Sax player, flutist, composer and educator, Don Braden will close the Litchfield Jazz Presents series at the Palace Theater’s Poli Club, 100 East Main St., Waterbury with a Father’s Day Jazz Brunch, Sunday, June 16 at 11 a.m.
The show, entitled Earth, Wind, & Wonder in honor of Braden’s chart-topping 24th record, features jazz arrangements of the music of the great artists “Earth, Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder.”
Don Braden’s career spans 40 years of touring worldwide and recording with jazz greats Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, Herbie Hancock and many others. He has been the Music Director of Litchfield Jazz Camp for 27 years and also serves as Director of the Harvard Jazz Combo Initiative.
Braden will be joined for his Poli outing by top-flight jazz musicians pianist Jen Allen, bassist Matt Dwonszyk, drummer Ian Carroll, and violinist Conor McMillan. With the exception of McMillan, the band are all long-term members of the Litchfield Jazz Camp Faculty.
Conor, 16, a student at St. Anne’s School, Brooklyn, N.Y., was the first place winner of the inaugural, 2024 Litchfield Jazz Camp Talent Search. He won the title in March out of a field of 22 semi-finalists from across the Northeast.
Conor will be attending Litchfield Jazz Camp on his talent scholarship in July. The camp, at the Frederick Gunn School in Washington, Conn., marks its 28th appearance this summer. The month-long program hosting some 300 campers this year from ages 13 to 83, also offers “Jazz After Work,” a series of 20 free nightly concerts.
For tickets for the Poli Father’s Day Jazz Brunch, call 203-346-2000 or palacetheaterct.org/shows-and-events/offstage-poli-club/fathers-day-jazz-brunch
For more about Braden, visit DonBraden.com; for more about Litchfield Jazz Camp go to litchfieldjazzcamp.com; for Litchfield Jazz Fest, visit litchfieldjazzfest.com, and for fest tickets go to LJF2024.eventbrite.com.
