The Circle Is Unbroken
From Willie Ruff to Dontae James, Jazz Was, and Is, In Good Hands
Alto saxophone player Dontae James, accompanied by 2025 Grammy winner Zaccai Curtis on piano and Conway Campbell on bass, won the 2025 Litchfield Jazz Camp Talent Search. Keep reading to find out how Dontae is carrying on the New Haven jazz tradition exemplified by the legendary Yale professor Willie Ruff, current Yale jazz ensembles director Wayne Escoffery, and other Elm City jazz mainstays. (8495Jazz photo)
Every once in a while, it’s worthwhile to get a chance to stand back a tad and see things in relief – call it through a lens, a prism, or what have you, just to get an overall perspective of where something you have come to love has been, where it is, and where it’s going.
So it is with jazz in the 8495. Sure, over the years it has had its ups and downs, but lawdy Miss Clawdy it is full of vibrancy and potential right now. So we’re going to share a few observations that highlight its past, present and future in the region.
‘Conservatory Without Walls’: Honoring Willie Ruff at Yale March 29
If anyone could be called a Renaissance Man, Willie Ruff fit the bill: multi-instrumentalist, jazz headliner, Yale professor (and graduate) and musicologist without bounds. In just one example of Willie’s boundless curiosity, Alabama public radio host David Person cited his studies of the connections between African American spirituals, Native American musical traditions, and psalm singing in the Scottish Hebrides.
In 1972, Willie joined worlds much closer to home when he brought one of the greatest collections of jazz talent in one place anytime and anywhere – Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Mary Lou Williams, and Eubie Blake, just for starters – to the Yale campus. The purpose was to establish an ongoing visiting fellows program in honor of Duke that he called a “conservatory without walls” (Yale alum Ben Yagoda’s recollection of the weekend in the university’s alumni magazine is full of priceless vignettes and well worth your time to read).
Tom Duffy, director of bands at Yale, worked with Willie and knew firsthand his genius and enterprise – and how he profoundly changed the world of jazz on the New Haven campus and beyond.
“Benny Goodman was on the faculty when I arrived,” Tom told 8495Jazz. “Glenn Miller was stationed here during World War II. We had connections, as you might expect of a primarily white institution, with that world of jazz.
“Yale University – and that includes me – met the real world through the monthly productions Willie put on through the Ellington series.”
The Ellington Jazz Series is still going strong, and on March 29 it will honor Willie, who died in December 2023, with a memorial concert at Yale’s Woolsey Hall. The concert will feature the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars and the Mingus Big Band, which will be co-led by Yale jazz ensembles director, saxophonist Wayne Escoffery. General admission tickets are $26.
The event’s schedule runs as follows:
2 pm - The Dizzy Gillespie All Stars
3:30pm - Panel discussion with Jimmy Owens, Jon Faddis, Wayne Escoffery, and Tom Duffy
4:30pm - Mingus Big Band
Tom told 8495Jazz the event will have direct ties back to that epochal 1972 event, with trumpeters and panel guests Jimmy Owens and Jon Faddis, who both played that weekend.
“Everybody who comes to this concert will have a first-degree connection with this historical event and a second-degree connection with the greats,” he said. “They will be treated to the reciprocal allure of history and music – when you think of the history behind this music, it’s an intensifier, and the common denominator is Willie Ruff.”
For Wayne, the show will continue tying in Yale’s connection to the giants of jazz through connections Willie made. In April 2023, shortly before Willie died, Wayne and trombonist Ku-umba Frank Lacy conducted Mingus’s “Epitaph” at Woolsey Hall almost 50 years to the day Mingus himself was there.
That was significant, Wayne told 8495Jazz, as is the fact “that with the Mingus Big Band at this concert we are bringing in Jimmy Owens, and that Jon Faddis will be a special guest with the Dizzy Gillespie All Stars. This is a symbolic gesture and symbolic statement as to the importance of jazz at Yale having been spearheaded by Willie Ruff.”
Elm City scene is bustling
But the concert will also quietly tie in the rich history of jazz in the region with the present; among the performers in the Mingus Big Band on the 29th will be University of Hartford Hartt School graduates Sarah Hanahan, Abraham Burton, and Wayne himself. Mingus disciple Boris Kozlov, who played with trumpeter Benny Benack III at the Manchester Jazz Festival in December, will co-direct that band with Wayne.
The jazz scene in New Haven beyond the Yale campus is also vibrant and varied, with weekly Saturday jams at Cafe Nine, spring and fall jazz series shows at Firehouse 12, concerts at Southern Connecticut State University, and regular gigs presented by the New Haven Jazz Underground and Jazz Haven (Wayne himself has headlined the Underground’s Tuesday jam at Cafe Nine).
In a March 8 post on Facebook, New Haven Jazz Underground founder Nick Di Maria said “One thing I’ve been noticing is the increasing amount of people coming out to hear the music, who from what I can tell are not musicians themselves but regular music lovers. Watching them grab a bite, a drink and engage with the band and each other brings a lot of joy, to be honest.”
“My only sense is that the Underground's work is simply working,” Nick told 8495Jazz. “We not only advertise to musicians but the greater public and it seems to be working because many of these new faces are just listeners coming to hang.”
The Future Ties Into The Tradition
The associate publisher and I took a short ride up to Litchfield last Saturday to take in the finals of the Litchfield Jazz Camp Talent Search. Fifteen musicians aged 13-17 were vying for scholarships to the 2025 camp, which starts June 29.
If any moment sums up the stupendous talent on display from those kids it may be during the final round, when a 13-year old drummer, for whom the kit had to be adjusted down to about its lowest height, looked out at the audience, and said “For my final two songs, I’ll be playing ‘Night in Tunisia’ and ‘Donna Lee.’”
His Dad, who was sitting next to the associate publisher, leaned over and said “I don’t think he’s ever played ‘Donna Lee’ before.”
And then the kid killed it with both songs.
After the winners were announced, the five finalists – a bass player, a pianist, a saxophone player, a drummer and a baritone horn player – all got up to jam together on Charlie Parker’s “Anthropology.” And they sounded like a seasoned band that had gigged together countless times.
But what made me stop more or less in my tracks as I was gathering the material to write this week’s edition was that the winner of the contest, alto sax player Dontae James, is a rising star in New Haven.
Dontae, who earned a $2,000 full tuition scholarship to the camp, has already gigged in a New Haven Jazz Underground show with Nick. He also wrote a profile of Wayne for the New Haven Arts Council as part of its student journalism program.
Jazz in the 8495 is coming full circle and is in very good hands.
A Look at The Songwriting Process
Another musician helping to keep us connected to each other and the world around us is saxophonist Matt Garrison. Matt recently debuted his suite honoring the Hudson River, and is now sharing the beginnings of his creative process on another song with a nature theme, about a beloved peregrine falcon in Utica named Astrid. She and her mate, Ares, raised more than 30 chicks since becoming known to the Mohawk Valley in 2012. She was last seen in February, much to the community’s chagrin.
Matt shared a late-night writing session for the song on YouTube. It’s a great look into the creative process.
Luck of the Irish
Parlor Greens is a supergroup organ trio of sorts. I would be remiss not to extend St. Patrick’s Day greetings of some sort, so we’ll celebrate with their “Irish Goodbye.”
Out and About with 8495Jazz
To alleviate confusion, ticket prices quoted now mention service fees as included or as additional; if fees are not mentioned, there are none to our knowledge. Because fees differ according to ticket type, service fee amounts are not included here but are available on venue web sites.
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Mattatuck Museum, Waterbury, CT
Quinn Mitchell and Friends (saxophone, combo), Saturday, March 22, 3 pm. GA $20.
The Mattatuck is celebrating its Gordon Parks exhibition with this afternoon jazz concert. Parks, LIFE Magazine’s first Black staff photographer, was inextricably connected to many musicians in the jazz world, and re-shot the survivors of Art Kane’s 1958 “A Great Day In Harlem” photograph in 1996. Sounds like a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the Brass City.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig #2!
Aquila’s Nest Vineyards, Newtown, CT
Aquila’s Spring Jazzfest (five shows over three days), March 21-23, $23.18 including service fee (one ticket covers all five shows.) Oh, and food trucks!
8495Jazz Spur Of The Moment Gig TODAY
Pump House Music Works, S. Kingstown, RI
Greg Abate Quartet (saxophone, combo) Tribute to Charlie Parker, 7 pm. $20 advance, $25 at the door. All ages show.
Other Shows This Week
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Improvisations Now (improv combo), today, 2:30 pm. GA $16.50, students $9.50 including service fee
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Michael Rabinowitz (bassoon), Thursday, March 20, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. 7:30 show $20.76 adult, $15.76 students, 8:45 show $10.76.
Palace Theater Poli Club, Waterbury, CT
Art Lillard Quartet (drums, combo), Friday, March 21, 7 and 9 pm. $40 including service fee.
The Parlour, Providence, RI
Dave Howard Initiative (guitar, combo), today, 5 pm. $10, all ages.
Firehouse 12, New Haven, CT
Adam O’Farrill’s Elephant (trumpet, combo), Friday, March 21. 8:30 pm ($20) and 10 pm ($15).
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA
Jane Monheit Duo (vocals), Thursday, March 20, 7:30 pm. Adults $47.56, students $35.92 including service fee.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 3rd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free. March 18th jam features Warren Byrd and Saskia Laroo Quartet.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
8495Jazz takes its name from the two Interstate highways that cross our region, I-84 and I-95. Within short driving distances from either, you can find incredible entertainment, from local jams to world-famous festivals in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 8495Jazz: From Newburgh to Newport!
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