Jelly Roll Morton was a ragtime and stride legend, while George Gershwin worked on the borders of jazz, classical, and popular song. Now a new generation of musicians, led by pianist Aaron Diehl and vocalist extraordinaire Cécile McLorin Salvant, turns the spotlight on timeless classics and little-known gems by these two jazz masters, tracing a musical lineage that spans a century.
Diehl, a leading force in today’s generation of jazz contemporaries, was the 2014 Monterey Jazz Festival Commission Artist and spearheads a distinct union of traditional and fresh artistry. McLorin Salvant, though practically unknown to any of the judges or participants, walked away with first place at the 2010 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, and the buzz began immediately. A 2016 Grammy winner (“Best Jazz Vocal Album”), she frequently draws comparisons to the Big Three — Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Ella Fitzgerald — able to bend notes to her will and get inside each song the way an actress inhabits a starring role.