(SOMERS POINT, NJ) -- South Jersey Jazz Society presents the 25th Annual JAZZ@thePoint Fall Festival from October 10-12, 2024 in Somers Point. The festival includes performances by Ciara Moser, John Patitucci, and Brian Bromberg at Gateway Playhouse and performances by Andy Lalasis Quartet and Mike Boone Trio featuring Mekhi Boone at Gregory's Restraurant & Bar.

Tickets are $50 for an all event pass and $20 for individual events at the Gateway Playhouse (738 Bay Avenue Somers Point, NJ). The events at Gregory's Restaurant & Bar (900 Shore Road, Somers Point, NJ) are free.

Thursday, October 10 @ 7:00pm, Gateway Playhouse - Ciara Moser and Friends. As a professional bassist and someone who has been blind since birth, party of Dublin-born/Austria-raised/Boston-based Ciara Moser’s identity has shaped her unique journey through life and music in a profound way. The songs on Blind. So what? explore topics such as the art of memorizing, spatial sense for orientation, trusting others, and the different perceptions that blind people have on the world. Her list of achievements includes winning the “Next Jazz legacy award” and the “New Generation Jazz Lab Competition” in 2024, the “2023 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composers Award“ for one of the tunes on her debut album, securing a spot in the Jazz Ahead Program and Woodshed Network Residency in 2022, earning the “Matt Marvuglio Student of the Year” award in 2021 and participating in multiple jazz workshops and projects with European Jazz and Pop Orchestras.

Friday, October 11 @ 7:00pm, Gateway Playhouse - Brian Bromberg: A Tribute to Scott Lafaro. While Tucson-born, Los Angeles-based Brian Bromberg has been equally conversant and downright virtuosic on both electric and upright basses, he sticks strictly to the latter on his latest offering, LaFaro. A tribute to the legendary jazz bassist, Scott LaFaro whose revolutionary contributions to the classic Bill Evans Trio still reverberate to this day, Bromberg’s 28th as a leader shows him in an unadulterated swinging trio setting in the company of pianist Tom Zink and drummer Charles Ruggiero. An in-demand L.A. session musician and valued sideman to everyone from Stan Getz to Dave Grusin, Billy Cobham, Michael Bublé, Diana Krall and countless others, Bromberg’s solo career began in 1986, albums like 2005’s rock-fueled Metal, 2006’s Wood II, and 2007’s GRAMMY®-nominated Downright Upright, further showcase the bassist’s remarkable versatility and sheer command of his instruments. On LaFaro, Bromberg pays heartfelt homage to the virtuosic bassist. The superpower trio of Evans, LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian were committed to the idea of three equal voices, working together for a singular musical idea and often without any musician explicitly keeping time. Inspired, this ultimately led Bromberg to lead his trio on a gorgeous album.

Friday, October 11 @ 9:00pm, Gregory's Restaurant & Bar - Andy Lalasis and Musical Collusion. Andy Lalasis is an extremely talented and schooled acoustic and electric bassist and he is “at home” playing with so many genres of music as well as so many versatile musicians and musical situations.  Andy is the most sought –after and ubiquitous bass player in the tri-state area, brilliantly capable of playing jazz, funk, R&B, and pop music. He was awarded the "The George Mesterhazy Jazz Master Award" by the South Jersey Jazz Society on September 25th.

Saturday, October 12 @ 7:00pm, Gateway Playhouse - The John Patitucci Brazilian Trio. The John Patitucci Brazilian Trio features John Patitucci on acoustic and electric bass, Yotam Silberstein on acoustic and electric guitar, and Rogerio Boccato on drums and percussion. Patitucci formed his latest Brazilian Trio in 2017 to record Irmdos de Fe for the high end subscription only vinyl record label Newvelle Records. The album was later released on Patitucci’s own label, Three Faces Records. The trio delights in performing pieces by the giants and poets of the Brazilian repertoire – Buarque, Nascimento, Jobim, Gismonti, Garoto and Dominguinhos. The three not only love the music of Brazil, but are true students of the music. Lyrics, intentions, personalities, instrumentations, and histories were all discussed in rehearsals, just as much as chord changes, tempos and inflections.

Saturday, October 12 @ 9:00pm, Gregory's Restaurant & Bar - Mike Boone Group Featuring Mekhi Bonne. After embracing the upright bass, he found himself in the company of legendary local musicians, including John Swana, Sid Simmons, Byron Landham, Shirley Scott, and many more. Mike especially recalls his tutelage from Trudy Pitts—and Bill “Mr. C” Carney’s insistence that he convert from electric to acoustic bass. As a leader, Mike has produced a few albums of his own and is currently an adjunct professor of jazz at Temple University. Nowadays, he is often accompanied on stage by his teenage son, musical prodigy Mekhi Boone, who plays drums. The bassist also has a vibrant social media life on Facebook where his provocative posts garner buzz-worthy responses. Ultimately, for the elder Boone, it is all about the power of music.

For more information visit www.southjerseyjazz.org.

Sponsors include OceanFirst Bank Foundation, John Scarpa Foundation, The Doc’s Place, Just Four Wheels, Bill Minter, Walt’s Original Primo Pizza and Rutala Associates, the ERCO Foundation and Shore Local.

This event is made possible in part through the New Jersey State Council of the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through the Local Arts Grant administered by Atlantic County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs This program is made possible in part through the New Jersey State Council of the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts through the Local Arts Grant administered by Atlantic County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs