The 2024-25 Eastman Presents Series, hosted at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, announces an alteration to our current season’s schedule. The Kevin Hays Trio, featuring Hays at the piano, Alexander Claffy on bass and Eric Harland on drums, is set to perform in Kilbourn Hall at 7:30 p.m. on February 13, 2025, replacing the previously scheduled Fred Hersch Trio.
“There are plenty of talented pianists… but few have Hays’ melodic charms and sense of style,” praises The New Yorker. Beyond his expertise as a performer, Hays is a celebrated composer and singer/songwriter, with a large volume of work that includes compositions on the 2019 GRAMMY Award-winning, self-titled album from the Steve Gadd Band. Claffy’s skills also extend across genre and role — as a bandleader, composer and producer, he has released multiple recordings and albums, while his tenure as a bassist places him alongside jazz legends and contemporaries, as well as popular artists like Hamilton star Leslie Odom, Jr. and trumpeter Chris Botti. Harland has been heard as a drummer on hundreds of recordings and film scores, with countless collaborations on the stage. He has also held positions as Resident Artistic Director at SFJAZZ Center and as Artist in Resident at the Monterey Jazz Festival. To learn more about these three artists, read the biographies below.
Tickets to this event, and all Eastman Presents concerts, can be purchased online, in person at the Eastman Theatre Box Office (located at 433 East Main Street; hours: M-F 9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.) or by calling 585-274-3000.
Media only: Lauren Sageer, Assistant Director of Public Relations and Digital Content,
(585) 451-8492, lsageer@esm.rochester.edu
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About Kevin Hays:
Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist/composer Kevin Hays is internationally recognized as one of the most original and compelling musicians of his generation. His many recordings have received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine and Jazz Times, as well as the “Coup de Coeur” award from the Académie Charles Cros (France). Kevin has appeared on numerous albums as a guest artist, recording with Chris Potter, Bill Stewart, Joshua Redman, Jeff Ballard, Nicholas Payton, and Al Foster, among many others. Notable collaborations include a piano duo project with Brad Mehldau (Modern Music – Nonesuch), and world tours with James Taylor, Sonny Rollins, John Scofield, Joe Henderson, and Roy Haynes. In addition to his celebrated work as pianist and composer, Kevin has become increasingly known as a gifted and expressive singer/songwriter. In 2015 he released the widely lauded recording New Day (Sunnyside), on which he performed his own songs along with a riveting performance of the Jimmy Webb classic “Highwayman.” Hope, a 2019 collaboration with Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, was released on Edition Records. Hays co-wrote several compositions on Steve Gadd Band’s eponymous album which garnered the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. The album also features Kevin’s own “Spring Song,” the sole vocal track. Kevin’s most recent trio recording “Bridges” with bassist Ben Street and legendary drummer Billy Hart features new Hays compositions and songs by Hart, Milton Nascimento, The Beatles, Wayne Shorter, and Bill Frisell.
About Alex Claffy:
Bassist Alex Claffy has become one of the most in-demand performers of his generation, both as a sideman working with the biggest names in Jazz and Popular music, and also as a bandleader, composer and producer having just released his fourth album as a leader “Music From Big Orange” in late 2022 with another record on the way featuring Michael “Sonny Step” Stephenson in early 2023.
Living in New York City but born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, Claffy is the next great Jazz artist in his hometown’s storied lineage, following in the footsteps of Philadelphia bass luminaries such as Christian McBride, Percy Heath and Jimmy Garrison.
His resumé as a sideman reads as a veritable who’s who of Jazz royalty, ranging from Jazz masters such as George Coleman, Harold Mabern, Randy Brecker, Jimmy Cobb, George Cables, Wallace Roney, Mike LeDonne, Fred Hersch, Victor Lewis, and Louis Hayes, to the top stars of today such as Nicholas Payton, Christian Adjtunde Adjuah, Kevin Hays, Aaron Parks, Seamus Blake and Kurt Rosenwinkel – the latter of which he’s appeared with three times at Village Vanguard since the Summer of 2022. His work in more Pop settings with the likes of trumpet icon Chris Botti, the genre-bending songstress Veronica Swift and breakout Hamilton star vocalist Leslie Odom Jr. prove his versatility as a bassist and musician know no bounds.
When he’s not touring the world headlining major Jazz festivals and clubs, Claffy can be found in any of the top venues in New York City’s decorated Jazz scene such as Birdland, the Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club, SMOKE and Smalls, as well as frequent trips back to Philadelphia, where he is committed to enriching and enlivening his hometown scene as well.
In his spare time he’s an avid vinyl collector, has a voracious appetite for podcasts and the greats of stand-up comedy, as well as his dedication to his work as a clinician and teacher, hosting a private studio of bass students as well as adjunct work at his alma mater, the New School of Jazz.
About Eric Harland:
Multi-Grammy Nominated and Winning Drummer, Eric Harland is the most “In demand drummer” of his generation. He has already been on over 500 recordings and multiple film scores at his age of 47. Eric has been recognized in the Boston Globe, New York Times, JazzTimes, Modern Drummer, All About Jazz, The New Yorker, DownBeat, L’uomo Vogue and other prominent publications.
It has been his privilege to share the stage with masters such as Betty Carter, Joe Henderson, MyCoy Tyner, Michael Brecker, Terence Blanchard, Branford and Wynton Marsalis, Wayne Shorter, Savion Glover, SFJAZZ Collective and many others, as well as todays up and coming artist like Esperanza Spalding, Jane Monheit, Taylor Eigsti, Julian Lage, Stacie Orrico, Robert Glasper and so on. His current list of performing groups are “JAMES FARM” with Joshua Redman, “PRISM” with Dave Holland and Kevin Eubanks, “SANGAM” with Charles Lloyd and Zakir Hussain, “Charles Lloyd New Quartet”, “OVERTONE” with Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Chris Potter. Chris Potter Circuits Trio, Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio D’ETE and “VOYAGER” Eric’s own widely recognized group. But Eric doesn’t stop there, he also manages to fit in many collaborations with world renowned artist like Les Claypool “PRIMUS”, “DISPATCH” the band, KRS1, John Mayer, Gigi Hadid, Spike Lee, Steve Miller, Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson from “AMERICAN IDOL” and etc.
Eric Harland was the Resident Artistic Director at the SFJAZZ Center for the 2014-2016 Season. Also was Artist in Resident at the Monterey Jazz Festival 2014 Season. Harland also had the supreme privilege of being invited and attending President Barack Obama’s 2016 White House State Dinner in honor of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Through Harland’s extensive travels, he has come to realize that “The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation.” When Eric Harland contributes… his intention is therefore to create the highest musical experience so that every listener may have insight…into the musical moment.
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About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854–1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training.
More than 900 students are enrolled in the Collegiate Division of the Eastman School of Music—about 500 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. They come from almost every state, and approximately 23 percent are from other countries. They are taught by a faculty comprised of more than 130 highly regarded performers, composers, conductors, scholars, and educators. They are Pulitzer Prize winners, Grammy winners, Emmy winners, Guggenheim fellows, ASCAP Award recipients, published authors, recording artists, and acclaimed musicians who have performed in the world’s greatest concert halls. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 900 concerts to the Rochester community. Additionally, more than 1,700 members of the Rochester community, from young children through senior citizens, are enrolled in the Eastman Community Music School.
About the University of Rochester:
The University of Rochester is one of the nation’s leading private research universities, one of only 62-member institutions in the Association of American Universities. Located in Rochester, N.Y., the University gives undergraduates exceptional opportunities for interdisciplinary study and close collaboration with faculty through its unique cluster-based curriculum. Its College, School of Arts and Sciences, and Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are complemented by the Eastman School of Music, Simon School of Business, Warner School of Education, Laboratory for Laser Energetics, School of Medicine and Dentistry, School of Nursing, Eastman Institute for Oral Health, and the Memorial Art Gallery.