Jeff Fuller & Friends, featuring vocalist extraordinaire Atla DeChamplain play Best Video Film & Cultural Center Fri., June 30. The show starts at 7 PM. The cover is $15.
In 2003, Atla DeChamplain had the opportunity to study with jazz legend Jon Hendricks, with whom she sang at the Monterey Jazz Festival. Later she completed her Bachelor’s Degree magna cum laude at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz/Hartt School of Music, where she formed a trio with pianist Matt DeChamplain. She studied with vocalists Shawnn Monteiro and Dena DeRose and worked under bassist Nat Reeves and trombonist Steve Davis. Inspired by Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole, she has performed with Jon Hendricks, Kurt Elling and Jose Feliciano, among others. She authors a blog for aspiring Jazz Vocalists, and is currently working on a book about learning and performing Vocalese. Atla has taught at Western and Southern CT State Universities, and currently teaches at the University of Rhode Island.
Bassist and composer Jeff Fuller, recipient of the 2014 Jazz Haven Award, has long been integral to the Connecticut, New York, and international jazz scenes. He toured worldwide and recorded with saxophonists Lou Donaldson and Paquito D’Rivera, and has played with jazz masters from all styles and eras. Co-leader of the popular Brazilian group Sambeleza, he has received commissions from the New Haven and the Hartford Symphony Orchestras and has received project grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.
Pianist/composer Darren Litzie studied jazz piano with Dr. Rex Cadwallader, and jazz theory, improvisation, and composition with Jim McNeely, Mike Holober, Jimmy Greene, and Jamie Begian. Darren has performed with such artists as Dave Scott, Andrew Beals, Chris Morrison, Thierry Arpino, Nick Biello, and Harvie S. Darren completed a three-year stint with the prestigious BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, where he had several of his works premiered in concert by the BMI Jazz Orchestra.
Ben Bilello received his Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Studies at the Hartt School of Music. He has performed and recorded with Mulgrew Miller, Eddie Henderson, Branford Marsalis, Curtis Fuller, Javon Jackson, George Cables, Joe Wilder, Anthony Braxton, Steve Davis, Jimmy Greene, and Wayne Escoffery, among many others. In addition to performing with noted jazz musicians, Ben has toured with the South American folk groups Viva Quetzal and Markamusic.