NYC’s unique jazz prayer service, Sundays at 5 since 1965. All are welcome. Free to attend!

About Carmen Staaf (piano)

Music legend Herbie Hancock calls Carmen Staaf “a consummate jazz pianist with equal talent in composition, orchestration and arranging.” Currently pianist and Musical Director for NEA Jazz Master Dee Dee Bridgewater, Carmen has performed everywhere from the Village Vanguard with John Zorn, to Lincoln Center as a guest soloist with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, to recordings with Natalie Merchant (“Keep Your Courage”) and Lila Downs (“Pecados Y Milagros”). She was a fellow at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute, where she studied with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. Later, she was tapped, with Herbie’s approval, to transcribe his performances and consult on his course for masterclass.com. As a composer, she has been commissioned by the Jazz Coalition, the Jazz Education Network, and trombonist Jennifer Wharton, and created orchestral arrangements for the American Ballet Theater. A Yamaha Artist, Carmen has played at venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Newport and Monterey Jazz Festivals, the Playboy Jazz Festival (where she performed in a two-piano setting with Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter), International Jazz Days in Paris and at the White House, and throughout Europe, Latin America, Morocco, India and Japan. She was a DownBeat Critics Poll Rising Star Jazz Artist in 2024 and has been a Rising Star Pianist in the poll for the last four years. She and Allison Miller released their duo album “Nearness” (Sunnyside) in 2022 to wide critical acclaim, including selection as one of DownBeat’s “Best of 2022.” She is also on recordings by Jeff Williams, Dan Blake, Jenny Scheinman, and many others.

About Mike McGinnis (reeds)

Over nearly three decades on the New York jazz scene, saxophonist, clarinetist, composer, educator and Selmer artist Mike McGinnishas amassed a body of genre-defying work that includes sevenalbums as a leader. He has explored a range of instrumentation,from Mike McGinnis +9 (Road*Trip, Road*Trip II: Outing) to the multimedia landscape tone poem Angsudden Song Cycle (482 Music); from eclectic chamber jazz as co-leader of The Four Bags and OK|OK to lyrical trio exposition with jazz legends Art Landeand Steve Swallow (Singular Awakening, Recurring Dream, both on Sunnyside).

In June 2024 McGinnis led his Seneca Sextet at Carnegie Hall, playing original music for the 100th birthday of Nobel Prize–winning Swedish neurophysiologist Torsten Wiesel. Mike also launched his own recording imprint, Open Stream (a mashup of “open source” and “Third Stream”), to serve as a platform for boundary-breaking work by himself and colleagues. A sought-after arranger, he has written charts for Joe McGinty of The Loser’s Lounge, and has enjoyed long-running associations with Yo La Tengo, Stew and the Negro Problem, the Bernie Worrell Orchestra and many others. Additional performance credits include Anthony Braxton, Alice and Ravi Coltrane, Peter Apfelbaum, Gerald Cleaver, Steve Coleman and more.

Mike is musical director of the Davalois Fearon Dance Companyand director of jazz at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. He has performed on Broadway in the Tony-winning Fela! and on film in the Oscar-winning director Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock. He backed Iggy Pop, Jane Birkin and The Roots on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

www.mikemcginnis.com

About Gui Duvignau (bass)

Gui Duvignau is a French-Brazilian bass player and composer whose multi-cultural background has led to a life of traveling and musical exploration.

A jazz musician in essence, he also draws inspiration from a variety of musical traditions and cultures, as well as his experiences performing Brazilian music and Rock/Pop. He is interested in creative and original music in all its forms.

A graduate of Berklee College of Music and New York University, he has released five albums as a leader featuring his original compositions:

Porto (2010), in collaboration with singer Sofia Ribeiro; Fissura (2016) on the Parisian label Onze Heures Onze. 3,5,8, (2021) released on Sunnyside Records; Baden (2022) featuring special guests Ron Carter on bass and Bill Frisell on guitar; and his latest album Live in Red Hook (2024) featuring Jacob Sacks and Nathan Ellman-Bell.

Duvignau’s music and recordings have been featured on radios across the world, in playlists on Apple Music and Spotify, and in publications such as, The New York Times, Downbeat magazine, JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jazz Magazine, Jazz News, All About Jazz, among others.

www.guiduvignau.com

About Hamir Atwal (drums)

New York-based drummer and teacher draws from a variety of musical styles. Atwal studied at the Berklee College of Music, where he immersed himself in jazz, improvisation, and discovered ways to adapt his drumming to various genres. Critics describe Hamir Atwal style as “fresh and conscientious,” and he is known for giving any music he plays a unique touch and sensitivity.

Atwal has worked with notable jazz artists including saxophonist Greg Osby, saxophonist Joe Lovano, pianist Myra Melford, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, and bassist Michael Formanek, to name a few. He is also the percussionist for Invisible Guy Trio, featuring clarinetist Ben Goldberg and pianist Michael Coleman. The trio released their first album, Knuckle Sandwich (BAG Production) in 2016 to positive reviews from outlets including the Chicago Reader.

Atwal is an active educator and has given clinics/classes at notable music schools including the California Institute of the Arts, Peabody Conservatory, Music Academy International, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, and Jazz Camp West. He is a faculty member at the California Summer School of the Arts, where he teaches annually in Valencia, CA.