Get Your Sax On! Monk-In-Motion: The Next Face Of Jazz in New York City on Jan 25th, Feb 8th and 22nd, 2014!
January 6, 2014 at 10:30 PM
Monk-In-Motion:
The Next Face Of Jazz
...Presents the top three winners of the 2013 Thelonious Monk Int'l Jazz Competition. Each artist will perform as a leader of their own combo on three (3) separate dates (click the link below to find out all the info!).
(left) Melissa Aldana (center) Tivon Pennicott (right) Godwin Louis
Godwin Louis - 2nd Runner-Up
Annual Thelonious Monk Int'l Jazz Competition
Saturday, January 25 at 7:30PM, $25
Godwin Louis earned second runner-up in the 2013 Annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Godwin, alto saxophonist, was born in Harlem, New York and began playing saxophone at age nine. Godwin grew up in Bridgeport, Connecticut and Port au Prince, Haiti. Louis has performed around the globe including France, Ireland, Italy and China. In May 2011, Godwin and his Thelonious Monk Institute fellows recorded an album, “Side Angles” to be released in the spring of 2012 under the band name “Junto 6”. Currently, Godwin Louis can be seen on Broadway in After Midnight.
Melissa Aldana – Winner
Annual Thelonious Monk Int'l Jazz Competition
Saturday, February 8 at 7:30PM; $25
Melissa Aldana is a tenor saxophonist originally from Santiago, Chile. She has been a working bandleader in New York since 2009 and has released two albums on the Inner Circle label. She is the first woman to ever win an instrumental Monk competition. Aldana began her music studies at the age of 6. Melissa moved to New York in 2009 and has become an increasingly busy member of the New York jazz scene with her own quartet and as a “sideman” on gigs at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Village Vanguard, The Blue Note, Iridium, Smalls, Jazz Gallery, Birdland, Jazz Standard, Bar Next Door and more. Melissa recently won the 2012 Altazor Award in Chile for best Jazz record of 2010-2012.
Tivon Pennicott - First Runner-Up
Annual Thelonious Monk Int'l Jazz Competition
Saturday, February 22 at 7:30PM, $25
Tivon Pennicott earned runner-up the 2013 Annual Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Tivon was born in Marietta, Georgia. He began studying tenor saxophone in high school, garnering recognition early on as an outstanding soloist in the Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington competition, as well as the Georgia All-state Jazz Band. Pennicott moved to New York in 2009 and enjoys collaborating with a variety of bandleaders on their own tours and recording projects-from jazz songstress Nellie Mckay, GRAMMY nominee Gregory Porter, R&B crooner Joe Thomas-to central figures in the contemporary jazz scene, like Ari Hoenig, E.J. Strickland and Marko Djordevic. Most recently, Tivon toured with the 2-time GRAMMY Award Winner, Esperanza Spalding, appearing on her crossover success, “Radio Music Society."
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