$20 at the door 8:00pm Show
Pianist Kavyesh Kaviraj and trumpeter Omar Abdulkarim present together—for the first time—an evening of original modern jazz and treasured repertoire from the jazz idiom. Kavyesh and Omar will be joined by frequent collaborators, and the Twin Cities’ finest, Kevin Washington on drums and Jeff Bailey on bass.
Minneapolis native Omar Abdulkarim has been playing trumpet since he was 14 months old, having learned from his father, Ahmed Abdulkarim. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the renowned New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He has performed around the world with various groups at the Haitian Jazz Festival; Marians Jazzroom in Bern, Switzerland; and the top clubs in New York, including the Blue Note, Smalls, and Birdland. He has performed and worked with Roy Hargrove, Redman, Method Man, KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Lauryn Hill, Nicholas Payton Television Studio Orchestra, José James, and Valery Ponomarev’s big band. His quintet held a year-long residency at New York’s prestigious Standard Hotel, playing 5 nights a week in the Boom Boom Room. He has also performed in an orchestra and jazz quartet on the largest cruise ship in the world: “The Oasis of the Seas.” He is currently leading his group in the Twin Cities area.
Jeff Bailey is a preeminent bassist in the Twin Cities. He is the director of the Certificate in Music Production Program at Hamline University, and he served as bass department head at McNally Smith College of Music for six years, developing and implementing a curriculum that integrated modern music technology with traditional conservatory culture.
Kavyesh Kaviraj is a critically acclaimed composer, arranger and pianist living and working in Minnesota. The Twin Cities-based musician has worked with several internationally renowned artists, including Wynton Marsalis, David Sanchez, Justin Robinson, Roosevelt Collier, and Steve Cole. Kavyesh graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2018, with a Bachelor of Music in jazz studies and contemporary music. In 2019, Kavyesh received a full tuition grant to pursue a master’s degree at Berklee College’s Global Jazz Institute, where he was under the eminent tutelage of jazz masters including Danilo Perez, Kenny Werner and JoAnne Brackeen. He graduated in 2020 with a Master of Music (MM) degree in contemporary performance.
One of the Twin Cities’ most versatile musicians, drummer Kevin Washington doesn't stick to the jazz of the past. He takes the music to a new level, often incorporating other genres from Afro-Latin to hip hop and R&B beats. The son of saxophonist Donald Washington and singer Faye Washington, Kevin grew up in Detroit immersed in learning music and listening to the jazz greats who came before him. Since moving to the Twin Cities in his teens, he continues to capture the spirit of African and African American music, while making it his own. Kevin is a drumming instructor at Walker West Music Academy and works with the student jazz ensembles.
