Sizzling tunes on Aspen Art Museum Rooftop

While Jim Horowitz can’t wait to hear all of the great acts he has lined up for this summer’s JAS Café Summer Series, which starts tonight, the JAS founder and CEO can’t help but taste how sweet it will be when these same artists come and play the organization’s new venue. Paul JAS Center is projected to open in 2025 in downtown Aspen.

 “Any of these JAS Café summer shows and artists could realistically end up performing at the future Paul JAS Center,” Horowitz said. “For 10 years, we’ve brought in diverse music for diverse audiences with the goal of attracting both locals and visitors. We look for artists who respect the past but equally embrace the future and know how to connect with an audience. Especially in our intimate venues, this is an absolute prerequisite for success in Aspen and it will be our focus with the acts we bring to our future home at the Paul JAS Center.”

Horowitz said the Paul JAS Center will be a hub of culture, education and entertainment and will have an intimate performance venue and a place for special events. 

This year’s JAS Café Summer Series features six diverse performances on the Aspen Art Museum Rooftop and a seventh performance at Hotel Jerome. 

The series kicks off with three shows this weekend. 

Tonight, Grammy-winning artist Jamison Ross, who combines R&B, gospel, blues and soul, will take the stage for two sold-out shows. 

Jazz pianist Jarrod Lawson, making his JAS debut, will perform with his quartet on Saturday. Lawson won “Soul Artist Of The Year” at the 2015 Jazz FM Awards and has been dubbed “the hottest talent to hit soul music in at least ten years” by Echoes magazine.  

Bria Skonberg, described by The Wall Street Journal as looking “like a Scandinavian angel, (playing) trumpet like a red hot devil and (singing) like a dream,” will be joined by fellow trumpeter and vocalist Benny Benack III and her quartet for shows on Sunday. 

Next month, on Saturday, Aug. 10, JAS will present a celebration of calypso and reggae at the ballroom at Hotel Jerome. Vocalist Rene Marie will team up with the 20 students selected for the JAS Academy Afro-Caribbean Big Band program for a musical celebration of the Caribbean-born vocalist, Harry Belafonte, which will be led by composer and trumpeter Etienne Charles, who was born in Trinidad. 

Sharing the bill on that date will be Jamaican-born virtuoso pianist Monty Alexander with a tribute to reggae legends like Bob Marley and the Harlem-Kingston Express. Alexander will be backed by the full JAS Academy Afro-Caribbean Big Band.

On Friday, Aug. 16,  Säje will perform at the Aspen Art Museum. Saje won the 2024 Grammy for  Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals for their song “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning” from their self-titled debut album. 

Säje is the brainchild of vocalist/composers Sara Gazarek, Amanda Taylor, Johnaye Kendrick, and Erin Bentlage. The group uses four harmonies to build a rich tapestry of sound. Their debut album reached the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart in its first week, and peaked at No. 4 on the iTunes Jazz Chart. 

Shemekia Copeland brings her Grammy Award-winning blues stylings to the Aspen Art Museum to perform on Aug. 17. Copeland sings smart songs that are both rootsy and rocking and slow and soulful with a powerful intention that makes her an inimitable force in concert.

“I am so happy that Shemika is delivering these songs that the world needs to hear,” Mavis Staples said in a recent interview in Blues Music Magazine. “Her voice is strong and soulful and her message is from the heart.”

The series closes on Sunday, Aug. 18, with a group of all-star contemporary jazz musicians, The Lao Tizer Trio and special guests Eric Marienthal on sax, Elliot Yamin (an American Idol finalist) on vocals and Karen Briggs on violin.

All Aspen Art Museum performances will take place at 6:30 p.m. ($75) and 8:45 p.m. ($55) each night. The Rene Marie/JAS Academy/Monty Alexander show at the Hotel Jerome will start at 7:30 p.m. ($75 for reserved seats, $45 for general admission and standing-room only.)

When asked if he could single out a few must-see artists from the series, Horowitz replied, “That’s impossible. That’s like choosing a favorite among your children. Having said that, there are three artists who are returning to the JAS Café having had great receptions and success performing here in the last five years; they have followings already here and their shows always sell out in advance.”

Horowitz noted “the gospel, jazz and soul-drenched vocals and sounds” of drummer Jamison Ross’s Hammond B-3 organ trio and the Canadian born jazz trumpeter-vocalist and entertainer Skonberg. Both play Friday and Saturday, respectively.

On Aug. 17, another returning favorite artist scheduled to perform at the JAS Café is the blues vocalist and multiple Grammy nominee Shemekia Copeland, from a family of bluesmen stretching back literally for generations.”

For more information on the JAS Café series, visit jazzaspensnowmass.org.