - piano

Jedd Chlebowski - bass

Ken Serio - drums

Caio e Jess – February 12th

In Northern Brazil, a natural phenomenon occurs called “Encontro das Águas” translating to “The Meeting of Waters”. Two distinctly different rivers meet and flow side by side, unmixed for miles, before heading toward the ocean as one. Caio e Jess strive to embody this philosophy. Caio Afiune, born in São Paulo, Brazil, and Jessica Curran in Boston, USA, uniquely blend their backgrounds in Brazilian Music, Pop, and Jazz to create organic and lush compositions. With awards such as the ASCAP Young Composers Award and John Lennon Songwriting Contest under their belts, the two provide an honest, intimate show of virtuosic electricity with either full band or duo. Currently, the two are gearing up to release their debut full-length album, “Encontro das Aguas”, featuring some of the finest musicians from around the globe including guests such as Raphael Barata, Bertram Lehman, Henrique Eisenmann, and Marrisol Mwaba.

Caio Afiune - guitar

Jessica Curran - vocals

Henrique Eisenmann - piano

James Heazlewood-Dale - bass

Bertram Lehman - percussion

The Blue River Jazz Band – February 19th

The Blue River Jazz Band, presenting here in a duo, plays America’s traditional, classic, “hot” jazz music from the early 20th century. For the Baby Grand Jazz Series 2023, we would be presenting a lively selection of songs composed or made famous by the masters of the piano including James P.Johnson, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Donald Lambert, and Lil Hardin Armstrong. Both musicians are from Connecticut. Chris Coulter on saxophone/vocals is a teacher/lecturer/writer/performer of early jazz/swing and New Orleans jazz music, and teacher/performer Matt DeChamplain is considered one of the finest proponents and performers of jazz piano in many styles, and here will be featuring the stride style.

Chris Coulter - saxophones/vocal

Matt De Champlain - piano

Ladies Day Jazz Ensemble – February 26th

The Ladies Day Jazz Ensemble is dedicated to discovering and performing the works of classic and contemporary female jazz composers, played by a crackerjack ensemble of women jazz musicians. Our repertoire includes music by Mary Lou Williams, Peggy Lee, Iola Brubeck, Marian McPartland, Ana Caram, Abbey Lincoln, to name a few, as well as original compositions by members of the ensemble. We have performed in New York City at Jazz at Kitano, Club Bonafide; and at a variety of commercial and community settings.

MJ Territo, vocals

Eugenia Choe, piano

Iris Ornig, bass

Lucianna Padmore, drums

Mixed Company. – March 5th

Formed with the intention to reach higher planes, Mixed Company uses Jazz and R&B influences to do just that. This quartet exudes infection grooves and emotive vocals to get the point across. Let us be your guides as you are in Mixed Company.

Taylor McCoy - vocals

Conway Campbell, Jr.- acoustic bass

Michael Carabello - piano/synth

Akin Hobson - drum

Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere Quartet – March 12th

On May 3rd, 2019 in his debut at Firehouse 12, Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere showcased a body of work entitled "Sapphire". Featured on his forthcoming release, this repertoire blends ancestral images with a rich textural density that represent his identity as a denizen of two worlds. Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Zwelakhe-Duma relocated to New Haven, Connecticut to study with Jeff Fuller at New Haven's Educational Center for the Arts, leading to receiving both a BA and MM from New England Conservatory in Boston. While he was at N.E.C., he studied acoustic bass with Cecil McBee & Don Palma, as well as improvisation and composition with Jason Moran, John McNeil, and Jerry Bergonzi. Zwelakhe-Duma has performed and recorded with acts such as Christian Scott, Dave Holland, Randy Weston, Dave Liebman, and Jason Moran, as well as performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Lagos Jazz Festival, Osaka Jazz Festival, Joy of Jazz Festival & MoMA's "Summergarden" series. He was a recipient of the 2011 Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Fellowship and is also a teaching artist for Jazz at Lincoln Center’s "Jazz for Young People," Litchfield Jazz Camp & New England Conservatory Jazz Lab. Zwelakhe-Duma currently resides in New York City and continues in private study with legendary bassist Ron Carter.

Dakota Austin - alto saxophone

Michael CaraBello - piano

Jonathan Barber - drumset

Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere - double bass

Skyler Hagner Nonet – March 19th

Since 2015, the Skyler Hagner Nonet has performed from Philadelphia, PA to Portland, ME, bringing their innovative chamber sound and ambitious programing to clubs, festivals, and private events. The performances are influenced by modern jazz and contemporary classical music; highlighting tight ensemble work and fiery soloists. Living in the liminal space between structure and spontaneity, his music frequently features pairings of performers, and the juxtaposition of soloists in various settings. Originally from Guilford, CT, Skyler holds a MM in Jazz Composition from William Paterson University, where he was the Gerry Mulligan Foundation Fellow. He is currently the director of Penn Jazz at The University of Pennsylvania, and was adjunct faculty at the University of New Haven. Skyler is the recipient of a Jazz Road Tours Grant, a national initiative of South Arts, which is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Skyler was commissioned by the Guilford Performing Arts Festival through their artist awards program for [Invisible Cities] Humanity, Memory, and Decay - A suite for a Jazz Nonet, which was premiered at the 2021 edition of the festival. His work has further been supported by Pathways to Jazz and The New England Musicians Relief Fund.

Elijah Thomas - soprano saxophone, flute

Chris Lewis - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Skyler Hagner - baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

Elliot Bild - trumpet

Nick Lombardelli - trombone

Morgan Walbridge - vibraphone

Andrew Boudreau - piano

Sandy Eldred - bass

Dan Monaghan - drums

Simón Willson Quartet – March 26th

The Simón Willson Quartet consists of Kayvon Gordon on drums, Andrew Boudreau on piano, Kevin Sun on tenor saxophone and Simón Willson on bass and compositions. Our music focuses heavily on the intersectionality of Afro-diasporic musical traditions such as the Blues, Jazz, Cuban & Brazilian music, fused with different elements of the Western classical tradition, the experimental avant-garde, and an awareness and interest in rock and pop expressions. In these compositions you will find a reciprocal relationship between the canonical and the new, one in which the new defines itself against what is already established, while at the same time the established reconfigures itself in response to the new. The band plays regularly at NYC venues such as Bar Bayeux, Ornithology Jazz Club, Lowlands Bar, and Fiction Bar.

Kayvon Gordon - drums

Andrew Boudreau - piano

Kevin Sun - tenor saxophone

Simón Willson - bass and compositions

Michael Feinberg – April 2nd

Michael Feinberg is a rising star on New York’s jazz scene. Bassist, composer, and bandleader Feinberg has shared the stage with legends and luminaries alike. A native of Atlanta and graduate of the University of Miami, Feinberg now calls New York home. Equally proficient on electric and double bass, Feinberg has performed with Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Lee Ritenour, Jeff Tain Watts, Aaron Parks, Ambrose Akinmusire, Melissa Aldana, and Dayme Arocena to name a few. An avid composer and bandleader Michael has released 9 albums including his most recent release, his debut for Criss Cross Records, Blues Variant. Blues Variant is an exploration of what the blues is, was, and could be especially in a modern and global world.

Michael Feinberg - bass

Noah Preminger - sax

Axel Tosca - piano

Jonathan Barber - drums

Blackman Murray Russo – April 16th

Baltimore based pianist and award-winning composer. He and his various groups have performed at Blues Alley, the Kennedy Center, and many festivals and venues from San Francisco to New York. Recent performances have been with Donny McCaslin, Gilad Hekselman, Vardan Ovsepian, Ferenc Nemeth, Mike Pope, Tom Guarna, Joe Locke, Warren Wolf, Tim Green, Michael Formanek among others. He was selected to be part of the prestigious Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center. Additionally, he has received grants from Chamber Music America New Jazz Works, Maryland State Arts Council in jazz composition and performance for the years 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and Baltimore Creative Fund grants for 2009 and 2010. Original arrangements and performances of his music have been featured on NBC’s This is Us, NPR’s Talk of the Nation, and Grey’s Anatomy as well as Stephen King’s film, 1408.

Alan Blackman - piano

Max Murray - bass

Frank Russo - drums

Sarah LeMieux's "Jazz for the End of the World" – April 23rd

"Jazz for the End of the World" began as a conversation about ennui and the apocalypse around a bonfire in August 2019. Sarah LeMieux, Ethan Foote, and Aaron Wyanski had all met at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and played together in a variety of strange and delightful configurations. The next logical step was clearly to make a jazz record that leaned into the apocalyptic underpinnings of the Great American Songbook. So, that's what they did. Bringing in seasoned drummer Andy Chatfield to round out the group, they recorded nine songs, feeling out the emotionally dissonant roots of cherished American classics like "Darn That Dream," and "These Foolish Things." LeMieux's restrainedly emotional vocals glide atop Wyanski's scathing, glittery piano and Foote's wicked bass. Chatfield's drumming is solid pocket with flights of eerie fantasy. LeMieux's original tune "Goodbye, Paris," accentuates the existential while somehow also channeling Vince Guaraldi at Christmastime.

Sarah LeMieux - vocals, guitar

Andy Chatfield - drums

Ethan Foote - bass

Aaron Wyanski - piano

Matt Dwonszyk and the Dwonztet – April 30th

In April of 2021, the Dwonztet went into the Parkville Sounds studio and recorded Dwonszyk's second album as a leader, “A Year and a Day”. The session consists of 7 Hartford based musicians freshly out of quarantine ready to make music. With spoken word by Ghazi Omair, and the soulful stylings of vocalist Shenel Johns, "A Year and a Day" directly reflect on Dwonszyk's experience throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. "A Year and a Day" releases July 1st, 2022.

Shenel Johns - vocals

Ghazi Omair - spoken word

Andrew Renfroe - guitar

Kris Allen - saxophone

Taber Gable - fender rhodes

Jonathan Barber - drums

Matt Dwonszyk - bass

Click here to watch Baby Grand Jazz performances from past seasons.

SPONSORED BY THE KAMAN FOUNDATION