Jam Session Thursdaze

A prolific piano virtuoso who has performed in the U. S. and Internationally, Daniel Asbury Mixon was born on August 19, 1949 in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up in a musical household he was influenced by his mother and grandparents beginning his early artistic expression at the age of 3. He studied and performed as a tap dancer at the Ruth Williams Dance Studio and even then was known as “The Show Stopper.” Danny attended the High School of Performing Arts with dance as his major.

During an afternoon outing at the Apollo Theatre with his grandfather Danny was inspired by the jazz musicians he heard. It was then that he decided that he would like to be a pianist and he never once looked back. At the age of thirteen Danny began piano lessons. His most memorable piano instructor was Sir Roland Hanna. By the time Danny was 17, he was invited to play with Sam Brown and Patti Labelle and the Blue Bells in Atlantic City and two years later he found himself with the Muse Quartet under the auspices of Chris White. Among his earlier credits Danny played regularly with Joe Lee Wilson from 1967 to 1970, Betty Carter from 1971 to 1973.

He also recorded and played extensively with Charles Mingus and Dannie Richmond in the late 70’s. He began playing the organ at Brooklyn’s Baby Grand with Carlos Garnet, and accompanied Big Maybelle at the Blue Coronet. In the mid 90’s he appeared regularly at Showman’s as an organist.

Danny has worked with such legendary performers as Lionel Hampton, Joe Williams, and Frank Foster and continues to be in Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Big Band and his Non-Electric Company. He was honored to have participated in the first Newport Jazz Festival at Sea on the Queen Elizabeth 2. He was also a recipient along with Max Roach for the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation Jazz Appreciation award and in December, 2002 was awarded the Harlem Unsung Heroes of Afrikan Amerikan Classical Music award.

In April of 2002 Danny was privileged to take part in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake city, Utah while performing with Savion Glover, and also performed at the International “Fall in Jazz Festival” in Milan, Italy. From November 1-8, 2003 he performed for the second time aboard the Holland American Ms Zaandam Jazz Cruise.

In May of 2004 Danny was one of the first musicians to be honored by the National Jazz Museum in Harlem in a series entitled “Harlem Speaks,” which resulted in an invitation to the White House for Black Music Month on June 22nd. More recent, Danny had been interviewed by New York Oneat Showman’s and Lenore Raphael on her show on Pure Jazz Radio. He was honored by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Mark Markowitz along with other artists from Ft Green in June and September 22, 2011 was decreed “Danny Mixon Day” in Brooklyn. He performed with the Lisle Atkinson and the Neo Bass Choir June 10th and later kicked off Jazzmobile’s Summer Series with the Danny Mixon Quartet at Grant’s Tomb July 27, 2011.

Danny’s greatest joy is performing, composing, and arranging for his own group “The Danny Mixon Trio or Quartet,” and has recently completed his new CD entitled "The Danny Mixon Trio Live at the Rubin Museum." He has also performed, toured and/or recorded with Yusef Lateef, Hank Crawford, Savion Glover, Pharoah Sanders, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stanley Turrentine, Gene Ammons, Eubie Blake, Noel Pointer, Jimmy Witherspoon, Grant Green, Eddie Jefferson, Charles McPherson, Marlena Shaw, Irene Reid, Houston Person, Dakota Staton, Ben Vereen, Leon Tomas, Chaka Khan, Cassandra Wilson, Lou Rawls, Gloria Lynne, Lisle Atkinson, Oscar Brown, Jr., John Hendricks, Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers, Earl May, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Kenny Dorham and many others.

Danny was formerly the Musical Director of the Legendary Lenox Lounge and was briefly the Musical Director at the newly restored Minton's. Danny is an instructor and performance artist with the Jazzmobile as well as instructing at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, along with private instruction.

From 8PM to 11PM the music doesn’t stop!

Reservations take seating priority.

No Cover/No Minimum PLUS a Free Drink for Artists who take the stage!

General Admission Ticket: $20

Student Ticket Online (must show ID. limited quantity): $10

Student Ticket at the door: $15

($20 Minimum Spend Per Guest)

($10 Minimum Spend Per Student)

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Hosted by the Minton’s Playhouse Band!

Details:

Doors open at 6PM.

House Band warms up the night with a one hour set at 8PM.

Around 9:30 The House Band will open up the stage to any musicians/guests who would like to perform.

People who are planning to perform on stage do not have to purchase an entry ticket. There is NO COVER/NO MINIMUM FOR PEOPLE WHO GET ON STAGE.

You are eligible for ONE FREE DRINK TICKET after you finish performing. Find the Manager for drink ticket.

Those who purchase tickets online have table reservation priority.

No-show Table reservations are forfeited at 9:30PM. Please come on time!

Alto saxophonist, pianist, and composer Travis Sullivan (www.travissullivan.com) performs jazz standards and originals with his band, The Travis Sullivan Quartet, every Thursday at Minton’s Playhouse. Each week, the Travis Sullivan Quartet features a unique lineup of all-star jazz musicians, including Minton’s regulars and jazz legends.

Hosted by acclaimed vocalist and producer Diana Kazakova, Minton’s Thursday Night Jam continues nearly 20 years of creative collaboration with Sullivan. Most notably, Kazakova was the founding lead singer of Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, a globally acclaimed 18-piece jazz orchestra performing the pop icon Bjork's music.

Details:

• Doors open at 6PM.
• House Band warms up the night with a one hour set at 8PM.
• Around 9:30 The House Band will open up the stage to any musicians/guests who would like to perform.
• People who are planning to perform on stage do not have to purchase an entry ticket. There is NO COVER/NO MINIMUM FOR PEOPLE WHO GET ON STAGE.
• You are eligible for ONE FREE DRINK TICKET after you finish performing. Find the Manager for drink ticket.
• Those who purchase tickets online have table reservation priority.
• No-show Table reservations are forfeited at 9:30PM. Please come on time!

In late 1940 Minton's owner, Henry Minton, hired ex-band leader Teddy Hill as manager. In early 1941 Hill in turn engaged Kenny Clarke, who had played in Hill's orchestra, to organize a house band for Minton's Monday "Celebrity Night" jam sessions.

His choice for pianist was Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and the brilliant electric guitarist Charlie Christian. Word quickly got out that Minton's on Mondays was a place to sit in, and the club was soon packed with big-name musicians either listening or waiting their turns to play; including band leaders Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and soloists Lester Young, Roy Eldridge, Hot Lips Page, Ben Webster and Don Byas.

In the fall of 1941 Charlie Parker, an obscure alto player, started to attract attention at after-hours jams at another Harlem club, Monroe's Uptown House. Clarke, in the Parker biography "Bird Lives!", recalled that "Bird was playing stuff we'd never heard before. He was into figures I thought I'd invented for drums. He was twice as fast as Lester Young and into harmony Lester hadn't touched. Bird was running the same way we were, but he was way ahead of us. I don't think he was aware of the changes he had created. It was his way of playing jazz, part of his own experience."

Clarke and Monk made arrangements for Parker to move to Minton's, where Parker emerged as a leader of the new music after Charlie Christian's death in March 1942 (at 25, from tuberculosis). Hill refused Clarke's and Monk's request to hire Parker for the house band, so they paid him from their own salaries. Over time, other budding stars of bebop - Bud Powell, Sonny Stitt, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Fats Navarro and others - would be drawn over to Minton's to join the revolution. According to Barry Kernfeld, editor of the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, "the sessions became famous for demonstrations of virtuosity - unexpected harmonies, fast tempos, unusual keys - that discouraged those whose style did not fit in well. These experimental sounds were crucial to the development of bebop."

Host or Publisher Minton's Playhouse