For the sixth consecutive year, furniture designer and gallery owner Ralph Pucci will convert his 30,000 square-foot Manhattan showroom and warehouse into a jazz club to benefit Jazz House Kids. On Monday, February 28, Ralph Pucci International’s sixth annual Jazz Set will present “The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian”, a combination concert and conversation between bassist Christian McBride and his special guest, singer/songwriter Norah Jones. Guests at past events have been: Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall, Laurie Anderson, John Pizzarelli, and Esperanza Spalding;
Jazz House Kids, which was founded 10 years ago by vocalist Melissa Walker, is a community-based arts organization with a mission to provide year-round musical, educational, and cultural programs to students in grades K-12, teachers, adults, and families from diverse backgrounds.
Jones emerged on the music scene in 2002 with the release of her Blue Note album, Come Away with Me, which won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. Her latest Blue Note album was a holiday recording, I Dream of Christmas, released in October 2021. In his review, AllAboutJazz’s Jim Tragaser called it, “a lovely addition to the Christmas canon, with some wonderfully creative takes on old favorites coupled to some inspired new seasonal compositions.”
McBride, who is Walker’s husband, is Artistic Director of Jazz House Kids and the Newport Jazz Festival, Artistic Advisor for Jazz Programmng at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Host of National Public Radio’s Jazz Night in America.
For more information on the Jazz Set, log onto www..jazzhousekids.org or call (973) 744-2273.