Library Jazz Band 17 Pc BIG BAND Swings Bethel..Cool Jazz...Outdoor Dining

The 17 piece jazz collective from Yonkers and Southern Westchester, brings life to the great classics of all eras of big band jazz.
About this Event

Doors open at 6:00pm. Try to be seated by 6:30pm to have your dinner order taken. Showtime begins at 7:00pm when we transform the space into a theater.

Out of respect for the performers and other patrons, please keep talking to a whisper during the performance.

Very Limited Occupancy. Tables seating 2, 4, 5 guests, with tables for 6, 8, 12 available upon request. Single, general admission tickets are also available. See The Attached Seating Chart. Admission Is $15.00 - $25.00 Per Person, Ticket prices may be higher for special performances. Having problems with the ticketing system? Call 203-247-4273

Parking: Please park in LaZingara's lot or on Greenwood Ave. or School Street. Please avoid parking in P.T. Barnum Square.

Teaser: Check out the band:

Library Jazz Band is a 17-person jazz collective from Yonkers and Southern Westchester, bringing to life the great classics of all eras of big band jazz. Founded in 2022, the band loves a good creative challenge! In 2023, we celebrated Steve Wonder's Innervisions Album on its 50th Anniversary with all original arrangements of every track on the album. In summer 2024, we offered BIG BAND Small Screen, a smorgasbord of great tunes, ear worms, and big band classics from the "small" screen as television or cartoon music. Our Spring 2025 program, Hitting the Low Notes, brought in guest composer tubist Joseph Daley to conduct his suite The Seven Deadly Sins, with an expanded band including french horns, tuba, and bass sax.

Nothing is more American than America’s own musical art form, jazz. To celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, the Library Jazz Band brings you a healthy dose of classic big band arrangements, classic jazz, R&B, pop music, and other sonic madeleines to take you back to that other great birthday, the year… 1976!  Come join us for the rollicking sounds of Count Basie, Thad Jones, Hall & Oates, Billy Joel, and more, delivered with the dazzling sounds of our powerful ensemble and brilliant soloists. 

As of 2025, LJB is a registered not-for-profit organization, with a mission of sharing jazz music as widely as possible. Our programming seeks to wow jazz aficionados, while opening doors for new listeners. In 2023, we celebrated Steve Wonder's Innervisions Album on its 50th Anniversary with all original arrangements of every track on the album. In summer 2024, we offered BIG BAND Small Screen, a smorgasbord of great tunes, ear worms, and big band classics from the "small" screen as television or cartoon music. Our Spring 2025 program, Hitting the Low Notes, featured guest composer tubist Joseph Daley to conduct his suite The Seven Deadly Sins, with an expanded band including French horns, tuba, and bass sax.

Meet The Band

RHYTHM

Sarah Jane Cion (piano) is 1st Place Winner of the internationally acclaimed 17th Annual GreatAmerican Jazz Piano Competition. Her trio has performed in Japan at the prestigious Fukuoka Blue Note and Sarah appeared on the Nationally syndicated NPR radio show “Piano Jazz“ with Marian McPartland. Her third CD, Summer Night, featured saxophone giant Michael Brecker. She maintains a busy performing schedule, is an in-demand instructor and a prolific author, including The All-in-One Piano Songbook and The Ultimate Play by Ear Method and most recently a poetic memoir, The Now Era (2026).

Bob Gingery (bass) began playing the saxophone at age 10 but the sounds of James Jamerson, Rocco Prestia, and Jaco Pastorius inspired him to pick up the bass guitar. He was soon gigging with local rock bands and playing in his high school's jazz band. At age 18, he began studying the upright bass. Since his arrival to New York in 1999, he has been performing with some of the city's top musicians including Eliot Zigmund, Joe Beck, Buddy Williams, Allan Harris, Ron Affif, Brad Shepik and Lou Volpe. He has played the Blue Note, Birdland, the Hartford International Jazz Festival, Joe's Pub and the Knitting Factory. Maintaining a busy schedule as both a sideman and band leader, he is at home with many styles of music and has performed and recorded with jazz, rock, pop, R&B and Latin artists, musicals and symphony orchestras. Kittyhawk, the second album from Bob Gingery, is out now on Fresh Sound New Talent Records. It features six original compositions as well as music by Thelonious Monk and Pink Floyd performed by the quartet featuring Jon Irabagon, Mike Baggetta and Jeff Hirshfield.

Tony Romano (Guitar) has been a visible part of the New York City music scene for over twenty-five years. Just Jazz Guitar magazine wrote “His tone is beautiful and soulful, and his remarkable technique is a servant to his rich musical imagination and broad harmonic palette.” With a wide range of playing styles, Tony has toured worldwide and performed and recorded with an eclectic array of artists, including Randy Brecker, Joe Locke, Michael Feinstein, Bill Warfield, Steve LaSpina, Harvie S, Joe Bataan, Dave Valentin, Hermán Olivera, Candido Camero, Chembo Corniel, Yomo Toro, Joel Frahm, Thomas Chapin, Brit Woodman, Santi DeBriano, Paul Bollenback, Stanley Jordan, Armen Donelian, Aimée Allen, François Moutin, Debbie Gibson, Kat Gang, Alex Gemignani, and Chuck Cooper. Tony’s guitar work can be heard on all 52 episodes of the BBC series 3rd & Bird as well as the Discovery Channel miniseries Going, Going, Gone!

Bill Reeve (drums/percussion ) has been playing big band music for 50 years. From 1984 to 1989, he directed the 4 o'clock Jazz Ensemble at the University of New Hampshire and in 1988, also conducted the 3 o'clock band. He has performed with many jazz legends including Clark Terry, Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin, Bob Mintzer, Peter Erskine, Alan Dawson, James Moody, Jimmy Heath, Milt Hinton, James Williams, Buddy DeFranco, Lee Konitz, Dick Johnson, Herb Pomeroy, Mike Metheny, and many others.  In addition, Bill is a talented graphic artist, and designer of the Library Jazz Band’s logo and music stands. 

SAXOPHONES

Bruce Williamson (alto saxophone) is a veteran of both coasts and many genres. In California he performed in blues bands, Brazilian bands and with jazz artists such as Mark Levine, Bobby McFerrin and Benny Green. Shortly after moving to New York, he joined organist Jack McDuff's band (with Dave Stryker on guitar), giving him the opportunity to meet and play with Jimmy Smith, Stanley Turrentine and George Benson. More recently, he has performed with his own groups in various New York City clubs and has been a featured soloist in Japan and Europe. Over the years, Bruce has also performed with Gary Peacock, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Tom Harrell, Mark Soskin, Jim Pepper, Randy Brecker, Paul McCandless, Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra and many other jazz notables. Bruce can be heard on more than sixty recordings playing saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, piccolo, piano and synthesizer.  He has also performed regularly in the orchestras of many Broadway shows, currently playing Reed-1 in the orchestra for the Broadway show Chicago and many of Julie Taymor's productions. 

Nancy Maron (Artistic Director, alto saxophone) regularly performs on alto and soprano with the Lehman College and Community Band, a symphonic wind ensemble and the Westchester Band. She has also performed with the Yonkers Philharmonic and Excelsior Symphony Orchestra, Cross-Cultural Connection Ensemble in Peekskill, and has arranged horns for The Patroons, a rock cover band. When not playing music, she runs BlueSky to BluePrint, a consulting firm that supports researchers, librarians, and publishers to develop sustainable business strategies for their innovative digital projects. 

Matt Garrison (tenor saxophone) grew up in Poughkeepsie, in a household that was absent of the sounds of Miles, Coltrane, and other jazz musicians; instead, the music of Doo Wop, 1960s rock and roll, and 1980s contemporary tunes took precedence. He received the Anthony Newman Award, given to one exceptional jazz major at Purchase Conservatory of Music in Westchester New York where he studied with Javon Jackson, Ralph Lalama, Hal Galper, Todd Coolman, and Jon Faddis. Garrison has gigged or recorded with various players of note: the late Dennis Irwin, Eliot Zigmund, Pete Malinverni, Adam Nussbaum, Gene Jackson, Sam Yahel, Jeff Hirshfield, Jon Cowherd, Andy Laverne--and was once in a band with trumpeter great, Ray Vega. His recent release, The Hudson Calls, is a collection of original songs, each a tribute to various rivertowns and features throughout the Hudson Valley.  

Frank Petrocelli (tenor saxophone) has performed with The Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey and Playland Big Bands. He currently freelances in the metro New York area and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Birdland, the Metropolitan Room, Feinstein’s 54 Below and the Friar’s Club. He has been a soloist and performer with the Kalamazoo, West Shore and Newburgh Symphony Orchestras. He is the regular saxophonist for singer Jenna Esposito and can be heard on her last three albums.

Frank is a music educator at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Orange County, NY, where he teaches instrumental music and leads an award-winning high school jazz ensemble and symphonic band. He has performed and collaborated with many leading jazz artists and educators, including Mike Holober, Todd Williams, Ron Blake, Todd Coolman, Joe Alessi, Tony Kadleck, Justin DiCiocio, Walter Booker, Marcus Belgrave, Adam Nussbaum, Gary Smulyan, to name a few. 

Karl Watson (baritone saxophone) is a very active and versatile musician, performing professionally on several instruments in a wide variety of styles. At Lehman, he plays bass clarinet in the Community Band, saxophone in the Latin Jazz Band, clarinet in the Symphony Orchestra, and violin in the Chamber Orchestra. Performing classical symphonic, jazz, rock, funk and other genre, Mr. Watson’s services are much in demand throughout the tri-state area for concerts, club dates, festivals, parades and weddings. Outside of Lehman, he is a violinist in the Yonkers Philharmonic, Manager of the Westchester Band, and appears regularly with the CUNY All-Star Jazz Band, Westchester Pops, White Plains Pops, Yonkers Concert Band, Yonkers Military Band, Tappan Zee Bridgemen, funk band Jungle Love, and atomic soul ensemble Preachermann & the Revival. 

TRUMPETS

Phil Granger (trumpet) has worked as a commercial trumpet player in the Tri-State area for over 40 years. He has enjoyed a career playing Broadway and Off-Broadway shows for 38 years. Phil has been the Music Director/Lead Trumpet/Arranger/Road Manager for “Jay Black & The Americans” since May of 1989.  One of his most enjoyable musical endeavors is playing with “FM-A Steely Dan Tribute”.  

Jordan Hirsch (trumpet) is a NYC based professional trumpet player with experience teaching performance and music appreciation on the middle school and high school level, leading ensembles for private and corporate events, playing a wide variety of styles. He performed in the orchestra for the critically acclaimed NY Off-Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. 

Ron Horton (trumpet) has released several recordings under his own name (Genius Envy-OmniTone, Subtextures-Fresh Sounds, Everything in a Dream-Fresh Sounds, It's a Gadget World-ABEAT), and most recently, the critically acclaimed A Prayer for Andrew based on the works of Andrew Hill. He has performed and/or recorded with Andrew Hill, Lee Konitz, Jane Ira Bloom, Jazz Composers Collective (Ben Allison, Frank Kimbrough, Ted Nash, Michael Blake) and many others.

William Schaeffer (co-Founder, trumpet) is a lawyer by day (Inspector General for the School Construction Authority of the City of New York) and performs regularly as principal trumpet with the Lehman College Community Band, the Yonkers Philharmonic, Excelsior Symphony Orchestra, and the Westchester Band.

TROMBONES 

Robert Sussman (trombone) has performed with The Allman Brothers, Christina Aguilera, Ashford and Simpson, Frankie Avalon, Marshall Crenshaw, Neil Diamond, Jay and the Americans, Chaka Kahn, Darlene Love, Jesse Malin, Idina Menzel, La India, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Neil Sedaka, Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Ronnie Spector, Steve Van Zandt, Benny Golson, Clark Terry, Tito Puente, Branford Marsalis, Chico O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Orchestra, and The Duke Ellington Legacy. He has played in Broadway Orchestras for Gypsy, Wonderful Town, The Color Purple, Motown, and Carousel. He can be heard on dozens of commercially released recordings and nationally televised TV commercials. “Susman’s scorching, percussive trombone energy...the perfect hypnotic and feisty representation…” –The JW Vibe 

Howard Levy (trombone) has been performing in the NY tri-state area for many years. His credits include The American Jazz Orchestra at Cooper Union, the Larry Elgart Orchestra, the Stan Rubin Orchestra, the Smithsonian Masterworks Orchestra, Tim Ouimette’s Arts on the Lake Jazz Ensemble and the Westchester Swing Band. Howard has toured with the Broadway shows Makin’ Whoopie, and Chicago. Howard is the co-leader of SlideAttack Jazz Quintet which performs in and around the tri-state (NY) area and is a veteran of several Club Date and Latin bands. 

Dave Levitt (co-Founder, trombone) is a fourth generation Klezmer musician who started learning music at age 5 from his father Marty who was a well-known clarinetist and bandleader. Dave’s mother was also a performer who went by the name Harriet Kane. As a teenager he had the great opportunity to perform with such great artists as Andy Statman, Sid Beckerman, Pete Sokolow among others. In addition to performing, Dave owned a rehearsal and recording studio in New York from 1995-2008. Since his father’s passing in 2008, Dave has worked with the Klezmer Institute to preserve his family’s handwritten manuscripts dating as far back as the 1920’s. 

Walter Barrett (bass trombone) performs as a free-lance musician throughout the New York area on Alto, Tenor & Bass Trombones, Bass Trumpet, Euphonium, and Tuba with the Westchester Symphony, Yonkers Philharmonic, Philharmonic Symphony of Westchester, and the Hudson Valley Philharmonic. Walter has been featured as soloist with many local groups, including the Lehman College Community Band, White Plains Pops Band, Manhattan School of Music Trombone Ensemble, Yonkers Philharmonic, and the Westchester Band.

Library Jazz Band is… 

Rhythm

Sarah Jane Cion, piano

Bob Gingery, bass

Tony Romano, Guitar

Bill Reeve, drums

Saxophones

Bruce Williamson

Nancy Maron

Matt Garrison

Frank Petrocelli

Karl Watson

Trumpets

Jordan Hirsch

Phil Granger

Ron Horton

William Schaeffer

Trombones

Rob Susman

Howard Levy

Dave Levitt

Walter Barrett, bass

We're sorry, there are no refunds after tickets have been purchased. In the event of a pandemic, rain, snow, or other forms of weather which prohibit a performance, the performance date will be postponed and rescheduled for another date within a reasonable amount of time. If the new date is postponed, a future alternate date will be picked at the discretion of Bethel Jazz and the musical artist. The ticket holder will be notified of postponements, cancelations, and rescheduled dates via email. Tickets are non-refundable and may be transferred to another person in the event a purchaser can not make the rescheduled date. In the event, an artist cancels a date, and Bethel Jazz is unable to reschedule the artist, Bethel Jazz reserves the right to provide a substitute performer of equal quality without notice to the ticket purchaser. If a date is canceled and not rescheduled, Bethel Jazz will provide a refund (in some cases minus the Eventbrite fee) or credit for another performance at the choice of the ticket holder. Bethel Jazz will always do its best to accommodate for changes in seating, table sizes, or changes to tickets.