Branford Marsalis

Michael Kline Artists is an international management and booking agency representing musicians at the very height of their artistry, and artists who aspire to reach those heights. We provide personalized, individual attention to both the musicians we represent, and the presenters we service by focusing our attention on artists whom …

TAKUYA KURODA

 Rising Son makes for the perfect title for the Blue Note debut from Takuya Kuroda, an ascendant trumpeter and composer who is perhaps best known for his inspired presence in vocalist José James’ band over the past several years. In fact, Rising Son finds Kuroda stepping forth to …

If one were attempting to design a prototype for the quintessential contemporary musician, trumpeter/fluegelhornist/composer Russell Gunn is the model. A certified member of the hip-hop generation, Russell’s early aspirations in the world of rap music took precedence over the trumpet that he began playing in fourth grade. When he reached …

When Robert Hurst was growing up in Detroit, so many kinds of great music tugged at him, he could easily have gone in a different direction than jazz. Motown influences abounded: Marvin Gaye lived in his neighborhood, his father was boyhood friends with two of the Temptations, and the music …

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center is proud to present Jazz Meets Sports, a special event connecting jazz artistry and athletic performance created by Artistic Advisor and GRAMMY® Award-winning bassist Christian McBride. This special one night only program will take place on Sunday, March 2 at 7:00PM in NJPAC’s Victoria Theater. McBride is set to perform …

An award-winning classical pianist before jazz intervened “in the form of a Tommy Flanagan solo,” Houston, TX, native Helen Sung went on to graduate from the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance and win the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Jazz Piano Competition. Since establishing herself in New York …

Born in the East End of London, virtuoso vocalist, actor and composer Cleveland Watkiss studied the voice at the London School of Singing with opera coach Arnold Rose and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Cleveland was also one of the co-founders of the vastly influential Jazz Warriors …

At 25 years old, Jon Batiste has already received a number of accolades including the “Movado Future Legend” award, and the “Steinway Performing Artist” award. His style balances virtuosity and openness and is gaining worldwide acclaim. His band, Stay Human, is creating a unique grassroots movement that encourages accessibility and …

Jon Faddis has had a long and illustrious career. At the tender age of  18, he joined Lionel Hampton’s Orchestra, then was lead trumpet in the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra. He also had stints with Charles Mingus. Renowned as a trumpeter with masterful command of an unparalleled range on the …

Wynton Marsalis’ orchestra and choir blew the roof off of Boston Symphony Hall on Sunday night. A stirring ensemble of forty female and thirty male vocalists gave a rousing gospel invocation with “The House of The Lord,” while the orchestra swung back and forth over belting vocals and blaring horn …

In the beginning there was jazz. A deviation from the conservative pathway of European musical tropes, jazz was America’s original counterculture. Largely defined by the ingenuity of its artist, it found structure in a lack thereof, improvisation its blueprint. With such an inherent flexibility, jazz engaged many a strange bedfellow, …

Victor Goines is a jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. Goines talks about performing with this former students, dressing for the bandstand and taking care of your music business.