The Michael Wolff Trio with Joe La Barbera & Edwin Livingston

Michael Wolff (piano), Joe La Barbera (drums), Edwin Livingston (bass)

Pianist and composer Michael Wolff has cemented himself in jazz history. His recording debut began with Cal Tjader in the mid 70’s and continued playing and recording with great jazz legends like Flora Purim, Cannonball Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Sonny Rollins and the film and television composer-musician Mark Isham. Wolff has released over 21 albums to critical and popular acclaim, written award-winning scores for film and television, and his career includes musical director on the groundbreaking Arsenio Hall Show.

In 1993 Wolff made his leader debut with a self-titled release on Columbia, and he has since put out well over a dozen albums touting A-list players like Freddie Hubbard, Sheila E and Terri Lyne Carrington. During the mid-’90s, the nonpareil rhythm section of Christian McBride and Tony Williams anchored Wolff’s records Jumpstart! and 2 AM. Wolff & Clark Expedition, the pianist’s still-active collaboration with drummer Mike Clark, has released two collections of delightfully funky 21st-century hard bop since 2013.

Wolff became a part of pop culture in 1989, when he began a five-year tenure as the musical director of the lively house band on Arsenio Hall’s groundbreaking late-night talk show. During his time there, he accompanied saxophonist and Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton in 1992, and backed the likes of Ray Charles, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Al Green, James Brown, Jerry Lee Lewis and Warren Zevon. Later that decade, he composed the score for and co-produced the raved-about film The Tic Code. Starring Gregory Hines and Draper, who also wrote its original screenplay, The Tic Code was inspired by both Wolff’s love for jazz and his lifelong struggle with Tourette syndrome. He returned as a TV fixture in 2007, playing the zany but lovable dad on The Naked Brothers Band and co-producing the series’ soundtrack albums of his sons’ original music.

A professor at the esteemed NYU Jazz Studies Program, Wolff is still prominent on the NYC and jazz scene to this day. In this special show at Sam First, Wolff  plays music from his various albums as well as new tunes from his upcoming one in which some music relates to Wolff’s memoir, On That Note, A Memoir of Jazz, Tics and Survival, published last year about his life as a musician, and with Tourette's syndrome, and his near-death and triumph over a tough cancer diagnosis.

All shows at Sam First are 21+ (no one under the age of 21 will be permitted)

Show Times: 7:30pm & 9:00pm, and a separate ticket is required for each show.

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