“I find it wonderfully satisfying and enjoyable to make music with Caelan. The evening will go like the wind, and it is unfortunate we have only one set, but there will be more opportunities. Don’t be late!”
Those were the comments of bassist Rufus Reid prior to a January 2023 concert performed by him and pianist Caelan Cardello at the Klavierhaus piano store in New York City. The concert was also recorded as an album: Rufus Reid Presents Caelan Cardello. If you missed that concert, you’ll have another opportunity to hear Cardello and Reid play together, at 3 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, April 12, at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert at the Madison (NJ) Community Arts Center. (Photo above: Cardello, left, with Reid).
The 25-year-old Cardello was a Jersey Jazz Rising Star in February 2022, and his debut album as a leader, Chapter One on Jazz Bird Records, was released in August 2025 to very positive reviews. The 82-year-old Reid is a jazz legend. In November 2022, he was the honoree at the South Orange Performing Arts Center’s Giants of Jazz concert, and in March 2024 he received Wharton Arts’ Lifetime Achievement Award. A former member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, Reid has played with a long list of jazz luminaries including trombonist J.J. Johnson, pianist Kenny Barron, and tenor saxophonist Stan Getz. As an educator, he helped build the Jazz Studies program at William Paterson University, directing it for 20 years — from 1979 to 1999.
Reviewing the Klavierhaus concert, Audiophilia Magazine wrote: “From the opening notes of Thad Jones’ ‘Mean What You Say’, you’ll know you’re in the hands of a master. Actually, two masters. Cardello’s opening phrasing is so beautiful, accompanied by a perfectly-voiced left-hand chordal accompaniment. And when either Cardello or Reid solo, it’s tasteful, song appropriate and always leaves you satisfied. Superb musicianship.
“Reid,” the review continued, “demonstrates his gorgeous tone and controlled vibrato on Tadd Dameron’s ‘If You Could See Me Now’, with more tasteful Cardello comping. . . For one so young, Caelan Cardello’s playing will take your ears where they have no right to go.”
Cardello received his Master of Music degree from Juilliard in 2025 after earning his Bachelors Degree in Piano Performance from William Paterson University, where he studied with pianists Dave Kikoski and Bill Charlap. “Out of all my students and the young pianists I’ve heard in the last few years,” Kikoski told Jersey Jazz, “Caelan Cardello is the brightest star. He just keeps getting better and better at an amazing rate!”
Reviewing Chapter One for Jersey Jazz, Joe Lang wrote that “Cardello has the three things that set the primo players apart: great chops, a wide imagination, and exquisite taste. His playing grabs your attention and never lets it go.”
In an interview with Jersey Jazz‘s Jay Sweet prior to the Giants of Jazz concert, Reid recalled his experiences with Stan Getz. “Playing with Getz,” he said, “was special for me. We did a tour with (pianist) Kenny Barron and (drummer) Victor Lewis. We did two recordings together, which we made in one day at the club Jazzhus Montmartre in Paris in 1987 (Anniversary and Serenity, both on EmArcy). Stan had a golden sound, and we knew we had to play well with him.”
Reid, Cardello said, “has taught me a lot about writing, performing, and a couple of life lessons as well. It seems there are fewer and fewer bass/piano duos these days, but I appreciate Rufus for keeping that beautiful tradition alive, and choosing to do so with me.”
Cardello and Reid will be preceded by a Rising Stars opening act featuring student jazz musicians from the County College of Morris in Randolph, NJ.
The Madison Community Arts Center is located at 10 Kings Road in Madison, NJ. The Jersey Jazz LIVE! concerts begin at 3 p.m. Admission is $15 for NJJS members and $20 for non-members. Student admission is $5 with valid ID. There will be light refreshments for purchase. To order tickets in advance, click here
Funding for Jersey Jazz Live! has been made possible, in part, by funds from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of The National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by The Summit Foundation.