Help us celebrate the release of Both Sides of Joni, a set of jazz arrangements of Joni Mitchell classics by pianist Monika Herzig, featuring award-winning vocalist Alexis Cole with Peter Kienle, Gina Schwarz, and Cassius Goens. Tickets to attend this show are $20 each.

This event will also be livestreamed on BOP STOP's Facebook page at showtime. Accessing the stream is free but donations are encouraged and directly support the band. To donate, select "Donation: Livestream Attendee" (which is a $10 blanket ticket price) as your Ticket Option above.

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Both Sides of Joni is a reimagined set of Joni Mitchell's music arranged by pianist Monika Herzig, interpreted by award-winning vocalist Janiece Jaffe, and recorded with a group of renowned jazz musicians including Greg Ward on saxophone, Jeremy Allen on bass, Carolyn Dutton on violin, and Cassius Goens on drums with guest bassist Peter Kienle.

The Both Sides of Joni project was the product of a period of soul searching during the Covid Summer of 2020. Vocalist Janiece Jaffe started listening closely to Joni Mitchell's music and lyrics with her jazz vocalist ears and found truth and wisdom that inspired her and that she wanted to share with the world to inspire others. She studied the words more deeply and got the urge to re-imagine them in jazz arrangements. "I could almost 'Hear' them!" Together with friend and collaborator Monika Herzig, they spent many summer days of 2020 in the barn with keyboard and masks working out arrangements and rediscovering Joni's music. In March 2021, the arrangements were premiered at the Jazz Kitchen in Indianapolis to most enthusiastic response. Many audience members came together for the first time in over a year and the messages of overcoming challenges, endurance, rebellion, love, and regret rang deep. They decided to record the music with a group of outstanding musicians and with community support from a successful Kickstarter Campaign. Just days after the completion of the Master Recording, Janiece left this world unexpectedly after heart surgery. This album is her legacy and her dream and we are grateful for her musical gift to us to be celebrated throughout 2023 with extensive tours in the US and Europe featuring renowned New York vocalist Alexis Cole.

www.bothsidesofjoni.com/

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Monika Herzig’s career as a jazz pianist/composer spans three decades and dozens of releases, most recently with her all-star group Sheroes featuring the world’s leading female instrumentalists including Jamie Baum, Reut Regev, Leni Stern, Rosa Avila, Jennifer Vincent with guests Ingrid Jensen, Ada Rovatti, Akua Dixon, Lakecia Benjamin, and more. Her composition “Just Another Day in the Office“ is featured in the recent publication New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers (Berklee Press, 2022) compiled under the direction of Terri Lyne Carrington.

SHEROES is a brilliant project involving some of my favorite musicians, spearheaded by Monika Herzig. It is soulful and thoughtful. I especially love their take on “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”- it captures the spirit of the group because there is no stopping great artists from making great music, as demonstrated on this stellar recording. – TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON

Monika is a DownBeat and JazzTimes contributor and served as the editor of Jazz Education in Research and Practice (JAZZ) as well as board member and head of the research committee for the Jazz Education Network (JEN). In 2019, Sheroes played the Jazz Tales Festival in Cairo & Alexandria, Egypt and toured many of Europe’s premiere jazz clubs, such as, Porgy & Bess (Vienna), Unterfahrt (Munich), Theaterhaus Stuttgart Jazztage, the Women in Jazz Festival (Halle) and also can be seen in Kay D. Ray’s documentary In Her Hands: Key Changes in Jazz, alongside their sister contemporary jazz stars, Anat Cohen, Ingrid Jensen, Sherrie Maricle, Grace Kelly among others. Groups under Herzig’s leadership have toured Germany, Italy, Japan and opened for acts such as Tower of Power, Sting and the Dixie Dregs. Herzig is the author of two critically acclaimed books; one with a brilliant forward by Quincy Jones: David Baker: A Legacy in Music (IU Press, 2011) and Chick Corea: A Listener’s Companion (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), which the Darmstadt Jazz Institute attests, “Herzig manages a perfect balance of musical analysis and context for the chosen recordings as well as Chick Corea’s career...easy to read, well-organized and motivates–which is still the highest achievement for music literature–for repeated listening.” Her co-edited volume Jazz and Gender was released in 2022 on Routledge. Since 2020, she is the host of the radio series and podcast Talking Jazz. Currently she serves as Professor of Artistic Research and Dean of Music Education at the Jam Music Lab University in Vienna, Austria.

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Award-winning jazz vocalist Alexis Cole may be the most talented singer to ever hold a top-secret military clearance. A dozen albums into her critically acclaimed career, she may also be the best-kept secret in jazz, a status that’s certain to change as more people are discovering her for themselves.

The year 2009 was a big one for Alexis: She released her first albums on both Motéma Music and Venus Records… and went to Basic Training to prepare for her new job as a jazz singer for the US Army.

During her seven years in the Army’s Big Band, Cole had the opportunity to grow as a musician and a person, sharing the stage with ensembles as diverse as the New York Philharmonic and Kool and the Gang. Alexis continued recording throughout her tour of duty, releasing a string of well-received albums, including four titles for Venus, two for Motema, and two on Chesky Records. She proved her versatility on everything from jazz standards to Paul Simon’s lesser known compositions, to Disney love songs to a project on which she teamed up with a fellow serviceman 50 years her senior, the legendary guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli.

Though Alexis transformed into an insightful interpreter of jazz during her Army years, understandably, her personal advancements and achievements had to take a back seat to her military responsibilities.

Alexis has blossomed since leaving the service in 2016, trading her uniforms and fatigues for sleek cocktail dresses and chic hats, and focusing fully on her art. The singer’s career has taken on exciting new momentum, with recent accomplishments including gigs at celebrated venues like The Carlyle, Carnegie Hall, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Blue Note; and performances as a soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Boston Pops and the Detroit Symphony. Alexis also recently contributed a guest turn on pianist Harold Mabern’s star-studded album Afro Blue, alongside the likes of fellow guests Norah Jones, Gregory Porter, and Jane Monheit.

On the education front, Alexis Cole recently founded the website JazzVoice.com, an online educational community featuring singing classes, professional development workshops and private lessons with some of the top names in vocal jazz. In 2020 she co-founded the annual Virginia Beach Vocal Jazz Summit. She the director of the jazz vocal program at the renowned conservatories at SUNY Purchase and William Paterson University, and is a Jamey Aebersold-sponsored clinician.

Alexis Cole’s freshly reclaimed civilian status has opened a new world where her profound experience can meld more completely with her worldview and personal expression. As the noted jazz journalist Scott Yanow points out, “Alexis Cole grows in power, maturity, and depth each year. She continues to have unlimited potential.” Whether you’re a long-time jazz fan or a newcomer to the art form, you won’t want to miss a single note from this icon in-the-making.