Artistic Director

Trumpeter Riley Mulherkar is a founding member of The Westerlies, and in 2024 released his debut album Riley, hailed as “one of the best debut records to come out in a long, long time” (DownBeat). The trumpeter has had audiences on their feet since he was in middle school, as a prodigious and disciplined player soaking up everything he could from Seattle's unexpectedly rich and rooted jazz community. Playing under legendary band directors Robert Knatt and Clarence Acox prepared him for Juilliard, where he quickly found a musical home with Jazz at Lincoln Center and its leader, Wynton Marsalis. Since, he has played with everyone from Kenny Barron and Dee Dee Bridgewater to Anna Deavere Smith and Alan Cumming, and in 2020 received Lincoln Center’s prestigious Emerging Artist Award for his work as “an original bandleader, composer, arranger, educator, community activist and advocate for jazz and the arts.” 

Leading countless jazz ensembles as "the sort of musician who sees improvised music as a perfect delivery system for joy," as writer Nate Chinen put it, Mulherkar also stretched outside the genre alongside The Westerlies, a new music brass quartet that creates the rarest of hybrids: music that is both “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music), with performances from Carnegie Hall to Coachella.

Riley, his opening recorded salvo as a soloist, is the sonically modern setting for Mulherkar’s vulnerable, melodious interpretation of this rich tradition with sound design shaped by producers Rafiq Bhatia and Chris Pattishall. Enveloping Mulherkar within a series of textured, intricately-crafted spaces, Bhatia and Pattishall train a cinematographer’s lens on the continuum of great old songs, as well as new Mulherkar pieces which fit right in. Described as “über hip, modern yet timeless” (DownBeat), it’s a radically bold audio framework for the emotional pronouncements of Riley’s horn.

Riley is an Edwards Artist and performs on Edwards trumpets.

www.rileymulherkar.com

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Known for his “high skill and sensitivity,” (The New York Times) Chris McCarthy is one of the most in-demand pianists in New York City. McCarthy has developed a reputation as “one of the most imaginative and impressive voices on the New York jazz scene” (Hot House Jazz Magazine). Early accolades included the 2012 Gerald Wilson Award for big band composition at the Monterey Jazz Festival. After playing with Jerry Bergonzi and Jason Palmer’s working bands in Boston for several years, he moved to New York in 2016 and has been collaborating with artists from around the world in NYC ever since. He released his debut for Ropeadope Records, Still Time To Quit, in 2020. The album received widespread critical praise, including the #3 slot in Paul Rauch’s “Best Local Jazz Albums of 2020” for The Seattle Times. 

McCarthy is known for his sensitive accompanying of vocalists, working with many of New York’s finest. McCarthy is also active in the world music scene, touring with Carnatic vocalist Roopa Mahadevan and Gnawa musician Samir Langus.  His playing is featured on albums by rising stars such as vibraphonist Sasha Berliner (Azalea 2019) and saxophonist Eden Bareket (Day Dream, 2021).

In 2021 his playing was featured on BBC Radio 1 and drummer Questlove’s social media. He currently performs in legendary tap dancer Dormeshia’s new show “Rhythm is Life,” a New York Times Critic’s pick. He also tours with the Mark Morris Dance Company’s newest production, “The Look of Love.” McCarthy released his piano trio project Priorities (Fresh Sound Records) in May 2022, featuring Chris Tordini on bass and Steven Crammer on drums. In 2024, his duo album with vocalist Vanisha Gould Life’s a Gig received a 4.5/5 review from Downbeat magazine, calling the record an “instant classic.” His newest ensemble is a quintet featuring Takuya Kuroda, Eden Bareket, Sam Minaie and Steven Crammer.

www.chrismccarthymusic.com

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John Sturino is a drummer, percussionist, arranger, composer, and educator based in New York City.

Sturino’s main project as a bandleader is BLOW GLOBE, a 10-piece ensemble that fuses the sound of instrumental jazz and the ethos of contemporary electronic and songwriter music.  Sturino & BLOW GLOBE were among the fourteen ensembles awarded the News Jazz Works 2024 Grant by Chamber Music America.

Sturino is an active music educator who works regularly with students of all ages, having led masterclasses throughout the United States, Colombia, Australia, Cayman Islands, and China. Sturino is a regular faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop and maintains a private lesson studio both in-person and virtually. Sturino is currently a member of the Percussive Arts Society Drumset Committee, having served since May 2022.

Sturino spent his formative years with Ed Soph and Rich DeRosa at the University of North Texas. Sturino was also accepted to the highly-selective Artist Diploma two-year program at The Juilliard School where he continued studies under Ben Wolfe, Billy Drummond, and Paul Wells.

Sturino is an alumnus of the Juilliard Jazz Artist Diploma Ensemble (2023), Generations Festival Switzerland (2018) and Generations Unit Band Switzerland (2019), JAS Aspen Academy Big Band directed by Christian McBride (2018), One O’Clock Lab Band (2015, 2016, 2018), Disneyland All-American College Band (2016), and Jazz Band of America (2012).

Sturino is a Yamaha Drums Artist, Prologix Artist, and Zildjian & Vic Firth Educational Artist.

johnsturino.com

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Jazz trumpeter, vocalist, and composer Jumaane Smith has performed on five GRAMMY Award-winning records (selling more than 60 million copies), two Emmy Award-nominated TV performances, and the GRAMMY Awards with Stevie Wonder.  He has performed in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (as a trumpet solo actor), at the White House, and on the Today Show, the Tonight Show, Oprah, Good Morning America, and American Idol.

He has spent the last 18 years touring and recording with Michael Bublé as lead trumpeter and vocalist and featured soloist.  He was a member of Harry Connick Jr.’s house band for the syndicated daytime TV show Harry, and was the featured guest soloist for Jackie Evancho’s “Songs of the Silver Screen” world tour, backed by a 60-piece symphony orchestra.

Smith has toured with his own band to such world-class venues as Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Vail Jazz Festival, the Java Jazz Festival, Birdland Jazz Club, the North Star Festival, Joe's Pub, the Rochester International Jazz Festival, the Catalina Island Jazz Festival, and many more.

His critically acclaimed debut album, I Only Have Eyes For You, features special guests Michael Bublé, Jackie Evancho, and Naturally 7. His sophomore album, When You’re Smiling, was released to much praise in January 2020. His highly-anticipated third album was released by Zinn Music on August 16, 2024.

As a composer, Smith has scored music for films such as Handsome Harry (starring Steve Buscemi and Jamey Sheridan) and the documentary Being in the World, as well as for his own recordings and the interactive sheet music company Tomplay.

Smith has worked with musical legends such as Quincy Jones, Herbie Hancock, Aretha Franklin, Christian McBride, Barbra Streisand, Alicia Keys, Kamasi Washington, Jon Batiste, Theo Croker, Etienne Charles, and many more.  He was a full scholarship recipient in The Juilliard School of Music’s Jazz Studies program from 2001 to 2005, with Wynton Marsalis as his primary trumpet teacher.

www.jumaanesmith.com

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Award-winning New York City-based bassist and composer Mark Lewandowski originally hails from Nottingham, England. A graduate of the Guildhall School of Music in London and New York’s prestigious Juilliard School, he has earned the respect of his peers and elders alike as a creative, supportive and individual sideman and bandleader.

It was during his years at the Guildhall School that Mark began rapidly producing a name for himself as a fixture of the London jazz scene, playing regularly at the world-famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club by only his second year in the capital. After graduating with a first class honors degree from the Guildhall School, Mark had the great honor of being awarded the Yamaha Jazz Award, which was presented to him by the government of the U.K. at the Houses of Parliament. He has performed in many of the leading concert halls and clubs of the U.K. and Europe, including The Barbican, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, The Queen Elizabeth Hall and Pizza Express Jazz Club.

Lewandowski has also performed frequently as a member of the quartet of Pulitzer Prize-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, including performances in such esteemed venues and festivals as London’s Barbican Hall, Cheltenham Festival and The Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C.

He has toured internationally in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America and South America, and is frequently found on many of New York City’s famed stages including those of The Blue Note, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Village Vanguard, Birdland, The Jazz Standard, 55 Bar, Smalls, Mezzrow, Smoke and Minton’s Playhouse.

2022 saw Lewandowski again on the international stage, as first-prize winner of the prestigious UNISA International Jazz Strings Competition held in Pretoria, South Africa. In this fortieth year of the competition’s existence, he was awarded the prize by South Africa’s former president, Thabo Mbeki.

As an educator, Lewandowski is on the faculty of the renowned Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz Studies at the University of Hartford, Connecticut. He has taught in a number of major institutions including Torino Conservatory (Italy) and Birmingham Conservatoire (U.K.), as well as in his position as ‘Professor of Bass Studies’ at the prestigious Hampton School. Mark has led workshops during cultural exchange visits to China in front of 2,000 elementary school children. He also has worked with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People and Essentially Ellington programs in and around New York City.

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Tyreek McDole, a 24-year-old Haitian-American vocalist from sunny Florida, shines brilliantly as his star rises in the bustling New York Scene. With a string of prestigious awards to his name, Tyreek stands out as a rising star in the music world.

In November 2023, Tyreek won first place in the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. Noted as one of the most anticipated events in jazz, McDole's accolade now ranks him among the competition's previous winners including the standout artists Samara Joy (2019 winner) and Jazzmeia Horn (2013 winner). Tyreek is only the second male to win in the competition’s twelve-year history.

It was during Lincoln Center's 2018 Essentially Ellington National Competition that Tyreek made his vocal debut, winning the prestigious Outstanding Vocalist Award.

Tyreek has shared the stage with an impressive roster of musicians, including Theo Croker, NEA Jazz Master Gary Bartz, Miki Yamanaka, Mike King, Rodney Whitaker, Winard Harper, Marcus Printup, Eric Reed, Carl Allen, Victor Goines, and many others.

Tyreek received a degree in jazz performance from The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, under the guidance of esteemed instructors LaTanya Hall, Gary Bartz, Gerald Cannon, Eddie Henderson, Billy Hart, Dan Wall, Sullivan Fortner, and Weedie Braimah.

With his roots firmly planted in the musical soil of the Caribbean, New York, Florida, and beyond, McDole now casts his spell on the bustling streets of New York City, leaving an indelible mark on the vibrant tapestry of worldwide music.

www.tyreekmcdole.com

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