Don't miss the chance to hear this unlikely musical combo of modern fusion, samba, swing, hiphop, and much more, from one of the boldest rising jazz quintets! Will Padgett leads the band at his piano, alongside Casey Brefka (trumpet), Spencer Stevens (saxophone), Thomas Altman (bass), and Brad Covington (drums).

A composer and pianist with quenchless desire to discover new musical styles, concepts, and melodies, Will's playing can be heard across a wide variety of genres, with a sharp voice of spontaneity and optimism. His premier group, the Quintet, dedicates to performing new music at every show.

Pianist David Rodgers joins creative forces with trumpeter Emmanuel Echem, bassist Jay White, and drummer Marcus Finnie for one night, featuring never-before heard original music and arrangements from David’s forthcoming third studio album, as well as compositions from each member of the group.

Pianist and composer David Rodgers has toured or performed alongside artists including Keb’ Mo’, Taj Mahal, Ricky Skaggs, Kirk Whalum, and Jonathan Butler, and has also recorded on numerous records including Keb’ Mo’s Grammy-winning Oklahoma (2019). He has performed worldwide at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, and the Playboy Jazz Festival, among many others. His compositions and arrangements span multiple genres, have been performed internationally, and have aired on network television including ESPN and the SEC Network. David holds a bachelor of music degree from Vanderbilt University’s Blair School of Music where he pursued both classical and jazz piano performance, and holds a masters of music degree from Belmont University where he studied commercial composition. He has released two albums as a leader: his 2017 genre-bending, debut project Songs For A Generation; as well as his 2019 album, Doorways.

Emmanuel Echem is a trumpeter, composer, and arranger living and working in Nashville, TN. A native to the area, Echem completed his B.M. in Commercial Music and Music Technology at Belmont University in 2016, and has since then firmly established himself within the Nashville professional music community as a capable lead and section player, as well as an adept soloist with a unique and soulful improvisational style which frequently draws comparisons to trumpet masters such as Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, and Roy Hargrove. His performance and recording credits include Joss Stone, Kirk Franklin, Lauren Daigle, Boyz II Men, LeAnn Rimes, Dumpstaphunk, Johnny Reid, Rayvon Owen, Dan + Shay, La Sonora Dinamita, the Neal Morse Band ft. Mike Portnoy, Roy “Futureman” Wooten and the Circle of Harmony Orchestra, and the Nashville Jazz Orchestra, among many others. Echem’s compositional style combines a jazz musician’s sensibility of melody and harmony with an intensely groove-oriented approach to rhythm, exploring funk, rock, hip hop, and neo-soul, as well as West African afrobeat, traditional New Orleans jazz, and Afro-Latin dance rhythms.

A New York City native shaped from a rich heritage of artistic influence, Jay White spreads a message of love universally for all through his masterful expressions on the drums, bass, percussion and vocal performances. An encompassing blend of R&B, Jazz, Country and Gospel form the rich musical tapestry that has come to be known as the “Jay White Flavor”. As a music ambassador with the band Jonathan Scales and Fourchestra, Jay has shared not only his music but his humanitarian self with the world, educating and assisting underprivileged communities as far as rural Asia earlier this year. Jay has performed with such renowned artist as Damien Escobar, Bokante, Macy Gray, Michael McDonald, Rita Ora , Karen Clark-Sheard and the legendary gospel pioneer Elder Timothy Wright. Jay names his father Jeffrey L. White, Twinkie Clark, Fred Hammond, Prince, Marvin Gaye and Donny Hathaway as his major musical influences. Jay is currently touring with Amos Lee and preparing to release his 3rd recording project. Jay resides in Nashville, Tennessee where he continues to expand his musical footprint.

As a Memphis native and Nashville resident, Marcus Finnie has toured with Kirk Whalum, Keb Mo, Taj Mahal, Lady Antebellum, Larry Carlton, Donna Summer, India Arie, Billy Preston, Earl Klugh and many others. Marcus has also recorded with Grammy and Stellar Award nominated and winning artists’ Kirk Whalum, Keb Mo & Taj Mahal, India Arie, Michael McDonald, Lalah Hathaway, Smokie Norful, Donnie McClurkin, American Idols’ Ace Young, Rodney Crowell, , Rachel Lampa, and several others.

Grammy awarded guitarist Andy Reiss is a member of the Time Jumpers and a prolific recording session musician in Nashville (Slim Pickens, the Jordanaires, Pete Wade, Charlie McCoy, Pig Robbins, Bob Moore, and Drake, Reba McEntire and Linda Davis). Andy has now been an active member of the Nashville community for more than 35 years. He left his hometown of San Francisco to pursue his passion for music as a career in 1980. He was brought up in a household listening to mainly traditional classical music (he even has an ancestor that was a German composer and guitarist in the 1700s!) He began his formal music education with the piano at age 7, moving to the guitar at 10. Being lucky enough to have grown up in in San Francisco during the 1960s, he would forever be influenced by the thriving music scene of the time. Some of the many concerts that were complete eye-opening experiences were B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and of course, pyschedelic luminaries such as The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane. This is also when he discovered jazz, and his guitar work became heavily influenced by greats such as Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, and Kenny Burrell.

After arriving in Nashville, he was fortunate enough to have two influential A-Team advocates, the legendary producer and steel guitarist Pete Drake, and the visionary Harold Bradley, the guitarist who, along with his brother Owen, built the first recording studio on Nashville’s Music Row, and served as a long time President of the local Musician’s Union. Andy’s first recording session was for the actor Slim Pickens, a session that was an overwhelming initiation, involving many A-Team pickers such as Drake, Charlie McCoy, Bob Moore, Pete Wade, Pig Robbins and the Jordanaires.

He has since become a studio mainstay, playing on hundreds of records, with artists including Miranda Lambert, John Oates, Amy Grant, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Leon Russell. Returning to his early jazz influences, he also has recorded with many jazz greats, including Pete Christlieb, Beegee Adair, Benny Golson, and as a member of “Bad Rhythm“, an exciting trio with drummer Danny Coots and pianist Brian Holland. He has also toured extensively with both the legendary Slim Whitman and Reba McEntire, and is a member of the Time Jumpers, a Western Swing Super Group on Rounder Records. The Time Jumpers have enjoyed a 20 year Monday night residency at various night clubs in Nashville, and have been nominated for six Grammy awards, winning one in 2017, for Roots Song of the Year. The band has also toured internationally, playing venues as diverse as Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa and Carnegie Hall.

Harmonic adaptability and rhythmic flexibility are the key attributes of any first rate bassist. Though a native born Virginian, Jimmy Sullivan has ascended to the top ranks of Music City's rhythm section comrades, proving himself a versatile and imaginative bassist on multiple occasions. He's excelled in numerous idiomatic sessions, though jazz remains a priority and key musical love. Still, he's flourished while working, recording and/or performing with such top country, rock and pop stars as Lee Ann Womack, Mandy Barnett, Mark Collie, Jason Petty, Becky Warren, Anne McCue. Calbe Caudle and Ben De La Cour among others. But most recently he's become an area favorite backing one of Nashville's most popular and beloved jazz vocalists, Stephanie Arlington.

Sullivan grew up in Reston, Virginia. Despite not having any musicians in the family, Sullivan still became enamored with music at an early age. Teaching himself to play by ear, his early apprentice came as both a singer and instrumentalist. He performed in a choir while also playing piano and clarinet. But his primary instrument became bass at 15, where he began on electric. Soon came formal jazz studies at Northern Virginia Community college, where he obtained a two-year degree before transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). At VCU not only did Jimmy receive the seasoning and grounding from an exceptional program founded by the late, great, pianist/composer Ellis Marsalis, he was required to master the acoustic. That was the final step in Sullivan becoming a full-time bassist. Over the next six years, while living in Richmond, he worked in multiple settings and with a host of bands playing the full musical spectrum from classical and jazz to soul, gospel and hip-hop.

Interestingly, upon initially moving to New York, Sullivan didn't initially immerse himself in jazz like many new arrivals. Instead, folk and the gamut of styles known as Americana were how he made his livelihood for much of the next decade, while also getting married. It wasn't util 2017 that he arrived in Nashville, still married and not really even contemplating being a full-time musician much longer. But while his then wife was pursing a singer/songwriting career, a funny thing happened to Jimmy Sullivan. He moved from trying to decide whether to sell his bass to attending jam sessions, meeting fellow players and re-discovering his love for music. The flexibility that he had previously acquired made it easy for him to fit into all the contexts and situations that one encounters in a city like Nashville. Not only did he begin attracting attention from the country and western swing world, but also discovered a growing and intense jazz scene.

Jimmy Sullivan's now acclaimed not only in Nashville but throughout the region and state as a topflight player. He's already won one Nashville Music Industry Award as Best Jazz Instrumentalist in 2018, and others are sure to follow. But most importantly, Jimmy Sullivan's ferocity on the bandstand, and joy and love of playing music are infectious, and anyone who sees and hears him will immediately discover it as well as the inspiring and motivational power of great performance.

Oracle Blue is enticingly unequivocal when it comes to genre-branding, marrying musical nostalgia with newfangled soundscapes. Under the banners of Swank-Pop and Alt-Jazz they craft for themselves a realm entirely their own with strong female vocals garnished by multi-instrumentalists in the rhythm and horn sections.

The band's resume includes performances at Montreux, Vienne and Umbria Jazz Festivals, a DownBeat Student Music Award for Outstanding Performance in the Blues/Pop/Rock category, and the honor of being selected through competition by five-time GRAMMY Award winner Lalah Hathaway to open for two performances on her 2018 'Honestly' tour. Their debut album, Gilded Kingdoms, is comprised primarily of original works, and also includes reimaginings of jazz standards "Don't Explain" (Billie Holiday) and "On Green Dolphin Street" (Bronisalw Kaper). Gilded Kingdoms is available on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and at OracleBlueBand.com.