Jazz Night at the Funky Taco
December Event

​Universally acknowledged as one of the greatest guitarists in the history of jazz, Wes Montgomery virtually defined modern jazz guitar during the 1950s and ’60s. His unique idiomatic conception to the instrument and the power of his soloing influenced generations of players who followed him; guitar icons such as George Benson, Pat Martino, Larry Coryell, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour and Russell Malone.

One of the most popular saxophonists of all time, Grover Washington, Jr. was long the pacesetter in his field. His roots were in R&B and soul-jazz organ combos, but he also fared very well on the infrequent occasions when he played straight-ahead jazz. A highly influential player, Washington pushed himself with the spontaneity and risk-taking of a masterful jazz musician.

Despite a relatively brief career (he first came to notice as a sideman at age 29 in 1955, formally launched a solo career at 33 in 1960, and was dead at 40 in 1967), saxophonist John Coltrane was among the most important and most controversial, figures in jazz. It seems amazing that his period of greatest activity was so short, not only because he recorded prolifically but also because, taking advantage of his fame, the record companies that recorded him as a sideman in the 1950s frequently reissued those recordings under his name and there has been a wealth of posthumously released material as well. 

A self-described “reformed boogie-woogie piano player,” Vince Guaraldi was one of America’s best-selling jazz artists when he died suddenly in 1976, at the age of 47. He had achieved goals fellow jazz musicians only dream of, and his music continues to delight and inspire new generations.

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Guaraldi’s Cast Your Fate to the Wind is one of the biggest-selling jazz records to cross over to the pop charts, right up there with Take Five and Breezin’. It earned Guaraldi a Grammy Award and has been recorded by dozens of musicians in instrumental and vocal versions. He followed that with even wider success as the composer-performer of the soundtrack music to the popular “Peanuts” cartoon television specials.

Multitalented and internationally famous jazz legend, - a composer, arranger, lyricist, producer - and tenor saxophonist of world note, Benny Golson was born in Philadelphia, PA on January 25, 1929.

Raised with an impeccable musical pedigree, Golson has played in the bands of world-famous Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Earl Bostic, and Art Blakey.

Few jazz musicians can claim to be true innovators and even fewer can boast of a performing and recording career that literally redefines the term "jazz". Benny Golson has made major contributions to the world of jazz with such jazz standards as:

With his illustrious career that includes hallmark stints with Miles Davis, Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers, Donald Byrd, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, as well as a heralded career as a solo artist that began more than 30 years ago, Kenny Garrett is easily recognized as one of modern jazz’s brightest and most influential living masters. And with the marvelous Sounds From The Ancestors, the GRAMMY® Award-winning Garrett shows no signs of resting on his laurels.