JazzKat Entertainment Presents

JazzKat Entertainment features the most gifted and accomplished jazz artists of our time.

Allen’s 56th B-Day Celebration

Sunday, May 21, 2023, 4-6PM
Harvelles Long Beach

Pricing at the Door:
General Admission: $28
VIP Admission: $35

Michael Manson

Sunday, July 16, 2023, 4-6PM
Harvelles Long Beach

His passion and precision are displayed with both unrelenting power and laid-back grace on the album that, he says, “reflects the deepest expression of all I have felt making music for the last twenty 25 years.” On Michael Manson’s new CD “A Ray of Hope” (2021), he is credited for writing and production.

For this album, Michael has collected the who’s who of Smooth Jazz: Najee, Darren Rhan, Jeff Lorber, Nick Colionne, Lin Roundtree, Paul Jackson Jr., Jeff Lorber, and the legendary George Duke, and many more great jazz musicians. This album is an excellent mix of contemporary jazz, R&B, and even a little gospel. Stay tuned for more details and ticket information! https://www.mikemanson.com/

Buy your tickets now!

Pricing at the Door:
General Admission: $28
VIP Admission: $35

Skinny Hightower

Sunday, August 6, 2023, 4-6PM
Harvelles Long Beach

Mind Over Matter is chart-topping jazz pianist Skinny Hightower’s fourth studio album on Trippin’N’Rhythm Records. A nod to his life philosophy, this body of work resumes the path started by the critically acclaimed album Retrospect while journeying somewhere further than Blue Moon.

As with his previous works, Mind Over Matter offers a much-needed change in direction, this time to embody the changes he’s made within himself. It’s jazz, but it’s smooth, peppered with an intricate brand of playing that draws from the likes of Keith Jarrett, Michel Petrucciani, and Brad Mehldau. A touch outside but always returning home; this best describes Hightower in his current state.

Tagged with his moniker by his fellow Army buddies when they found out he was a jazz musician, the (at the time) skinny Mr. Hightower satisfied his musical curiosity at only two years of age when he sat behind a drum set for the first time. This interest in drums would continue throughout his life and in later years transfer to the piano. He would go on to sign a record deal with Trippin’N’Rhythm Records while in the military with intentions to only be a producer. However, the allure of the piano drew his attention late in his career, as recently as 2020.

Despite his late arrival to the love of piano, Hightower has acquired numerous Billboard singles, three of which ascended to the number one spot on the US Jazz (Smooth) chart. Hightower believes that his career has started anew with his most recent work.

“The pandemic forced me to grow from the inside out. I had to look at myself in every respect and ask myself how I could improve. How could I become a better person as well as a more skillful musician? Initially, I realized that I needed to take my Christianity more seriously. As I drew closer to God and began working on who I am rather than simply what I do, I quickly realized the utter magnitude of thought. As your thoughts go, your life flows. That’s the essence of Mind Over Matter.”