Salon 33 is a great venue for hearing live music in West Windsor, and pianist Phil Orr and I will be there this coming Saturday, March 14. No cover--this is a donation-based event. There's an optional potluck at 7, followed by two sets of our all-original jazz and latin music starting at 8pm. RSVP is required. To get directions and more info, register at this link.
Sunday, Feb. 8, 2-3pm Mount Laurel Library -- We're excited to be part of this excellent series of Sunday jazz concerts.
Saturday, March 14, 8-10 Salon 33, West Windsor - a great community of music lovers; potluck at 7pm; contact us for more info
Sunday, May 3, 4-7 HIP Spring Gathering - a good cause and good music at this fundraiser for the Housing Initiative of Princeton, which helps local families who are housing insecure
Friday, May 8, 1pm West Windsor Senior Center - lots of cultural happenings at this community center, including a talk I'll be giving March 20, 1pm, related to Einstein's birthday
June 24 - July 1, California tour with the Lunar Octet
Come Saturday, October 11, to hear Steve Hiltner and Phil Orr perform at the Caldwell Sessions in Princeton. The Caldwell Sessions provides a comfortable house concert setting to hear our all-original melodic adventures in samba, swing, and tango.
When: Saturday, October 11
Doors open: 7:00 PM,
Show starts: 7:30 PM
Suggested Donation for the Artist: $25 cash or Venmo at the door
RSVP to reserve a seat!
This summer, we had two tours with the Lunar Octet, the jazz/latin band I've been a part of since its beginnings 42 years ago. I write most of the music for the group, much of which I composed in New Jersey and perform locally with pianist Phil Orr in our Sustainable Jazz duo.
Additional compositions for the Octet come from our conguero, Aron Kaufman. Occasionally we pull out a beautiful ballad by drummer Jon Krosnick. Though based in Ann Arbor, the Lunar Octet also has a California version. Jon, a Stanford professor who periodically performs with renowned trumpeter Randy Brecker, booked our Lunar Octet for 8 gigs in 5 days this past June.
This past July, our Lunar Octet toured for two weeks in Michigan, performing our all-original latin and jazz at gigs ranging from Ann Arbor up to Traverse City.
The quieter side of the Sustainable Jazz Duo, in a performance at St. Mary, Star of the Sea Church in South Amboy. The original tango-influenced composition, Until I Find the Words, is the title track of our CD. The tune actually has words, which begin with:
"Until I find the words, I'll sing this melody, this simple melody, to tell you of my love."
Our Sustainable Jazz Duo will perform this Sunday, May 4, at the Housing Initiatives of Princeton's Spring Gathering, a fundraiser for this great local organization. Their mission?
To assist local individuals and families experiencing housing insecurity build toward a sustainable future via stable housing, better employment, and a network of support services.
Our mission is to live up to their organization's very cool acronym -- HIP!
I had asked whether it was okay to dance inside the St. Mary, Star of the Sea Church where Phil Orr and I performed our original jazz and latin music. The answer was affirmative, so we played Frolic--a tune that gets people dancing even if they remain sitting down, as the girl on the front left frolicfully demonstrates. Thanks to Jody and St. Mary's for being such wonderful hosts.
Come this Saturday, April 12, to hear Phil and me perform at Salon 33 in West Windsor.
To obtain more info and get the address, you have to RSVP at this link, and make sure to mark that you're going to the Saturday show.
Salon 33 is donation-based, with a suggested donation of $20.
Our Sustainable Jazz duo with the totally orrsome Phil Orr on piano will be heading this Sunday to South Amboy to perform a sampling of our melodic adventures in samba, swing, and tango in the Music at St. Mary's series. The performance runs from 4-5pm, at 256 Augusta Street. All-original compositions in a church setting, with piano and sax/clarinet.
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Below is a video of us performing one of my compositions, Greening the Blues.
It's happenin'! The orrsome Phil Orr and I will be performing at the totally awesome Princeton Public Library, Sunday, Dec. 8 at 3pm in the community room.
Thanks to Joe George of Harrison Township, Michigan, for his facebook review of my compositions. At the Harrison Speakeasy, just north of Detroit, we combined repertoire from the Lunar Octet and Sustainable Jazz and played it all as a quartet, with Keaton Royer, Jeff Dalton, and Jon Krosnick on piano, bass, and drums. This was the first time my music had ever been performed with a quartet. Very rewarding.
"I couldn't help but identify with the music. I never heard a lick of it before, but it still had the familiar sounds of recognizable modern jazz classics like you might hear from Chick Corea or Gino Vannelli. It was absolutely brilliant. The drummer led the band, but each composition was written by Steve Hiltner, who played a mean saxophone, and he wrote the charts for every instrument.
This band wasn't just good, they were NATIONWIDE. Steve is from New Jersey, the bassist hailed from Michigan but of late lives in the Florida Keys. One of the guys lives in California, and the last was from BFE or some such thing. But what great music! It was a real showcase for talent, great writing, and dedication like nobody's business. I'm grateful for the fabulous show and an impressive booking.
People have no idea what went on. And the people that do know seem kinda casual about it. But I know what went on and it blows my mind. To begin with, writing music takes talent. Transcribing music takes hard work and dedication. But writing music for all the musical parts and transcribing all those parts, and then having it all performed together like a Symphony.....and then have us dancing in the aisles because it swings like Ellington, well that's coooool! Like having Mozart hanging around your local tavern."
The never before heard combined with the never before seen. The Harrison Speakeasy has a deep sea diving theme meant to evoke prohibition days, an idiosyncratic patio with swings for chairs, an outdoor game I'll call "kickpool," and a post-gig photo op. Sometimes a creative, "never before" setting can make you feel at home.
The fabulous Phil Orr and I will be back at Salon 33 in West Windsor on Friday, July 12, playing original latin and jazz.
For anyone who lives in or has friends in southeastern Michigan, we'll be performing in a country setting outside Ann Arbor on Friday, May 24 with a 9-piece latin/jazz group that's grown beyond its name, the Lunar Octet. We've been playing all original music for 41 years, in Michigan, California, Ohio, and England. Shows at this venue frequently sell out. Ticket info below.
Ann Arbor: Enjoy an evening of Latin jazz with The Lunar Octet on Friday, May 24 at 7:30 pm in the 130 year old barn at Rancho Tranquilico, while taking in the beauty of acres of farm and prairie land. The setting is casual…bring your favorite portable chair and beverage. https://bit.ly/4aPSwr8I return to Michigan early this year to perform with the Lunar Octet--the all-originals latin-jazz group now in its 41st year. I'm the musical director and primary composer for the group, which toured England in 2022.
Tours in Michigan and California are planned for the summer.
My two lives as bandleader and nonprofit leader have come together this fall.
Our Sustainable Jazz Duo will be performing at the Princeton Community Housing Gala on Friday, October 6.
