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This event has been postponed until further notice.
Crosstown Arts presents the Modern Masters Jazz Series, a monthly series featuring jazz soloists from around the country.
For October’s performance, jazz guitarist Howard Alden will be featured in an unforgettable performance with the series house band, The Ted Ludwig Trio.
Tickets: $20
Doors at 7 pm | Show at 7:30 pm
“He may be the best of his generation,” writes Owen Cordle in JazzTimes. George Kanzler of the Newark Star Ledger proclaims that he is “the most impressive and creative member of a new generation of jazz guitarists.” And Chip Deffaa of the New York Post observed that he is “…one of the very finest young guitarists working today.”
It seems that the only thing regarding Howard Alden on which the critics have debate is whether the remarkable jazz guitarist is one of the best or simply the best.
Born in Newport Beach, California, in 1958, Howard began playing at age ten, inspired by recordings of Armstrong, Basie, and Goodman, as well as those by guitarists Barney Kessel, Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and George Van Eps. Soon, he was working professionally around Los Angeles, playing in groups ranging from traditional to mainstream to modern jazz. In 1979, Alden went east for a summer in Atlantic City with Red Norvo, and continued to perform with him frequently for several years.
Upon moving to New York City in 1982, Alden’s skills, both as soloist and accompanist, were quickly recognized and sought-out for appearances and recordings with such artists as Joe Bushkin, Ruby Braff, Joe Williams, Warren Vache, and Woody Herman.
He has continued to win accolades from critics and musicians alike, adding Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Mel Powell, Bud Freeman, Kenny Davern, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie, and George Van Eps, as well as notable contemporaries such as Scott Hamilton and Ken Peplowski to his list of impressive credits.
Howard Alden has been a Concord Jazz recording artist since the late ’80s, where his prolific recorded output as leader, co-leader, and versatile sideman has captured an artist of consistently astonishing virtuosity and originality.
Howard Alden was voted “Best Emerging Talent-Guitar” in the first annual JazzTimes critics’ poll, 1990, and “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in the 1996, 1992, 1993, and 1995 Downbeat critics’ poll. In February of 2009, Howard was recognized as a “Modern Maestro,” one of DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE’S 75 Great Guitarists of all time. “An original virtuoso.”
