JazzNights is a series of house concerts begun in 2002 by Mary Wisnovsky and Maitland Jones. Over the years, we have hosted some of the best jazz musicians in the world. We would be pleased to have you join us; just browse the website and contact us if you are interested. Reservations by email to: mjjr@princeton.edu. 

JazzNights (99*)

May 18, 2025, 4 pm

Eri Yamamoto (piano), David Ambrosio (bass), Ikuo Takeuchi (drums)

On Sunday, May 18th at 4 pm JazzNights will present a wonderful trio led by  pianist Eri Yamamoto.

 Why #99 and not the in sequence #111? Why the asterisk?  This gig was twice cancelled by Covid-related issues. So here we recycle to the original number. I knew you were wondering.

 JazzNights thanks Donna Marie Ritz for a kind donation in memory of Paul Fichtner, a great jazz fan.

 The event will be held in the Hockaday/Jones Barn at 78 Moores Mill Mt. Rose Road, Hopewell, NJ 08525. Directions are posted on our website. We are asking for a contribution of $55 per person. As always, we offer about two hours of great music, good snacks, and an open bar.

Please email your reservation to mjjr@princeton.edu. You can either send me a check at the address above or pay at the door. If you reserve but can’t make it, PLEASE let me know by email so we can give away your reservation to someone on the wait list. At the last event no-shows left 5 people on the waitlist who could have attended.

 Eri Yamamoto came to the US  from Japan in 1995, and was transformed from a classical pianist by hearing the great Tommy Flanagan. There’s no better intro to jazz piano than Tommy! Since then she has become one of the best of today’s jazz pianists. She has traveled the world and made many recordings, many with this very trio. She has also recorded solo and is the creator of the acclaimed Goshu Ondo Suite, a work for trio and vocal chorus Some of you heard her in one of her two earlier (2016, 2021) appearances at JazzNights playing piano four-hands with Bruce Barth.

 Longevity for a jazz group is a thing of the past, alas. In the old days, groups often had long gigs – three months at the Five Spot for Monk for example. Now one or two-night stands are typical, or if one is lucky a weekend. Although one does still get a week at the Vanguard – good for them!

 Long gigs allowed the musicians to get to know their colleagues’ musical personalities well, to experiment in finding what worked and to generate new material. All that is long gone now. But there was a fortunate exception. Eri Yamamoto’s trio had a twenty-year weekend gig at Arthur’s Tavern, now happily reopened post-covid. I can’t tell if that almost-every-weekend gig will be reestablished, but I do see that she is playing again, with this trio, at Arthur’s.

 That long-standing togetherness shows in this trio’s work. They understand each other and the connectedness of their individual instruments is apparent throughout their many recordings.  You can hear it firsthand in May – please join us.