Harvey Diamond Quartet Featuring Francisco Mela

World-renowned drummer Francisco Mela will join the Harvey Diamond Quartet, along with Phil Grenadier and Jon Dreyer, for a performance on Sunday, February 27 at 8:00 at the New School of Music, 25 Lowell St, Cambridge MA. Free parking in lot.

Francisco Mela has been in the McCoy Tyner Trio, the Joe Lovano Quartet, his own Crash Trio, and has recorded and performed with many other greats including Kenny Barron, Gary Bartz, JoAnne Brackeen, Paquito D’Rivera, George Garzone, Lionel Loueke, Jason Moran, John Patitucci, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Chucho Valdés, and Kenny Werner. Along with flawless technique and infectious sense of swing, he brings passion and warmth wherever he plays.

Legendary jazz pianist Harvey Diamond has graced the Boston area for decades with his music which is at once both deeply intricate and deeply emotional to even the most casual listener. A student of Lennie Tristano through Tristano’s last decade, Harvey has performed with NEA Jazz Masters Sheila Jordan, Dave Liebman, and Art Farmer, and also with many other great musicians including Charles Neville, Herb Pomeroy, Harvie S, John Abercrombie, George Mraz, Jay Clayton, Joe Hunt, Don Alias, Billy Drummond, Jason Palmer, Cameron Brown, Marc Johnson, and Marcus McLaurine. After decades of patience by his fans, he has finally released some recordings, including It Could Happen To You with Domenic Landolf, Arne Huber and Jorge Rossy (2019); Look Up For Down with Hannah Rose Diamond, Jamie MacDonald, and Claire Arenius (2019); Fair Weather with Cameron Brown (2018); and The Harvey Diamond Trio with Marcus McLaurine and Satoshi Takeishi (2015). Harvey has been described as “one of the unsung heroes of the Boston jazz scene since the mid-1960’s,” both as a performer and as a revered teacher. He plays with a rare combination of technique, intellect, subtlety and heart.

Throughout a career that spans nearly three decades, trumpeter Phil Grenadier has emerged as one of jazz’s most imaginative and innovative players. His two albums as leader, 2000’s Sweet Transients and 2003’s Playful Intentions, have won him copious international acclaim, while his collaborations with a broad array of notable musicians demonstrate the raw talent and adventurousness that led the San Jose Mercury News to call him “a trumpeter of rare fluency and depth.” He has performed with Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, George Shearing, Tony Bennett, Carlos Santana, James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr., Dionne Warwick, Bob Belden, Richie Beirach, Ethan Iverson, Bill Stewart, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jeff Ballard, Steve Swallow, Kenny Barron and countless other greats.

Bassist Jon Dreyer is one of Harvey Diamond’s closest collaborators. He also performs regularly with James Merenda, both as a member of his high-energy, jazz-ish band TickleJuice and also in more mainstream jazz settings. He has performed with NEA jazz masters Dave Liebman and Sheila Jordan as well as most of the Boston jazz community, including Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Jason Palmer, Adam Janjigian, Yoko Miwa, Frank Wilkins, Dominique Eade, Bob Gullotti, Joe Hunt, Steve Langone, and Austin McMahon.