NEW YEAR’S EVE: Nicholas Payton Quartet feat. Bill Charlap PLUS very special guest Catherine Russell

* BOTH 7:00 PM and 9:30 PM New Years Performances at Smoke are dinner shows.

Two Seatings:

7:00 p.m. includes a 4-course holiday dinner and one show ($250 + tax & tip)

9:30 p.m. includes a 4-course holiday dinner, two shows, and a midnight celebration with a prosecco toast, hats & noisemakers ($350 + tax & tip)

Nicholas Payton – trumpet

Bill Charlap – piano

Vicente Archer – bass

Mark Whitfield Jr. – drums

plus special guest

Catherine Russell – vocals

“Payton’s genius virtuosity captivated both faithful fans and anyone in the NPR crowd just discovering his music for the first time.” – NPR

“[Charlap is] the epitome of mainstream pianists in the tradition of iconic players from Art Tatum to Ahmad Jamal.” – Downbeat

“[Russell is] the best blues and jazz singer going today.” – The Wall Street Journal

SMOKE’s New Year’s Eve Celebration is a perennial highlight of the year-end Coltrane Festival. This year, GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Nicholas Payton leads a quartet featuring GRAMMY-winning pianist Bill Charlap, bassist Vicente Archer, and drummer Mark Whitfield Jr., with very special guest, vocalist Catherine Russell. It’s a band guaranteed to deliver an unforgettable, swinging New Year’s Eve, accompanied by a special 4-course prix-fixe menu.

Leading the band is New Orleans trumpeter Nicholas Payton, whose solos The Chicago Tribune called “as brashly original as they were technically imposing.” He’s joined by fellow GRAMMY winner Bill Charlap, one of the foremost interpreters of the American Songbook, known for his lyrical touch and deep feeling for a melody. TIME Magazine says Charlap “approaches a song the way a lover approaches his beloved.”

Rounding out the night is GRAMMY-winning vocalist Catherine Russell, daughter of Louis Armstrong’s longtime bandleader Luis Russell, and one of the most joyous interpreters of vintage jazz and blues today. The Washington Post called her “a wonderfully charismatic performer,” and JazzTimes reported that “by the end of her set, Russell had the audience eating out of the palm of her hand.” With this all-star lineup, it will be a New Year’s Eve celebration for the ages.