Jazz Preview: JAZZ AT NAZ (Feb. 5-19 at The Soraya in Northridge)

JAZZING UP THEIR GAME AT THE SORAYA

The Soraya has long been at the epicenter of Jazz in LA—from CSUN’s nationally respected Jazz studies program, to The Soraya’s stellar reputation for Jazz programming. This year, The Soraya dials up its investment in America’s one true original art form with its first annual, month-long jazz Festival Jazz at Naz, which includes two major main stage performances plus three consecutive nights of The Soraya’s immersive Jazz Club – with audience at cocktail tables and artists all hosted right on stage, an intimate and immersive experience that has become a Soraya trademark.

The Festival begins on the main stage with Jaz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on February 5, 2022, and two-time Grammy Award winner Gregory Porter on February 10. The next weekend Jazz Club hosts Gerald Clayton February 17; Gretchen Parlato February 18 and Harold López-Nussa February 19. Tickets available at www.thesoraya.org.

And now, Jazz at Naz single ticketholders and all Soraya Members will automatically receive a link to access the Discover Jazz Virtual Pass which will live-stream An Evening with Gregory Porter and all three Jazz Club concerts. Ticketholders and Soraya Members will also receive an exclusive invite to access the on-demand virtual stream of opening night of the festival featuring Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis. Discover Jazz Virtual Pass will expand your in-person experience with in-depth interviews and other behind the scenes content. It also offers ticketholders hesitant to attend in-person because of COVID-19 and Omicron safety concerns an alternative way to enjoy these performances. Discover Jazz Virtual Pass starts at $49.

Here’s the JAZZ at NAZ schedule:

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS
Saturday, February 5, 2022, at 8pm | Tickets starting at $59

Led by the incomparable Wynton Marsalis, this renowned orchestra is the exciting vanguard of the full spectrum of the jazz experience. Thanks to his exceptional tone, encyclopedic range of trumpet techniques, and fearless creativity, Juilliard-educated Marsalis is the first jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music and remains the only artist ever to win GRAMMY awards in both jazz and classical in a single year, and he’s done that twice. Together, Marsalis and the orchestra elevate jazz as the pinnacle of America’s music to center stage both at Lincoln Center, and now at The Soraya.

AN EVENING WITH GREGORY PORTER
Thursday, February 10, 2022, at 8pm | Tickets starting at $72

Gregory Porter was destined for a career as a football lineman, but injury turned him to his first love, music. A devotee of Nat King Cole, Porter’s voice is a fantastically rich baritone that brings out the bone-deep soul in his music. With that voice, it wasn’t long before he was starring on Broadway in It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, and racking up GRAMMY award nominations, including two wins for Best Jazz Vocal Album. He has a charismatic onstage presence that is utterly infectious.

JAZZ CLUB – GERALD CLAYTON
Thursday, February 17, 2022, at 8pm | Tickets starting at $46

Four-time GRAMMY award-nominated pianist Gerald Clayton appears live onstage in The Soraya’s intimate Jazz Club setting where audiences seated only a few feet from this gifted musician. Clayton studied under piano legend Billy Childs at USC and won second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Piano Competition. He’s now the Musical Director of the Monterey Jazz Festival On Tour and has performed and recorded with a diverse array of artists, including Diana Krall, Roy Hargrove, and Kendrick Scott.

JAZZ CLUB – GRETCHEN PARLATO
Friday, February 18, 2022, at 8pm | Tickets starting at $46 at thesoraya.com

Possessed of “one of the most dreamily mellifluous timbres in jazz” (Jazzwise magazine), Gretchen Parlato is a rising star performing from flor, her new Brazilian-flavored album. The first vocalist ever admitted into the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance program, the GRAMMY award-nominated singer won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition three years later. She appears in The Soraya’s celebrated Jazz Club format, where the audience sits onstage feet from the artists.

JAZZ CLUB – HAROLD LÓPEZ-NUSSA
Saturday, February 19, 2022, at 8pm | Tickets starting at $46

Havana-born and raised, Cuban pianist Harold López-Nussa won first prize at the jazz solo piano competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2005 when he was just 21. He drew raves when he opened for Juan de Marco’s Afro-Cuban All Stars at The Soraya in 2018, and now he returns to headline with his own quartet which he calls “the greatest musicians of my generation in Cuba.” Their sound reflects the full range and richness of Cuban music, an exciting combination of classical, folkloric and popular elements interpreted through López-Nussa’s fearlessly inventive improvisation.

Jazz at Naz
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya)
18111 Nordhoff Street in Northridge (CSUN)
for tickets, call 818-677-3000 or visit Soraya
Buy a Jazz Pass
A Jazz Pass secures seats for all five jazz artists, the complete line-up of innovators and icons – $199 for the Silver pass (Loge section/rise seating) and $299 for the Gold pass (Orchestra section for Wynton Marsalis and Gregory Porter, table seating for the 3 Jazz Club artists).