Fifth annual Jazz Blues & Beyond Festival features the Tadashi Thomas Quartet

The Jazz Maui 2024 Maui Music Series announced details of its fifth annual Jazz Blues & Beyond Festival.

This year’s event features the Tadashi Thomas Quartet along with the Nā Aliʻi Big Band on Friday, July 28 at the Performing Arts Center at King Kekaulike High School in Makawao. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Show begins at 6 p.m. Suggested donation for this performance is $15 for adults and $10 for students.

The Tadashi Thomas Quartet will also perform at Jazz Maui’s Sunset Jazz from 5 to 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 30, at the Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate Factory in Lahaina. Advance ticket purchase is required and may be made at www.JazzMaui.org.

Hailing from Haʻikū, Maui’s Tadashi Thomas presents “In Transit,” his debut as a band leader. From studying with jazz royalty to collaborating with his peers, he has spent the past five years cutting his teeth in New York City as an up-and-coming jazz trumpeter, composer and arranger. In this homecoming tour, Thomas along with his quartet, will leave audiences with an authentic experience of the best New York City has to offer.

“The Tadashi Thomas Quartet is composed of talented and gifted professional musicians coming to Maui directly from New York City, where they are active in the jazz scene,” said Bryan Neal, executive director of Jazz Maui.

Tadashi Thomas, a recent graduate of SUNY Purchase, refined his craft under the mentorship of legendary trumpet virtuosos Jon Faddis and Ingrid Jensen. He seamlessly navigates the realms of bebop, swing, latin, and contemporary jazz, blending technical prowess with emotive storytelling. Thomas has already graced the stages of iconic venues like Dizzy’s Club, Birdland, Cafe Bohemia, and The Blue Note. In collaboration with esteemed artists, he has shared the stage with 3-time Grammy Award winner Samara Joy, pianist Justin Kauflin, rhythmic master Bobby Allende, and many more. These performances serve as a testament to his dedication to the rich legacy of jazz, pushing the boundaries of musical expression while paying homage to the genre’s history.

Drummer and composer Julian Miltenberger has performed internationally in countries such as Togo, France, Switzerland, Uruguay, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and Canada. He has accompanied musical artists such as Paquito D’Rivera, Diego Urcola, Yosvany Terry, Alain Mallet, Darren Barrett, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Miltenberger graduated with a master’s degree from Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute in 2023, and is currently based out of Brooklyn, NYC.

Pianist Caelan Carderro has played and studied with some prominent figures in music today including pop songsmith Bruce Hornsby and jazz artists Jimmy Cobb, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Jack Dejohnette, Wallace Roney, and Christian Mcbride and many other jazz greats in New York City’s legendary jazz haunts like Dizzy’s Club, Minton’s Playhouse, Smalls Jazz Club, and The Jazz Standard. Carderro’s musical accomplishments and live performances have garnered him several prestigious awards including the New Jersey Governor’s Award, the James Moody College scholarship award for “outstanding musicianship,” the 2021 BMI Foundation’s Future Jazz Master Award, and the “outstanding soloist” award at the Charles Mingus HS Competition & Festival. Carderro plays both solo and with his trio in New York City, around the tri-state area, and tours throughout the USA. Currrently, he is working toward a master’s degree in jazz performance at The Juillard School.

Bassist and composer Aron Caceres graduated with honors from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music after studying performance and composition with luminaries such as Reggie Workman, Kirk Nurock, Alexis Cuadrado, Ben Allison, and others. In the past several years, Caceres has performed in nationally and internationally acclaimed venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center, The United Nations, Webster Hall, The Westport Country Playhouse, and Auditorio Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He has performed alongside artists such as Jane Monheit, New York Voices, Robin Eubanks, Luis Bonilla, Jon Faddis, Dave King, Bill Watrous, Bobby Black, Armen Donelian, Lew Tabackin, Monika Herzig and Mark Ferber. In the spring of 2019, Caceres was the bassist for Lin Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical “In the Heights” for its commission in Westport, CN. He has toured the USA, Europe, Asia, and South America and has made appearances at Monterey Jazz Festival, NYC Winter Jazzfest, the Bern Jazz Festival, Ridgefield Jazz Festival, and the San Jose Jazz Festival.

All the members of the Tadashi Thomas Quartet are participating in Jazz Maui’s Jazz Camp, presenting a clinic on Monday, July 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Backlit Buuddha Studios in Kahului.

The Na Aliʻi Big Band is one of Hawaiʻi’s premier ensembles for traditional and contemporary big band-style jazz and swing. Ranging from Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington to Maynard Ferguson and Gordon Goodwin, this after-school course focuses on the stylistic elements of jazz music throughout the last 100 years and has toured across the state of Hawaiʻi as well as across the US Mainland and throughout Japan.

The Jazz Maui 2024 Maui Music Series continues through July 14 and includes the annual Fourth of July Celebration to be held in Kāʻanapali this year, the Pineapple Festival on the island of Lānaʻi, and performances by jazz vocalist Victor Fields.