Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration Tickets

Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration Tickets

Every fall, Birdland turns its stage over to the music of Bud Powell, the bebop pianist whose reharmonized lines reshaped jazz piano. Drummer Steve Smith has anchored this tribute for several years, assembling a different cast of top New York players each October to dig into Powell's catalog. This year's edition adds guitarist Pasquale Grasso, a first for a tribute that has stayed piano-led until now. Grab your Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration tickets through Event Tickets Center and hear a catalog that still challenges players decades later.

Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration Tour Dates

This year's run at Birdland Theatre New York opens Friday, October 2, 2026, and closes Sunday, October 4, 2026, with two sets each night. The 2026 lineup pairs Tardo Hammer on piano and Pasquale Grasso on guitar with the rhythm section of Lonnie Plaxico on bass and Steve Smith on drums, a different configuration than past years, when pianists Uri Caine and Manuel Valera each led the harmonic side of the band without a guitar chair. This tribute has landed at Birdland every fall since at least 2022, usually timed close to Powell's September 27 birthday.

Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration Set List and Concert Info

The October 2025 edition, with Uri Caine on piano and Lonnie Plaxico on bass alongside Smith, moved through "Cleopatra's Dream," "Wail," "Un Poco Loco," "Danceland," and "Tempus Fugit," pulling from across Powell's discography rather than sticking to his best-known handful of tunes. Sets typically run close to ninety minutes across two shows a night, with plenty of room for the band to stretch out on Powell's famously tricky harmonic turns. Expect a similar range this year, since the point of the tribute has always been variety over repetition, even as the personnel around Smith keep changing.

Buy Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration Tickets Today!

A tribute built around one composer's catalog only works if the band treats the material as a challenge rather than a museum piece, and this lineup has the chops to do exactly that. Adding a guitarist to the frontline for the first time gives this year's arrangements a different texture from the piano-led editions that came before. Secure your Bouncin' With Bud: Bud Powell Celebration tickets through Event Tickets Center.