July 25, 2025
Palace Theater Announces Early Fall Jazz Series at the Poli Club
The Palace Theater announces the four show Early Fall Jazz Series at the Poli Club. The series opens on Friday August 15 with the Ali Ryerson Quartet.
With a career spanning five decades, jazz flutist Ali Ryerson has consistently ranked among the top flutists in the Downbeat Jazz Poll for well over a decade. Born in New York City, Ali grew up in a musical family. Her father, Art Ryerson, was a renowned jazz guitarist. Ali has carried on the family tradition, becoming an international touring/recording artist, with performances ranging from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to the Blue Note (NYC and Japan), plus festival appearances worldwide. Ali has recorded and/or performed with jazz greats such as Red Rodney, Roy Haynes, Kenny Barron, Frank Wess, Hubert Laws, Stephane Grappelli, Art Farmer, Mike Mainieri, Joe Beck, and a guest appearance with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. She has also performed with classical artists Julius Baker and Luciano Pavarotti (when she was principal flutist with the Monterey Bay Orchestra). Ali was musical director of the Hudson River
Regional Jazz Festival (2001-’04), Jazz Chair for the National Flute Association, and founder of the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band.
The series continues on Friday August 29 with Vanessa Racci : Jazzy Italian. Vanessa Racci is a jazz and cabaret singer of Italian American descent with a passion for retro jazz and music made famous by Italian Americans. She has produced an album and currently performs several shows that celebrate American jazz composers, Italian American music and their contributions to jazz and pop in the US. Growing up with her Southern Italian grandfather in New York, Vanessa learned Italian American classics and jazz at an early age, hearing Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Frank Sinatra and the like played throughout the house. She developed as a singer in musical
theater (starring in professional theater at age 12), discovered her love for jazz in her 20’s and started touring with a trio. After her grandfather passed away, Vanessa was inspired to reinvent the Italian classics that he taught her with modern jazz arrangements to keep the music alive for future generations. Since then, she has performed at over 70 festivals, events and jazz clubs across the country and has been played on over 20 Italian radio stations across the US and Italy.
On Friday September 19, New England Arts & Entertainment teams up with Litchfield Jazz to present the Adam Burnbaum Trio.
Adam Birnbaum is emerging as one of the top young voices in jazz piano. Since receiving a graduate Artist’s Diploma in jazz studies from The Julliard School in 2003, he has become a presence on the New York City scene as a leader and sideman, performing in such venues as the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Birdland, the Jazz Standard and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. He has also performed on many national and world stages, including the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Montreal Jazz Festival, The Spoleto Festival, The Red Sea Jazz Festival, The Rockport Chamber Festival, NPR Jazz Christmas, and the Capetown Jazz Festival. As a leader, Birnbaum has released four albums under his name in Japan and the U.S. His first release, Ballade Pour Adeline, received a Gold Disk award from Swing Journal as one of the top albums of 2006. Adam’s U.S. debut Travels, released in 2009 under the Smalls record label,
received enthusiastic reviews in Allmusic.com, All About Jazz and JazzTimes. Birnbaum’s recent release Three of A Mind, featuring bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Al Foster, was hailed as “an eloquent dispatch from the heart of the contemporary piano trio tradition” by the New York Times,
and received an Editor’s Pick and four star review in Downbeat magazine.
The series wraps up on Friday October 3 with Svetlana and The New York Collective. Hailed “outstanding band” (Wall Street Journal) and “NYC darlings” (TimeOut), Svetlana's New York Collective is a group of determined jazz talents on a mission to uplift, energize… and spread the joy of what WPIX/11 News called “exuberant foot–stomping music that combines New York swing with pop singer/songwriter sensibilities.” Svetlana and her band have released a chart topping Night at the Movies (debuted #1 on the US Billboard Traditional Jazz Charts / #2 on Jazz Album Charts) in 2019 and have headlined sold out release shows at Joe’s Pub (NYC), Blues Alley
(Washington DC), Regatta Bar (Boston), Blue Note (NYC) and beyond. 2020 is seeing a new iteration of New York Collective “mobile unit”, a quartet-sized band with an emphasis on showcasing bandleader Svetlana’s artistry, exciting new original compositions and unique arrangements of material from her chart-topping record Night at the Movies - and beyond. A performance by Svetlana and the New York Swing Collective is a colorful carnival of sound, seamlessly moving from sophisticated retrospection to a joyfully rowdy party - delivering “great sounding, great looking, highly entertaining unique tight show - with big sound and deeply personal sincere connection with the audience!" (Festival Presenter, USA).
With a career spanning five decades, jazz flutist Ali Ryerson has consistently ranked among the top flutists in the Downbeat Jazz Poll for well over a decade. Born in New York City, Ali grew up in a musical family. Her father, Art Ryerson, was a renowned jazz guitarist. Ali has carried on the family tradition, becoming an international touring/recording artist, with performances ranging from Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to the Blue Note (NYC and Japan), plus festival appearances worldwide. Ali has recorded and/or performed with jazz greats such as Red Rodney, Roy Haynes, Kenny Barron, Frank Wess, Hubert Laws, Stephane Grappelli, Art Farmer, Mike Mainieri, Joe Beck, and a guest appearance with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. She has also performed with classical artists Julius Baker and Luciano Pavarotti (when she was principal flutist with the Monterey Bay Orchestra). Ali was musical director of the Hudson River
Regional Jazz Festival (2001-’04), Jazz Chair for the National Flute Association, and founder of the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band.
The series continues on Friday August 29 with Vanessa Racci : Jazzy Italian. Vanessa Racci is a jazz and cabaret singer of Italian American descent with a passion for retro jazz and music made famous by Italian Americans. She has produced an album and currently performs several shows that celebrate American jazz composers, Italian American music and their contributions to jazz and pop in the US. Growing up with her Southern Italian grandfather in New York, Vanessa learned Italian American classics and jazz at an early age, hearing Dean Martin, Connie Francis, Frank Sinatra and the like played throughout the house. She developed as a singer in musical
theater (starring in professional theater at age 12), discovered her love for jazz in her 20’s and started touring with a trio. After her grandfather passed away, Vanessa was inspired to reinvent the Italian classics that he taught her with modern jazz arrangements to keep the music alive for future generations. Since then, she has performed at over 70 festivals, events and jazz clubs across the country and has been played on over 20 Italian radio stations across the US and Italy.
On Friday September 19, New England Arts & Entertainment teams up with Litchfield Jazz to present the Adam Burnbaum Trio.
Adam Birnbaum is emerging as one of the top young voices in jazz piano. Since receiving a graduate Artist’s Diploma in jazz studies from The Julliard School in 2003, he has become a presence on the New York City scene as a leader and sideman, performing in such venues as the Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Birdland, the Jazz Standard and Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola. He has also performed on many national and world stages, including the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Kennedy Center, the Montreal Jazz Festival, The Spoleto Festival, The Red Sea Jazz Festival, The Rockport Chamber Festival, NPR Jazz Christmas, and the Capetown Jazz Festival. As a leader, Birnbaum has released four albums under his name in Japan and the U.S. His first release, Ballade Pour Adeline, received a Gold Disk award from Swing Journal as one of the top albums of 2006. Adam’s U.S. debut Travels, released in 2009 under the Smalls record label,
received enthusiastic reviews in Allmusic.com, All About Jazz and JazzTimes. Birnbaum’s recent release Three of A Mind, featuring bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Al Foster, was hailed as “an eloquent dispatch from the heart of the contemporary piano trio tradition” by the New York Times,
and received an Editor’s Pick and four star review in Downbeat magazine.
The series wraps up on Friday October 3 with Svetlana and The New York Collective. Hailed “outstanding band” (Wall Street Journal) and “NYC darlings” (TimeOut), Svetlana's New York Collective is a group of determined jazz talents on a mission to uplift, energize… and spread the joy of what WPIX/11 News called “exuberant foot–stomping music that combines New York swing with pop singer/songwriter sensibilities.” Svetlana and her band have released a chart topping Night at the Movies (debuted #1 on the US Billboard Traditional Jazz Charts / #2 on Jazz Album Charts) in 2019 and have headlined sold out release shows at Joe’s Pub (NYC), Blues Alley
(Washington DC), Regatta Bar (Boston), Blue Note (NYC) and beyond. 2020 is seeing a new iteration of New York Collective “mobile unit”, a quartet-sized band with an emphasis on showcasing bandleader Svetlana’s artistry, exciting new original compositions and unique arrangements of material from her chart-topping record Night at the Movies - and beyond. A performance by Svetlana and the New York Swing Collective is a colorful carnival of sound, seamlessly moving from sophisticated retrospection to a joyfully rowdy party - delivering “great sounding, great looking, highly entertaining unique tight show - with big sound and deeply personal sincere connection with the audience!" (Festival Presenter, USA).
