1pm Doors Open
115 pm Hot Club Cheese Roll (3 short sets through the day) {hot jazz}
145 pm Southcoast Jazz Orchestra {17piece big band}
310 pm Becky Bass Quartet {vocal led 4p}
440 pm Bill Pierce Quartet {bop}
Bill Pierce Quartet
Saxophonist and Berklee College of Music Woodwind Department Emeritus Chair, Bill Pierce, has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a music educator and performer. Pierce was a Berklee faculty member for more than four decades and has performed with some of the indisputable masters of jazz—Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Art Farmer, Hank Jones, James Williams, Kevin Eubanks, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, and Art Blakey. Pierce’s tenor and soprano saxophone can be heard on 90 recordings on which he was a sideman and on 11 of his own recordings. NBJF is thrilled to have one of our own regional legends performing at our 10th Anniversary show!
Becky Bass Quartet
New-England treasure Becky Bass is known for her “euphoric steel pan playing, soulful voice, and powerful stage presence”, on and off camera. A native of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, “Bass utilizes her talent to highlight Caribbean music’s evolution through human necessity and resilience, and share the complex history of Caribbean music and its influence on the U.S.” A 2013 graduate of Brown University in Theatre Arts & Performance Studies, Becky received Brown’s Weston Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre, is now a two-time New England Urban Music Award winner & RI Motif Award winner, and can be heard while performing her Caribbean Soul music solo as well as with several bands all over the New England area, such as Zili Misik, Natural Element, and Sidy Maiga & Afrimanding. She also lends her musical talents to Rhode Island’s RPM Voices, a cross-cultural, multi-generational gospel choir led by Dr. Clarice Thompson and Delbert Collins, as a soloist, musician, and youth choir director. Since the start of her career, she has performed in many professional theaters across New England as well as in a few films, TV shows, and commercials. Becky has had the opportunity to open for and perform with many international artists, including Grammy Award-winning vocalist Oumou Sangare and violinist Damien Escobar, Emmy Award-winning composer/performer Daniel Bernard Roumain, Yellowman, Warrior King, and Wyclef Jean. She also has performed at the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), New York City’s Lincoln Center, Chicago’s Underground Wonder Bar, and Off-Broadway theater LaMaMa. During her free time, she teaches music & theatre to students every chance she gets because she believes giving back and mentoring youth are extremely important aspects of being an artist in the community. She’s very thankful to her family and friends for their continued love and support. www.beckybass.com; IG: @beckybassmusic
Becky Bass will be backed up by a stellar trio: NBJF veteran Jhony Keys on keys, Bobby Boushe Etienne on bass, and Marcus Grant on drums.
Southcoast Jazz Orchestra
We are thrilled to have the SouthCoast Jazz Orchestra back on the NBJF stage for the 10th time! The SJO performs for festivals, special occasions, summer concerts and has held “Monday night” residencies for the last 12 years. With a repertoire ranging from classic big band tunes to contemporary jazz orchestra literature & new compositions, our byline, “Always special guests, always an awesome evening” still holds true since our inception! A mix of professional musicians, music educators, doctors, trades folk, talented students and all around awesome persons make up this 17 piece juggernaut that will make your ears happy, your heart sing or just simply, Blow You Away!
Hot Club Cheese Roll
The HCCR has been playing gigs and concerts regularly in the New Bedford area in the years since their founding in 2016, most frequently appearing at nearly monthly jazz brunches at The Inn on Shipyard Park in Mattapoissett, and frequently playing other venues and special events.
The Hot Club Cheese Roll was founded by New Bedford musician Jason Smith with other founding members Jeff Angeley on guitar and Barry Gross on upright bass. The HCCR played their first gig in February of 2017, and quickly added members Ken Hiatt on accordion and shortly there after, Mark Russell on violin. Within the year, Jeff and Ken would depart to focus on other musical endeavors, leaving the core trio of Jason Smith, Barry Gross, and Mark Russell. Due to work conflicts, Barry took a hiatus from the band starting in early 2021, and has been replaced by RI bassist Bryan Rizutto.
Jason Smith arrived in New Bedford in 1994 to attend graduate school at UMass Dartmouth for Ceramics. He quickly found himself in the local music scene, and would join the recently founded group, Pumpkin Head Ted, with Tom Short and John Nieman, in early 1995, playing mostly percussion. Jason also shortly had his own group with other PHT members John Nieman and Kathy Crowley, The Flannel Jammies. Musically self-taught for most of his life, Jason began to study guitar and music theory more seriously in the late 2000s, taking lessons from Jim Robitaille, Felix Rentschler, and Brian Cass. Jason began studying Django Reinhardt-inspired hot jazz guitar in 2010, after taking guitar workshop with the great Frank Vignola and Vinnie Raniolo. He continues to perform with Pumpkin Head Ted, as well as others and occasionally solo.
Mark Russell is a violinist, composer, and teacher. He began studying classical violin at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia. He later became interested in Jazz, Blues, R&B and music from Ireland and Australia. He has performed extensively around the world including a 3 month tour as opening act for Dire Straits. After meeting and being inspired by French legend Stephane Grappelli, he moved to Paris, where he performed in clubs and theaters. Moving to the United States in 1994, he formed the groups Paris Match, and Ekyo, recording with both. Highlights included concerts at The House of Blues in New Orleans and in Chicago, the Capitol Jazz festival in Washington D.C., and on The Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyage. His Phat Cat backed performance of Ain’t no Sunshine was an R&B hit in 2000 and was included on the Atlantic records compilation Rare Requests. He now lives in Cambridge MA and performs regularly around Boston and the beautiful South Shore Region.
Bryan Rizzuto (Bass) is a third generation, Rhode Island musician who has been performing and teaching in the New England area for over 30 years. He has toured across the U.S. and Europe with Roomful of Blues, and Al Copley and has entertained on stages both large and small with many others while exercising as a true journeyman and working in a vast variety of genres. Most recently, he appeared on a recording with Cirque du Soleil clown legend Kenny Raskin and another recording project of children’s music with Keith Munslow. Bryan can be found playing locally with groups such as Johnny and the Eastcoast Rockers or the John Allmark Jazz Orchestra.
New Bedford JazzFest 