Christian Howes Quartet

Internationally acclaimed jazz violinist Christian Howes will present two intimate sets at Hotel Eve Jazz with pianist Lovell Bradford,bassist Shannon Hoover, and special guest Cedric Easton, the New York-based Associate Director of Education Outreach for Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Howes brings substantial jazz credentials to this first independently produced hometown concert. He was voted the number one Rising Star violinist in the 2011 DownBeat Critics Poll, nominated for Violinist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and named among the top three violinists in JazzTimes’ Expanded Critics Poll. He has performed six nights under his own name at Jazz at Lincoln Center, released four critically acclaimed albums for Resonance Records, and collaborated with artists including Les Paul, Bill Evans’ Soulgrass, Greg Osby, Randy Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, and Spyro Gyra.

Although Howes has lived in Asheville for eleven years, this will be the first time he has independently produced a hometown concert of his own. The catalyst was Hotel Eve, whose intimate listening-room format inspired him to assemble a special band and design an evening specifically for the space.

“Hotel Eve made me feel that Asheville finally has the kind of room where this music can happen up close,” Howes says. “It inspired me to bring together some of the musicians I most admire and make a real event of it.”

Easton will travel from New York after a decade of education outreach work with Jazz at Lincoln Center. Bradford moves fluently among jazz, gospel, soul, and R&B, while Hoover is a bassist, composer, educator, and central figure in the UpstateSouth Carolina jazz community.

The concert will also carry echoes of Howes’s recent Redemption Time project, which brings music together with the poetry of acclaimed writer Jimmy Santiago Baca. The film will not be screened, but the quartet will perform some of its music and incorporate readings from Baca’s poetry.

The result is more than a conventional club date: a meeting of New York jazz energy, major regional artists, poetry, and an Asheville listening room built for close musical connection. There will be surprises.

$15 | Advance tickets are recommended.

Website: https://christianhowes.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ChristianHowesTube