LUX QUARTET (1st set) / DANILO PEREZ, JOHN PATITUCCI, BRIAN BLADE "Legacy of Wayne Shorter" Special guest RAVI COLTRANE (2nd set)

VARIATION OF PROGRAMME
Myra Melford, Dayna Stephens, Nick Dunston, Allison Miller replace duo Dave Holland/Lionel Loueke

Following the sudden cancellation of the Dave Holland/Lionel Loueke duo's European tour, due to health problems encountered by the English double bass player, the Bergamo Jazz evening on Friday 21 March at the Teatro Donizetti will be opened by the Lux Quartet, a group led by pianist Myra Melford;Myra Melford and drummer Allison Miller and completed by saxophonist Dayna Stephens and double bassist Nick Dunston, all leading musicians on the international jazz scene.
The project dedicated to Wayne Shorter – with Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci, Brian Blade and Ravi Coltrane – scheduled for the same evening, and all the rest of the Festival programme remain confirmed.

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LUX QUARTET featuring Myra Melford, Dayna Stephens, Nick Dunston, Allison Miller

The first of the three evenings of Bergamo Jazz 2025 at the Teatro Donizetti opens with a newly formed line-up conceived by two leading figures in contemporary jazz interpreted as women: pianist Myra Melford and drummer Allison Miller. Alongside them are saxophonist Dayna Stephens and double bassist Nick Dunston, other leading names in today's music scene.
The Lux Quartet immediately made musical headlines with the release in August 2024 of the Tomorrowland album, which Down Beat awarded four stars; inspired in its name by light in all its manifestations, from the vitality of the sun's rays to the bioluminescence of creatures in the deepest oceans, symbolising all the heights and depths that the group intends to explore musically.
Myra Melford è has been one of the brightest stars in the jazz piano firmament since the late 1980s. Her main collaborative experiences include those with Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris and Dave Douglas. In the late 1990s, he formed the trio Equal Interest with violinist Leroy Jenkins and Art Ensemble of Chicago saxophonist Joseph Jarman. As leader, he has recorded numerous albums, which also testify to his compositional depth and the variety of expressive areas he frequents, from solo piano to quintet. For several years Myra Melford has had a fruitful artistic partnership with drummer Allison Miller, who is known for her work in the highly acclaimed quintet Artemis, as well as for her numerous songwriting collaborations (Ani DiFranco, Natalie Merchant, Brandi Carlile).
Dayna Stephens is one of the leading saxophonists to emerge in recent decades. In addition to recording several albums under her own name, she has played with Kenny Barron, Ambrose Akinmusire, Julian Lage, Gerald Clayton and many others. Bassist Nick Dunston also boasts a respectable CV: Marc Ribot, Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn and Dave Douglas are just some of the colleagues he has played with so far.

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DANILO PÉREZ, JOHN PATITUCCI, BRIAN BLADE
“Legacy of Wayne Shorter”
special guest RAVI COLTRANE

Bergamo Jazz 2025 hosts a super-quartet in the name of one of the greatest saxophonists and composers jazz has ever expressed in its entire history: Wayne Shorter. A legendary figure who traversed crucial phases of jazz, collaborating with Art Blakey and Miles Davis and then, together with Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous, creating Weather Report, leaving behind an invaluable legacy both as a saxophonist and as a composer and leader.
Danilo Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade were able to experience the stature, also human, of such a strong and charismatic personality. It goes without saying, therefore, that the three musicians are today the most qualified to pay tribute to Shorter, by virtue of almost 25 years of artistic acquaintance. The not easy task of completing the group falls to Ravi Coltrane, a mature soloist who has managed to incorporate both his father's and Shorter's musical influences without slavishly following their models.John Patitucci è born in Brooklyn in 1959, he started playing the electric bass at the age of 10, later trying his hand at the double bass and the piano. He first gained notoriety through his collaboration with Chick Corea in the years of the Elektric Band and the Akoustic Band. He then went on to play in different stylistic domains, both acoustic and electric, recording numerous albums under his own name and joining Shorter's quartet.
Brian Blade is one of the most versatile drummers around: besides Wayne Shorter, he has played with Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Herbie Hancock, Joshua Redman, Kenny Garrett and others. In 1997, he founded The Fellowship Band, with which he has recorded several albums.
Born in 1965, just under two years before the death of his famous father, Ravi Coltrane, the second son of John and Alice Coltrane, has had a respectable musical career since the mid-1980s, first as a sideman and then as an increasingly influential leader. Today Ravi presides over the Coltrane Home, an organisation that keeps alive the artistic memory and life lessons of both illustrious parents.