The Jazz Room at the Stage Door Theater

Overview

After much-acclaim and sold-out performances, Charlotte’s Jazz Arts Initiative’s (JAI) monthly series—The Jazz Room @ The Stage Door Theater – On May 11 & 12,  the Jazz Room welcomes back one of our most popular shows with pianist Lovell Bradford playing a tribute to the great HERBIE HANCOCK. The Stage Door Theater is part of Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, at the corner of 5th and College in Uptown Charlotte.

Born in Chicago, internationally acclaimed pianist and keyboardist Herbie Hancock was a classical prodigy, appearing with the Chicago Symphony at age 11. Hancock’s music has encompassed almost every development in electronic and acoustic jazz and R&B over the last third of the 20th century and into the 21st. Though grounded in Bill Evans and able to absorb blues, funk, gospel, and even modern classical influences, Hancock's piano and keyboard voices are entirely his own, with their own polished harmonic and complex, and rhythmic signatures. He began his jazz career with Donald Byrd, then shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. He has had many songs "cross over" and achieve success among pop audiences. His best-known compositions include "Cantaloupe Island," "Watermelon Man,” "Maiden Voyage,” "Chameleon,” and the singles "I Thought It Was You" and "Rockit." His 2007 tribute album River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy Award for Album of the Year.

Pianist Lovell Bradford, an adjunct professor at Davidson College, has played on a number of top Gospel and jazz recordings. Originally from Gary, Indiana, Bradford had many of his first musical influences in church where his grandmother played every Sunday. He studied at Central State University and eventually began playing in the jazz scene in Columbus, Ohio before moving to Charlotte. Bradford has performed with artists such as Pharez Whitted, Slide Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Wes “Warmdaddy” Anderson, Ronnie Burrage, and many others.  He currently serves on the faculty of JAI’s Youth Ensembles & Workshops and is a frequent performer at The Jazz Room.