Jazz night in which Zero Ted plays the original compositions of pianist and composer Daniel May, with music director James Johnson III on drums.
Zero Ted plays original compositions at Alphabet City on Thursday, October 22, from 7 to 8:30 PM. It's part of the Thursday Night Jazz series hosted by City of Asylum, and the music comes from pianist and composer Daniel May, whose jazz-tinged writing carries a clear pop sensibility.
There's a specific story behind the material. May has spent most of his adult life as a film and television composer, working for hire from his Pittsburgh studio and, for twenty-three years before that, from a studio in Los Angeles. Zero Ted is where the musical ideas that spark while he's working on those commissions end up—the pieces that have no connection to the project at hand. This is that collection brought to the stage.
He's not playing alone. The ensemble includes vocalist Grace Elliott, Joe Sheehan on keyboards, Denzel Chismar-Oliver on bass, Joe Garner on percussion, and James Johnson III on drums and serving as music director. Johnson has been playing since he was five years old here in Pittsburgh; he studied at CAPA under drummer Roger Humphries and went on to tour with jazz legend Ahmad Jamal, playing venues like Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center. These days he teaches at the Afro American Music Institute at the University of Pittsburgh and at Chatham University, and he released his second solo album, Between, in 2019.
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Tickets are free for both in-person and livestream options, so you can catch it at the venue or from home. If you're heading in, the in-house restaurant Cucina Alfabeto is open for dinner from 5 to 10 PM, which makes it easy to grab a meal before the 7 PM start.
