Knox Gallery will be hosting a special event in conjunction with Alan Roland: Smalls, which is currently on view at the gallery.  The artist has arranged for a jazz trio to play on June 18 at 7 pm, to provide some of the authentic flavor of the “Smalls” club, which Roland captured in his art.

Roland’s son Ari (bass), Yaala Ballin (vocals), and Zaid Nasser (saxophone) will fill our space with music!  We hope you will join us for what is sure to be a lovely evening.

          We are fortunate to have three such prominent musicians come to play for us in Monterey. Ari Roland has led over 150 tours throughout at least four continents. He has been featured in the groups of numerous jazz icons. He grew up in New York City, studied at Julliard, and has been lauded as “a master of his trade” (Rolling Stone) and “the best arco bass soloist in jazz.” (Stereophile.)

          Yaala Ballin was born in Israel, and moved to New York in 2004. She has performed in numerous prominent New York City and European and Middle Eastern venues.  She, too, is a Jazz Ambassador, and has represented the State Department in performances and clinics in Ukraine and Turkey.

          New York City native Zaid Nasser learned alto saxophone from jazz legends—his father Jamil Nasser, and Papa Jo Jones, Ahmad Jamal, and George Coleman.. He tours regularly as a Jazz Ambassador, bringing jazz and blues to new audiences worldwide.

The exhibit features watercolor paintings that capture the excitement at “Smalls”, a jazz club in Greenwich Village, New York, which was opened by Mitchell Borden in 1994. Over its ten-year life span “it became celebrated as one of the most important jazz venues worldwide,” the artist states. Roland was a weekly attendee at Smalls, there to draw and paint the musicians (one of whom was a young Ari Roland) while they were playing.   His works from the time are those in this exhibit.