This month brings with it a new Julián and Friends, highlighting the music of featured artist Brandon Woody.
The Julián and Friends composers showcase, created to celebrate and serve as a platform for young composers-instrumentalists, is in its second year at the Jazz Showcase. Each monthly presentation seeks to expand the intergenerational conversation of Black American Music with experimental and forward thinking original programs.
Julián Pujols Quall
A Dominican-American pianist and composer from Chicago, Julián´s journey started with the Caribbean rhythms of their childhood. A classically trained artist, their work found a home in jazz performance, improvisation, and collaboration.
Julián is a recent Jazz Performance graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where they studied with Warren Wolf as a recipient of the Merit School of Music's Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-Free Conservatory Blue Ribbon Scholarship. As a solo pianist they have studied at the Aspen Music Festival, Gijón Piano Festival, Brevard Music Festival and Colburn Piano Festival.
As a founding member of the Peabody Improvisers Collective Julián developed experimental collaborative programs and has been creating and performing improvisational music for ballet, modern and West-African dance programs in Baltimore and Chicago for the last three years. In addition to Julián and Friends, they formed Mamey, a music project that seeks to deepen the understanding of the influence the Caribbean arts have had in their musical creative journey and to honor beautiful Dominican traditions and cultural resilience, as they strive to promote new and vibrant art.
Brandon Woody
Baltimore native Brandon Woody was referred to as an artist on the rise in the region by the Baltimore Sun in 2015 at the age of 17. Since then, Woody has gone on to become an international artist, performing with his band, Upendo, curating projects for major museums, collaborating with international brands and performing at major venues and institutions around the globe. Woody uses music as a tool for healing, genuine connection and celebrating community.
Woody started his own band, UPENDO in 2015. Since then, the group has gone on to perform Nationally, internationally with regular concerts across the east coast. Upendo’s concert experiences are comprised of original music composed by Woody and fellow Upendo collaborator, Troy Long. Woody has also had the privilege of performing alongside artists such as Stefon Harris, Steve Wilson, Casey Benjamin, Tarus Mateen, Tim Green, Theljon Allen, Sean Jones, Robert Glasper, Derrick Hodge, Solange, Craig Alston, Terri-Lyne Carrington, Quincy Phillips, Benny Maupin, Jon Faddis and Danilo Perez, who have all greatly influenced his artistry and musical taste.
Woody’s career as a composer and recording artist has granted him the opportunity to score films such as Unwavering: The Power of Black innovation, The Unveiling of God, Keep What You Sow, Aliferous, Paint it Black Baltimore and Three Blind Mice. Woody has also produced and arranged horns for Emma Vie, Sudan Archives, Tye Tribet, Miranda Curtis, Kevin Sinatra and Klein. Woody also had the opportunity of casting musicians and acting as a band leader in an upcoming Apple TV series, Lady in the Lake to be released in the fall of 2023.
In 2021, Woody was named a Bach/Conn endorsed Artist and was named the Best musician to watch by the Baltimore Magazine in 2022. Brandon’s other accolades include the 2021 Best Musician of the Year Award by the Baltimore Crown Awards, 2020 Emerging Voice Award by the Festival of New Trumpet and articles by the Baltimore Banner, Baltimore Sun, True Laurels, BmoreArt, Makers of the USA, Paper Magazine and Schone Magazine.
TICKETS
General Admission $20
VIP $30
Student Tickets $15
Available at the door ONLY with valid student ID
