Gettin' in the game...

I am now a manager (and agent?) and I'm putting on a showcase during APAP for seven artists, whose art I really believe in.

In addition to this podcast/Substack, I’m also starting to explore management and booking. While I don’t want to be a full-time booking agent, I’ll be curating a showcase on January 12th at the Jazz Gallery in NYC. For now I just have this postcard, but I’ll be building a website to hold all the info. Obviously, since I’m publishing it here, I’m letting the cat out of the bag, but I really want this to be for agents, show promoters and others in the industry who can help these artists get ahead.

The lineup includes:

• Miriam Elhajli: A phenomenal vocalist, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and folklorist is opening the day in a duo format with bassist Matthew Jamal. See a (pritate) video here from The Whitney. I actually was hipped to Miriam because she opened an Adam O’Farrill show at Lowlands Bar (I wasn’t going to shows yet at that point in the pandemic), but I followed up the thread and found her album, The Uncertainty of Signs, which quickly convinced me she is a talent to be watched. I’m currently her manager and shopping a new record.

• Ohad Talmor’s Back to the Land: Ohad Talmor and I first worked together on a campaign in 2014. I attended many shows at his home venue, SEEDS (literally in his living room), and eventually got engaged to my wife in that space one hot July day in 2015. His latest album, Back to the Land is based on recordings he discovered of Ornette Coleman, Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins recorded in Ornette’s loft in 1998. The album features variations of the pieces he heard by Ornette and blends acoustic and electroacoustic elements on two discs featuring a who’s-who of the Brooklyn scene. Here he will be joined by Joel Ross on vibraphone, Chris Tordini on double bass, Eric McPherson on drums and Leo Genovese on piano, Though the album has a much broader lineup.

• Adam Birnbaum: Preludes: In 2023, I finally worked with the insanely talented pianist, after promising each other to work together since probably 2011. On Preludes, Adam plays twelve Bach Preludes from The Well-Tempered Clavier in a “jazz” or “Latin” or “swinging” or “straight eighth-note” context, taking liberties with feel and improvisation. For this showcase, he’ll have Kendrick Scott on drums and David Wong on bass. I can’t wait. Adam also plays the Manhattan Marathon of Winter Jazzfest on Friday January 10 at 6 PM at Zinc Bar.

• Adam O’Farrill’s Elephant: I’ve been working on and off with this literal genius since 2014, the year he placed in the Thelonious Monk Competition. After several years leading his quartet Stranger Days with albums on Sunnyside and Biophilia Records, Adam now presents a new quartet featuring the fast-rising Next Jazz Legacy fellow Yvonne Rogers on piano, Walter Stinson on bass, and Russell Holzman on drums. They recently premiered this group at The Jazz Gallery in September, recorded an album and will be releasing said album either sometime in 2025 or 2026.

• Joel Harrison’s Alternative Guitar Quartet: The unmistakable guitarist, composer, author, organizer of summer camp and erstwhile music festival, Alternative Guitar Summit (and fellow Substacker), Joel Harrison of

Guitar Talk

will present a band featuring himself plus three inimitable players: Steve Cardenas, Marvin Sewell, and Anthony Pirog, exploring the Americana-meets-jazz continuum. Joel will do double duty January 12, presenting a showcase of amazing guitarists at Nublu (Gilad Hekselman, Dida Pelled, Pedro Martins, Anthony Pirog and Emmanuel Michael) as part of Winter Jazzfest.

• Janel & Anthony: This now-legendary DC-based duo blending jazz, ambient, rock, and electronic music came into my life at least a decade ago through my longtime friend and former business partner Stephen Buono (episode forthcoming). At the time, we worked Anthony’s trio album Palo Colorado Dream (Cuneiform). This year, I finally had the chance to help Janel in a similar way with their long-awaited second release, New Moon in the Evil Age. I also simultaneously worked a brilliant album by Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash entitled To March is to Love, which I wanted to present on this showcase but the logistics were insurmountable. Janel & Anthony also play Winter Jazzfest Marathon on

• Nicole Mitchell & Fay Victor: Closing the day with a duo performance called Flutter. I’ve been working with Nicole Mitchell since 2016, when I worked on a truly watershed piece of art called Mandorla Awakening II: Emerging Worlds (FPE Records). Since that time, I’ve probably publicized at least four of Nicole’s other albums. I BELIEVE SO MUCH IN THIS WOMAN’S WORK!!! She is a management client and the sky is literally the limit for her talent. Actually, outer space, but who’s counting. Here she presents a nascent duo project with Fay Victor. Side note: I first worked with Fay in 2013 on Absinthe & Vermouth. This year I had the pleasure of following that up with arguably her most ambitious and rigorous album to date, Life is Funny That Way, by her group Herbie Nichols SUNG. That group is playing on the opening night of Winter Jazzfest, opening for aja monet.

This showcase reflects the raison d’être: amplifying lesser-known voices and celebrating the entire music ecosystem.

Technically this event is not open to the public but anyone reading this can ask me nicely if they can come. I will have a limited amount of space and food/drink. I do hope you’ll drop by.