Jazz on a Sunday afternoon. This month: Daryl Sherman and Jay Leonhart
$10 Members/ $15 Non-Members
For information on membership and the New Jersey Jazz Society, please visit their website at https://njjs.org/
The Musicians
Part of the New York City jazz and cabaret scenes since the mid-1970s, Daryl Sherman is one of the rare singing pianists equally talented in both musical genres. Since her early stints at Sinatra hangouts like Jilly’s, Jimmy Weston’s, and Eddie Condon’s, there’s hardly been a jazz joint, supper club or hotel Daryl has missed. When Artie Shaw formed a new band after his retirement, she was his chosen singer, and he called her “a first-rate singer-musician.” Since then, she’s appeared with Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks. Among Daryl’s albums are Mississippi Belle: Cole Porter in the Quarter, Lost in a Crowded Place, and My Blue Heaven. Her CDs continue in regular rotation on cable TV’s Music Choice, Pandora, WNYC, WBGO, the BBC and Spotify. She guested on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz on NPR (and also guest-hosted!), on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and on Jazz Inspired with Judy Carmichael. She’s renowned for her stellar 14-year run at the Waldorf-Astoria, where she played Cole Porter’s Steinway. When the Waldorf closed for renovations, Daryl was contacted to perform on the famed piano while it was on loan to the New York Historical Society. In Manhattan, she’s played at Birdland Jazz, Jazz at Kitano, Mezzrow, Dizzy’s, Iridium, and the Algonquin’s Oak Room. She’s been a favorite at the Highlights in Jazz concert series, the Mabel Mercer Foundation’s Cabaret Convention, the Bryant Park Piano series, Midday Jazz Midtown at St. Peter’s, and JVC Jazz Festival in NYC and in Newport. In addition to receiving two previous Bistro Awards, she’s a two-time MAC Award winner and was named Hothouse magazine’s “Best Jazz Vocalist” in 2015. She tours the UK annually. Among other international gigs, she’s made five trips to Tokyo, playing a long stint at Tableaux Lounge.
Jay Leonhart has been named the Outstanding Bassist in the Recording Industry three times and is always mentioned when the discussion turns to the outstanding . At age thirteen, while playing banjo with his brother in a dixieland band in Baltimore, Jay watched and listened to the bass player and knew that the bass was the instrument he would play forever.
Since that time Jay has been privileged to play with the likes of Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Buddy Rich, Jim Hall, Peggy Lee, Mel Torme, Marian McPartland, Kenny Barron, Sting, James Taylor, Papa Joe Jones, Roy Eldridge, Jim Hall, Louie Bellson, Dick Hyman, Luciano Pavoratti, and many more.
Over the years, Jay Leonhart has been writing and singing his own very individualistic songs about his life as a bass player. He now performs his music worldwide to very receptive audiences.
