Piedmont Piano Company is pleased to present
Charles Chen & Andrew Stephens
The Clifford Brown Project
Charles Chen, winner of the 2019 Jazz Search West competition, and Andrew Stephens, second place winner of the 2019 Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition, celebrate the work of legendary trumpeter Clifford Brown, famous for his inventive melodic soloing, perfect technique, and exciting arrangements. The band will feature Charles Chen (piano), Andrew Stephens (trumpet), Lyle Link (saxophones/flute), James Gallagher (drums), and Miles Wick (bass), with special guest Tiffany Austin (vocals).
$20 General Admission
Pianist Charles Chen is from Cupertino, California. He has been playing gigs professionally in the Bay Area for the past 15 years, and performed in venues and festivals such as Yoshi's, Freight & Salvage, and the San Jose Jazz Festival. He currently studies under Peter Horvath, and has studied with Dann Zinn, Myra Melford, David Kikoski, and Michael Weiss. Charles won the 2019 Jazz Search West competition. Outside of music, he performs magic and works at Microsoft as a software engineer.
Trumpeter Andrew Stephens grew up in Sacramento, California playing traditional jazz and swing. In high school, he participated in the Essentially Ellington and Mingus festivals and was a member of the Grammy Band and the Monterey Next Generation Orchestra. He attended UC Berkeley for Mathematics, where he studied with Myra Melford and Ben Goldberg in addition to his academic pursuits. Since he graduated last May, he has been a working musician based in San Francisco, and recently won 2nd place in the 2019 Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition.
Saxophonist and flautist Lyle Link is an artist based in Washington, DC. A versatile musician and sought after sideman, he performs in many musical styles- from jazz, blues and R&B to latin and world beat. He has played with artists Patti Austin, Christian McBride, Larry Willis, George Duke, Curtis Lundy and Ralph Peterson, to name a few. He has also performed with pop icons Patti Labelle, James Ingram, Isaac Hayes, Aretha Franklin, and jammed with Prince. He has shared his musical gifts in festivals and concerts in Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Europe, South America and throughout North America. A regular featured member of Washington, DC based groups Sine Qua Non, the Todd Marcus Jazz Orchestra, and the Kenny Rittenhouse Sextet, he has also performed with the Smithsonian Masterworks Jazz Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In addition to working as a first call sideman, he also leads his group, the Lyle Link Quartet. As a music educator, Lyle teaches at Sheridan School and the Levine School of Music. lylelink.com
James Gallagher is a jazz drummer who is originally from Mendocino CA who splits his time between New York City and San Francisco. He began his career performing as a mainstay on the San Francisco Jazz scene where he began performing regularly with Marcus Shelby, Andrew Speight, Smith Dobson, Mike Olmos, Adam Shulman, Noel Jewkes, Lavay Smith, Patrick Wolff, Mel Martin and John Wiitala. Since his arrival in NYC, he has worked with Mike Ledonne, David Hazeltine, Jeb Patton, David Wong, Sam Taylor, Grant Stewart and Harry Allen.
Miles Wick is a bassist, singer and songwriter with ties to New York City and San Francisco. His broad contribution to the Bay Area scene includes work with the area’s most innovative jazz musicians, poets, and composers. His first full length album, So Much Love, is a collection of original songs accompanied on guitar. mileswickmusic.com
The West Coast’s fastest rising jazz vocalist, Tiffany Austin combines classic jazz tradition with a deep love for blues, spirituals, and contemporary soul. Hailed as a "fully formed masterpiece" by All About Jazz, Tiffany's new album, "Unbroken" has earned rave reviews from both Downbeat and Jazziz, and has reached #16 on the Jazz Week chart. Tiffany has performed with jazz luminaries (including pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Rodney Whitaker, vibraphonist Roy Ayers, and saxophonist John Handy), and continues to appear at illustrious venues including Birdland NYC, Dizzy's NYC, SFJAZZ, and Walt Disney Music Hall in Los Angeles. A graduate of UC Berkeley’s Boalt School of Law, Austin decided to forgo a career as a lawyer to focus on music, her true passion, and she’s been raising the bar ever since. tiffanyaustin.com