The Houston Jazz Collective presents The American Masters Series featuring Blue Note recording artist James Francies with Grammy winning vocalist Bilal accompanied live by the work of acclaimed audiovisual artist Ben Heim.
Embark on a transcendental journey, “….an immersive, multidimensional experience ….. step into (a) world of sounds, textures (and spectacular visual artwork)…”.
“a pianist with liquid dynamism in his touch” New York Times
“…the pianist doesn’t so much compose music as conjure fascinating nebulae of sound.” DownBeat.s
An artist with perfect pitch and the ability to see colors, Mr. Francies has performed and/or recorded with Childish Gambino, Pat Metheny, Drake, Mark Ronson, The Roots, YEBBA, Chris Potter, Common, Eric Harland, Marcus Miller, DJ Dahi, NAS and Ms. Lauryn Hill.
Mr. Fancies’ regular rock-solid trio including Burnis Travis and Jermy Dutton welcome special guest and frequent collaborator, the great jazz artist and vocalist Bilal.
Visual artist Ben Heim’s works have been featured in galleries and public spaces across the world including at OXO Tower Wharf Gallery (London), Times Square, IRCAM’s 2017 Vertigo Conference (Paris), Olsen Gruin Gallery (NYC), Galleri Image (Denmark), and HARPA Concert Hall (Reykjavik) and festivals including Splice Festival (UK), Tallinn Music Week (Estonia), Vivid Sydney (Australia), Digital Art Month (NYC) and the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival (Iceland) and with the London Contemporary Orchestra at the Barbican.
The Houston Jazz Collective is an organization that prides itself on showcasing the rich legacy of Jazz in Houston. They strive to accomplish this by producing and hosting cultural, jazz and tribute related events. Past events have featured critically acclaimed Houston based or native Houston musicians that have gone on to achieve great international notoriety.