Queens musician Dennis Lichtman and his Queensboro Six celebrating the rich jazz heritage of Queens. This free event features music associated with famous jazz pioneers who resided in Queens, as well as original compositions by Lichtman. The program is suppored in part by a grant from the Queens Council on the Arts, and will be performed by an all-Queens band.
Clarinetist Dennis Lichtman created this project. Lichtman specializes in the earlier forms of jazz, from its evolution in the late 1910’s through the swing era of the 1930’s.
Queens has a well-documented history as a haven for jazz musicians, beginning when pianist/composer/publisher Clarence Williams and his wife, the famed vocalist Eva Taylor, moved to St. Albans in 1923. Williams sought a gentler, more open space that reminded him of his native Louisiana. This began a migration that continued with musicians such as Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald, Bix Beiderbecke, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and of course, Louis Armstrong.