YONKERS PUBLIC LIBRARY: Library Jazz Band Receives Yonkers Arts Initiative Support From Arts Westchester For 2023-24 Season

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Yonkers-based Yonkers Public Library Jazz Band has been awarded an Initiative grant from ArtsWestchester that will permit them to develop and perform two new musical programs in 2023 - 2024.

PRESS RELEASE: ArtsWestchester funding is made possible by Westchester County with the support of County Executive George Latimer. These performances will be free to the public.

YONKERS: The first concert of the 2023-2024 season highlights the musical contributions of Yonkers and area luminaries across the last century. (A second concert is being scheduled for Spring 2024 at the Riverfront Branch.)

The Stars in Our Backyard! Library Jazz Band Salutes Local Luminaries, then and now
Yonkers Public Library, Grinton I. Will Library1500 Central Park Avenue

This program recognizes the deep musical legacy of Yonkers while also recognizing the many exceptional working artists in our community. The program includes well-loved songs written or made famous by WC Handy, Ella Fitzgerald, Gene Krupa and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. It also features two guest soloists, and original compositions and arrangements from several band members.

Featured Artists:

Ralph Lalama, tenor saxophone.

Lalama, a fixture of the New York jazz scene and respected world-wide, has been called “a grand, modern-minded storyteller.” He has performed with the world’s best jazz orchestras, including Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, and the Mel Lewis Orchestra – now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. He is a three-time Grammy winner through his work in the Joe Lovano Nonet and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and has nine recordings out as a leader, and over sixty as a sideman. The Library Jazz Band will perform two of his original compositions, both scored for big band by his brother, jazz pianist Dave Lalama.

Amy London, vocals.

Amy London is known and loved in New York City jazz and Broadway circles for her effortless sound, impeccable musicianship and depth of emotion. She has enjoyed more than 25 years of performing at New York’s top rooms, such as Dizzy’s, The Rainbow Room, Lincoln Center, Birdland, Blue Note, The Kitano, BB King’s, Cornelia Street Cafe, North Square Lounge and many others. Her most recent recording, The Royal Bopsters Project, was named to “Best CDs of the Year” lists by Downbeat, JazzTimes, All About Jazz and Talkin’ Broadway. Amy will perform two songs made famous by Yonkers legend Ella Fitzgerald.

Members of the Library Jazz Band whose compositions and arrangements are in this program include:

Sarah Jane Cion, piano.

Sarah Jane Cion (co-founder) is an internationally acclaimed jazz pianist, known for winning the 1st Place in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, and her trio's performances in Japan and on NPR's "Piano Jazz" with Marian McPartland. Her original compositions have been featured in Warner Bros.' "The Mule" and Marvel's "Thor: The Dark World," and she has shared the stage with jazz legends like Clark Terry, Anita O’Day, and Michael Brecker. Sarah holds a distinction in composition and performance from the New England Conservatory and has authored a book on modern jazz piano.

Kim E. Burgie, trumpet/flugelhorn

Kim Burgie is a multi-Instrumentalist, who in addition to trumpet plays jazz recorder and drums/percussion. He has played at many of the top Hotels, Catering Halls, Night Clubs and other venues in the tri-state area and around the world. When Kim is not working on original music in the Modern Jazz vein or writing music for TV and motion pictures, he is a music teacher at a high school in the South Bronx. Burgie has 4 CD’s of his original music out there in the world (“In The Zone”, “Blessed Not Stressed”, “Fun” and “Fun 2.0”). You can listen to his music at: YouTube.com/KimBurgieMusic

Rob Susman, trombone

Rob Susman has composed and arranged for PBS’s ‘Reading Rainbow’ (Berlioz the Bear), The Imani Winds, and The Boston Brass. He was commissioned by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music to write for the horn octet. His music has had world premieres in Italy (Gubbio Music Festival), NYU and Hawaii. He currently has five commercially released recordings featuring his original works.

Ron Horton, trumpet

Ron Horton has been frequently called on as a sideman to perform and/or record with such artists as Andrew Hill, Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough, Jane Ira Bloom, Matt Wilson, Bill Mays, Peggy Stern, Ted Nash, and many others. Horton has released 4 cds under his own name: Genius Envy (OmniTone), featuring Bloom, Subtextures (Fresh Sounds), featuring Kimbrough and Wilson, Everything in a Dream (Fresh Sounds), which features saxophonists Tony Malaby and John O'Gallagher, and It's a Gadget World (ABEAT) which is a collaboration with Italian pianist Antonio Zambrini. His upcoming sextet double-LP release on Newvelle Records, A Prayer For Andrew, is due for release in early 2024. Since 2009, He has been commissioned to write over 25 arrangements for the Howard University Jazz Ensemble (Wash, D.C.) under the direction of Fred Irby.

About the Library Jazz Band

Library Jazz Band was created when two friends - Nancy Maron and Sarah Cion - noticed how few big bands there were and decided to start their own, with the goal of bringing America’s own music – jazz – to as many people as possible. We are a 17-person jazz collaborative playing classic big band music and writing its own interpretations of classic and contemporary jazz. Members are professional musicians and educators from Yonkers, the Bronx, and Westchester and share a love of the big band format in all its variety.

Library Jazz Band includes 5 saxophones, 4 trombones, 4 trumpets, piano, bass, drum, and conductor. We dig into the great classic arrangements of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Buddy Rich, but we also love modern big band arrangements of other jazz, rock, and R&B tunes by artists like Thelonious Monk, Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones, and Stevie Wonder. Members of the group contribute their own arrangements and compositions; when we can, we help local composers rehearse new works in progress.

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