Caffe Vivace's Upcoming Shows

Two big bands. One stage. All original music. Come bear witness to an intergenerational big band battle royale between two of Cincinnati's most exciting ensembles! In one corner, the Original Farm League Big Band - a band formed in 2016 to feature original music by local composers and boasting dozens of world premiers by 20+ writers. In the other, Alec Davis's "After the Break," the newest addition to the rich tradition of big band Jazz in Cincinnati, featuring many of the smokingest young writers and players in the tristate area. The winners will surely be the audience members in attendance for this celebration of Cincinnati's thriving Jazz scene!

A $15 drink/food minimum is charged per person in the party, per set, if the total for beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum.

Important Notices:

If you do not check in by 15 minutes into the start of the set, we reserve the right to resale your seats with no refund.

Tickets for this performance are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, a one-time transfer to a future show of equal value will be accepted. The transfer must be requested 24 hours before the start of the performance.

Joshua Redman — tenor saxophone

Paul Cornish — piano

Philip Norris — bass

Nazir Ebo — drums

Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and respected jazz artists to have emerged in our generation. With a career of over thirty years, it is hard to imagine a year of firsts for a musician as prolific as Redman. And yet, 2023 proved to be exactly that: launching his debut album, Where Are We, on the venerable Blue Note Records label, this album was planned largely by phone and text – a direct result of the difficulties of the pandemic - and finds Redman recording with a vocalist and writing lyrics for the first time.

Through the lens of geographic location, Redman and his band march across the United States, asking us to examine what we find critically. Of this particular assemblage, hand-picked for this album, Redman says, “The magic of this particular gathering of musicians was that we were able to come together from points afar, to converge (physically and creatively) in a particular place at a particular time; and to embrace, with fullest imagination and without the slightest reservation, the ethic of ‘serving the songs.’ In this sense, where are we is perhaps above all a meditation on the power and importance of place — the unique human beauty created when we locate ourselves in shared physical spaces together with others; the loss, anomie, and angst suffered when we divide ourselves unnaturally and unjustly apart.”

But he wasn’t supposed to be a musician. In 1991 Redman graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude and had already been accepted by Yale Law School, having deferred entrance for what was only supposed to be one year. Instead, he moved to New York City and immediately immersed himself in the jazz scene. Five months later, Redman won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition and began touring and recording with jazz masters such as Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Elvin Jones, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Paul Motian, Dewey Redman, and Clark Terry.

As renowned for his musicianship as he is for his visionary ability to assemble talent, one of Redman’s earliest bands, heard on his 1994 album MoodSwing, includes musicians who would later become some of the most influential artists of their generation: pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade. They reunited nearly 30 years later, releasing RoundAgain (2020) and LongGone (2022) to resounding critical acclaim and sold-out performances worldwide.

He has recorded nearly two dozen albums, but Redman’s prodigious talent has taken him beyond the bandstand as well: helming the creation of the SFJAZZ Collective, an ensemble distinguished by a unique emphasis on composition; expanding jazz departments via his appointments as a Visiting Artist at Stanford University and as the Artistic Director of the Roots, Jazz, and American Music program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; and writing music for film. He wrote and performed the music for Louis Malle’s final film, “Vanya on 42nd Street,” and is both seen and heard in the Robert Altman film Kansas City.

He has recorded and performed with a vast array of luminaries, both in jazz and beyond: Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, The Dave Matthews Band, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Quincy Jones, Big Daddy Kane, B.B. King, Yo Yo Ma, The Rolling Stones, The Roots, McCoy Tyner, and Stevie Wonder, to name a few.

Born in Berkeley, California, he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff.

A $20 drink/food minimum is charged per person in the party, per set, if the total for beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum.

Important Notices:

Tickets for this performance are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, a one-time transfer to a future show of equal value will be accepted. The transfer must be requested 24 hours before the start of the performance.

Joshua Redman — tenor saxophone

Paul Cornish — piano

Philip Norris — bass

Nazir Ebo — drums

Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and respected jazz artists to have emerged in our generation. With a career of over thirty years, it is hard to imagine a year of firsts for a musician as prolific as Redman. And yet, 2023 proved to be exactly that: launching his debut album, Where Are We, on the venerable Blue Note Records label, this album was planned largely by phone and text – a direct result of the difficulties of the pandemic - and finds Redman recording with a vocalist and writing lyrics for the first time.

Through the lens of geographic location, Redman and his band march across the United States, asking us to examine what we find critically. Of this particular assemblage, hand-picked for this album, Redman says, “The magic of this particular gathering of musicians was that we were able to come together from points afar, to converge (physically and creatively) in a particular place at a particular time; and to embrace, with fullest imagination and without the slightest reservation, the ethic of ‘serving the songs.’ In this sense, where are we is perhaps above all a meditation on the power and importance of place — the unique human beauty created when we locate ourselves in shared physical spaces together with others; the loss, anomie, and angst suffered when we divide ourselves unnaturally and unjustly apart.”

But he wasn’t supposed to be a musician. In 1991 Redman graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude and had already been accepted by Yale Law School, having deferred entrance for what was only supposed to be one year. Instead, he moved to New York City and immediately immersed himself in the jazz scene. Five months later, Redman won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition and began touring and recording with jazz masters such as Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Elvin Jones, Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, Paul Motian, Dewey Redman, and Clark Terry.

As renowned for his musicianship as he is for his visionary ability to assemble talent, one of Redman’s earliest bands, heard on his 1994 album MoodSwing, includes musicians who would later become some of the most influential artists of their generation: pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Brian Blade. They reunited nearly 30 years later, releasing RoundAgain (2020) and LongGone (2022) to resounding critical acclaim and sold-out performances worldwide.

He has recorded nearly two dozen albums, but Redman’s prodigious talent has taken him beyond the bandstand as well: helming the creation of the SFJAZZ Collective, an ensemble distinguished by a unique emphasis on composition; expanding jazz departments via his appointments as a Visiting Artist at Stanford University and as the Artistic Director of the Roots, Jazz, and American Music program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music; and writing music for film. He wrote and performed the music for Louis Malle’s final film, “Vanya on 42nd Street,” and is both seen and heard in the Robert Altman film Kansas City.

He has recorded and performed with a vast array of luminaries, both in jazz and beyond: Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, The Dave Matthews Band, Herbie Hancock, Elvin Jones, Quincy Jones, Big Daddy Kane, B.B. King, Yo Yo Ma, The Rolling Stones, The Roots, McCoy Tyner, and Stevie Wonder, to name a few.

Born in Berkeley, California, he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff.

A $20 drink/food minimum is charged per person in the party, per set, if the total for beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum.

Important Notices:

Tickets for this performance are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, a one-time transfer to a future show of equal value will be accepted. The transfer must be requested 24 hours before the start of the performance.

G. Thomas Allen - voice

Andrew Toombs - piano

Greg Ward - alto saxophone

Ethan Philion - bass

Neil Hemphill - drums

G. Thomas Allen, M. Mus., Associate Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music, is an award-winning, genre-defying artist whose career bridges opera, jazz, and contemporary performance. His appearance at the 67th Monterey Jazz Festival was praised by San Francisco Classical Voice for “effectively deploying the androgynous quality of his voice to reimagine musical boundaries,” drawing comparisons to the legendary Little Jimmy Scott.

Allen rose to national attention during the 2014–15 season with his L.A. Opera debut as The First Witch in Dido and Aeneas, in a landmark production featuring three African American countertenors onstage—a rarity in opera history. In summer 2026, he made his Cincinnati Opera debut in the world premiere of Lalovavi: An Afrofuturist Grand Opera as part of the Black Opera Project.

In 2021, Allen became the first male winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, cementing his reputation as a crossover artist at the intersection of jazz and classical music. He has headlined renowned venues including Dizzy’s Club (NYC), Minton’s Playhouse, SOUTH (Philadelphia), Keystone Korner (Baltimore), The Jazz Showcase, The Green Mill, and Winter’s Jazz Club (Chicago), and has appeared at major festivals including Monterey, New Orleans, Chicago, White Plains, Buffalo, TD Moody, and Stevens Point.

His concert credits include Bernstein’s Mass with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, Too Hot to Handel with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, performances with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, and a 2024 BBC Proms debut at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He also appeared on Saturday Night Live as a background vocalist for Jacob Collier and Coldplay.

Allen is also recognized in gospel music for his Grammy-nominated recordings with Ricky Dillard & New G. His self-titled jazz debut reached #1 on the iTunes Jazz chart, followed by Love Affair: Serenades of the Heart, with his third recording, Dream Shade, scheduled for release in early spring.

A sought-after presenter and educator, Allen has appeared at ACDA, GIA, JEN, and GMWA conferences. He holds degrees from Morgan State University and Carthage College, is the author of The AndroVox Method: A Practical Guide to Mapping Resonance in Contemporary Voice, and is the CEO and founder of Allen Studios, LLC, a private voice studio based in Chicago.

A $20 drink/food minimum is charged per person in the party, per set, if the total for beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum.

Important Notices:

If you do not check in by 15 minutes into the start of the set, we reserve the right to resell your seats with no refund.

Tickets for this performance are non-refundable. If you are unable to attend, a one-time transfer to a future show of equal value will be accepted. The transfer must be requested 24 hours before the start of the performance.