The first artist on the agenda is legendary tenor saxophonist Houston Person. The show will feature Lafayette Harris, Jr. on piano, Matthew Parrish on bass and Quentin E. Baxter on drums.

Person has more than 75 albums recorded as a bandleader. Those albums have appeared on many record labels, including Prestige, Westbound, Mercury, Savoy, Muse, and HighNote Records.

Person knows the music business well – he books his own tours and produces his own albums. As eclectic as he is talented, Person has recorded everything from disco, gospel, pop and R&B to his trademark soulful hard bob. After years as producer and house tenor for HighNote Records (including touring with the late Etta Jones), Person is now known as a master of popular songs played in a relaxed, highly accessible style reminiscent of the great Ben Webster.

A native of Florence, SC, Person remembers his parents listening to a lot of music at home, including jazz. He started out on piano before switching to the tenor sax at age 17. Person went on to study music at South Carolina State College (where was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 1999) and later pursued advanced studies at Hartt College of Music in Hartford, CT. As a member of the United States Air Force band stationed in Germany, he played with Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton, and Don Ellis, later working as a sideman for organist Johnny “Hammond” Smith in the mid ’60s.

Person built his reputation as a leader with a series of soulful recordings for Prestige in the ’60s. For a large part of his career he was best known for his legendary partnership with the great vocalist Etta Jones, which lasted more 30 years until her death in 2001. Recently he performed with vocalist Barbara Morrison, the great Ernie Andrews, and legendary vocalist/pianist Freddy Cole. He’s also worked with Ernestine Anderson, Della Griffin, and Dakota Staton.

Person’s appearances as sideman are also legendary. He can be heard on recordings with Etta Jones, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Dakota Staton, Horace Silver, Charles Earland, Joey DeFrancesco and many others. As a record producer, he’s worked with many artists, including Etta Jones, Freddy Cole, Charles Brown, David ‘Fathead’ Newman, Dakota Staton, and Ernie Andrews.

In 1990, his recording with Ron Carter, Something in Common, won the Independent Jazz Record of the Year Award. That same year, received an Indie Award for his album Why Not?

Other awards have included the prestigious Eubie Blake Jazz Award (1982) and the Fred Hampton Scholarship Fund Image Award (1993). He was honored with “Houston Person/Etta Jones Day” in Hartford County, MD in 1982 and Washington, DC in 1983.