French-American Jazz Concert Featuring Clovis Nicolas Quartet and Cornerstore

The concert will feature Clovis Nicolas Quartet, with an opening by Cornerstore - winner of the DCJazzPrix. 

SCHEDULE:

6:00 PM VIP/Circle of Friends reception 

7:30 PM Remarks and performances

SECURITY RULES: Each person attending the event must have a ticket registered in their name and a government-issued ID that matches the name on the reservation in order to enter the Embassy. No one will be admitted without reservation and proper ID. Due to strict security measures, please arrive early for the reception, as doors will be closed at 6:00 p.m. sharp. Please allow extra time for security screening.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Clovis Nicolas, bassist and composer originally from Provence, France, currently living in New York for the past twenty years, where he performs with some of today's greatest Jazz musicians (Sullivan Fortner, Bill Stewart, Eric Reed, Elena Pinderhughes…), presents his latest album "The Contrapuntist", released in March 2023 on Sunnyside Records. This ambitious project showcases the bassist's compositional talents, who wrote a five-movement piece for string quartet « Le Miroir », before reinventing a series of variations, this time dedicated to a Jazz quartet. The bassist's band is joined by a first-class international cast, including American trumpeter Jeremy Pelt, virtuoso Italian pianist Simona Premazzi, and young drums sensation Jimmy Macbride. 

Jeremy PELT - trumpet

Jeremy Pelt has become one of the most prominent young trumpeters in the jazz world, having collaborated with Ravi Coltrane, Ralph Peterson, Cedar Walton, Nancy Wilson... His recordings have won him national and international critical acclaim. He has been voted trumpet "Rising Star" five years in a row by Downbeat magazine and trumpet player of the year by the Association of Jazz Journalists in 2023.

Simona PREMAZZI - piano

Italian pianist Simona Premazzi has developed an impressive career since moving to New York in 2004. She has performed in major venues in New York and beyond, including the historic Village Vanguard with saxophonist Greg Osby. Simona performs regularly with « Andrew! » a project around piano legend Andrew Hill’s music. She has released five CDs as a leader, including «Outspoken» selected as one of the Best Albums of 2017 by DownBeat Magazine.

Jimmy MACBRIDE - drums

Jimmy Macbride is a drummer based in New York City. He has performed with a wide variety of artists including Terence Blanchard, Kenny Barron, Jimmy Greene, and Adam Rogers. His musical talents have taken him worldwide, touring across Europe, Asia, and North America at some of the world’s most famous venues, including the Monterey Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Newport Jazz Festival. He is also an active recording artist, appearing on over 50 albums to date.

Kristopher Funn was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. He began playing the trumpet at age four and took up the double bass at age 14 upon entering high school. Through the instruction of his father, Charles Funn, Kristopher performed his first professional bass gig the same year he began learning the instrument. Other early accomplishments included winning the “unsung hero” at the Fish Middleton jazz competition at the East Coast Jazz festival also in the first year of instruction. At age 23, Kristopher began touring internationally with alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett. Since then, he has traveled to every major jazz festival in the world touching six continents performing with artists including Sean Jones, Benny Golson, Bruce Williams, Nicholas Payton, Warren Wolf, Pharoah Sanders, Jeff Majors, Jeff Lorber, Christian Scott, Kamasi Washington and many others. Kristopher has appeared on several recordings including the Christian Scott albums, “Yesterday You Said Tomorrow” , “Christian aTunde Adjuah” and “Stretch Music”. Kristopher recently released his debut album, Cornerstore, and he continues to perform professionally in the Washington D.C. area when not touring internationally.

Quincy Phillips is a drummer, pianist, and organist at his home church, East Baltimore Deliverance, who holds his B.A. in music from Howard University in Washington, D.C. No stranger to the music industry, Phillips has spent more than 30 years cultivating his passion as a musician. He had the great honor to perform for the President of the United States Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for “Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance at the White House,” which included performances by the Christian McBride Big Band, Yolanda Adams, Leon Bridges, Andra Day, Anthony Hamilton, Demi Lovato, Sam Moore, and The Band Perry, with Rickey Minor as executive music director. Phillips won 1st place for Jazz Composition for his arrangement of “Alone Together” at the IAJE conference in New York City and is a member of the Grammy-award-winning Christian McBride Big Band. He is currently touring with the world renowned musicians and composers Roy Hargrove and Christian McBride.

John Lee plays the guitar with biting power, flowing groove, and a fluency that reflects his wide range of influences. The Washington, D.C.-based guitarist, composer and bandleader draws inspiration from jazz, blues, Indian classical, alternative rock and West African music, but his work extends beyond all boundaries. Lee has performed with a host of stars, in a broad array of genres – from Matisyahu, Hassan Hakmoun, Christian Scott, Keller Williams, Fatoumata Diawara, Cyro Baptista –to his own groups - John Lee Experience, Chu Bubaloo, and Caveman. After graduating from Mannes College The New School for Music, Lee co-founded Caveman, a psychedelic and world music-influenced instrumental quartet that accrued a strong cult following and released two well-received albums: Before the World (2002) and Totem (2005). Lee went on to perform alongside such notables as Matisyahu and David Amram, and toured the United States with the Malian talking drummer Baye Kouyate. Since 2009, Lee has toured domestically and abroad with the great Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista. He recently contributed to Unity, a forthcoming album by the internationally renowned Gnawa musician Hassan Hackmoun.