The Sweet Whiskey Band, performing July 25-26, is one of the musical groups featured in this year’s Summer Jazz Café series at the Two River Theater, Red Bank. Soul, contemporary and gypsy jazz are just a few of the genres that fans and curious listeners will be treated to this summer as the Jazz Arts Project presents its ninth annual Summer Jazz Café Series at the Two River Theater.
“Every year we try to curate the series to be kind of a wide mix of jazz styles,” said Joe Muccioli, co-founder and artistic director of the Jazz Arts Project. “Jazz — even though it’s a little four-letter word — to us has really big implications in terms of history and its connection to America.”
The acts will perform each Friday and Saturday night on the weekends through Aug. 1.
The Marion Huber Theater — the smaller, more intimate of the Two River Theater’s two spaces — will be transformed into a café, complete with tablecloths, candles and elegant lighting. Guests can purchase coffee and desserts, and they can bring along a bottle of wine to enjoy.
Muccioli described it as a “great date night.”
“Here, you can essentially see a New York-style jazz club at an operation here in Red Bank for a fraction of what it would take to get in New York,” he said. “Our idea is to get these great world-class artists to this region so the audience doesn’t have to make the decision to spend all that money and make that trip to New York.”
On the weekend of July 25-26, vocalist Maggie Worsdale and jazz pianist John Colianni team up as the Sweet Whiskey Band, in an event that Muccioli titled “Songs Under the Influence.”
“She’s a great singer,” Muccioli said of Worsdale. “She brings a lot of character into her singing, and John is just a master piano player with amazing technique.”
The last group — performing on the weekend of Aug. 1-2 — will feature jazz artists Bruce Williams and Radam Schwartz, who are also instructors at the Jazz Arts Project’s Jazz Arts Academy. Williams and Schwartz will perform alongside the academy’s middle and high school students.
“We have a base audience. And, of course, we’re trying to expand that audience to wider age ranges,” Muccioli said. “And that really works for us when we have the kids playing, because their brothers and sisters and friends come along with their parents. We really open up a new audience there.”
General admission tickets are $25. Tickets are $10 for students with valid ID. All proceeds will go toward the Jazz Arts Project’s educational programs. Tickets may be purchased at www.trtc.org or the Two River Theater box office at 21 Bridge Ave.
For more information about the Jazz Arts Project, visit www.jazzartsproject.org.