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 The Young Cats Are Back!  The Clef Club will be hosting a recital to feature our students’ progress! Come join us to celebrate our students, new and old! Participants must wear formal attire. These cats must arrive at 9AM!  

Join the Chamber Orchestra for Improvisionaries: a season -long exploration of the art of improvisation. The Chamber Orchestra , in partnership with the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz, will celebrate this landmark season with a variety of programs exploring the art of improvisation spanning the 17 th through 21 st centuries. It will illuminate the immensely varied and colorful musical trajectory which supplied an essential framework to the birth of jazz, as well as the myriad links between jazz and classical music. The season will culminate with the premiere of a new work by COP’s Steven R. Gerber Composer-in Residence, Adam Vidiksis featuring players from the Clef Club.

Master Class March 16,2018 | Invitation only Concert March 17 ,2018 | 1 show – 2 Sets (To Purchase tickets click HERE) Featuring: Arturo O’Farrill, piano Ivan Renta, saxophone James Seeley, trumpet Rafi Malkiel, trombone Vince Cherico, drums Carlos Maldonado, percussion Keisel

Sy Smith is an American singer, songwriter, musician, actress, and music producer. Yahzarah is a Ghanaian American singer and music producer. Hil St. Soul is a R & B group that originated the United Kingdom, comprised of singer-songwriter comprised of

Standing in the Shadows of Motown is a 2002 documentary film directed by Paul Justman that recounts the story of The Funk Brothers, the uncredited and largely unheralded studio musicians who were the house band that Berry Gordy handpicked in 1959.

An intimate conversation and performance series hosted by Kindred The Family Soul. Christopher Williams is an American R & B singer and actor.

A documentary that follows jazz legend Clark Terry over four years to document the mentorship between Terry and 23-year-old blind piano prodigy Justin Kauflin as the young man prepares to compete in an elite, international competition.

An exploration of the relationship between jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen, who was implicated in his murder in 1972.

Special performance with students from AMLA and the Philadelphia Clef Club. To purchase tickets click HERE. Suzzette Ortiz, a passionate pianist, composer, choral conductor, and educator has been serving her communities with the gift of music from her humble beginnings

Les Nubians is a French musical duo composed of sisters Helen and Celia Faussart from Paris, France. Contemporary R & B Music of Africa, Neo soul.

1 show - 2 Sets

Miguel Zenon - alto sax
Luis Perdomo - piano
Hans Glawischnig - bass
Henry Cole - drums

The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts in collaboration with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, celebrate the 100th anniversary of many Philadelphia Jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane.

The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts in collaboration with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, celebrate the 100th anniversary of many Philadelphia Jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane.

Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz Education Department's Student Final Recital

The Jazz Summer Camp is a two-week intensive program that provides Jazz education to Philadelphia youth.  For the past twelve years the summer camp has been providing classes in: composition and arrangement, solving syncopation and other anomalies, and applied music theory

The Keystone Jazz Collective is a collaboration of Jazz artists, based in the State of Pennsylvania, coming together to bring to light the historical and contemporary contributions to Jazz music by Pennsylvanians.  Pennsylvania has birthed and nurtured many composers, musicians,

PNC Arts Alive presents Jazz Cultural Voices.  The PNC Arts Alive initiative has demonstrated a belief in the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts and a commitment to providing us with the funding that makes this event possible.

Legendary Soul Artist and Bandleader Dies in Philadelphia
Recording Artists Pay Their Respects to Donald Gardner

A memorial service will be held October 11th and 12th at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts located at 738 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be given to The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.

Contact: Carla Washington, lchines@verizon.net, 267-471-2573

Philadelphia, September 8, 2018 – Jazz and R&B fans and stars are mourning the death of an internationally recognized singer, songwriter and drummer. Donald Gardner worked with some of the greatest singers of his time such as Curtis Mayfield. He died on September 4th. He was 87.

Gardner began performing as a self-taught professional drummer and singer while he was still a teenager in 1947. The biggest hit that he wrote and performed was, “Need Your Lovin,” which rose to number 4 on the R&B charts in 1962 and was later recorded by Otis Redding, Tom Jones, Jackie Wilson and many others.

Audiences in the U.S. as well as Europe were captivated by Gardner’s mix of R&B tunes with jazzy overtones, which would later be known as “soul” music. After enjoying initial success as a solo singer, he created his first music group in 1953 called the Sonotones. It was when he hired Dee Dee Ford as his new keyboardist that the group hit the R&B charts in the early 1960’s with such hits as Glory of Love, Don’t You Worry and Need Your Lovin.

In the 1970’s he teamed up with Baby Washington for their hit Lay A Little Lovin’ On Me. He continued to perform as a solo artist and remained in music as an artist and repertoire (A&R) manager and nightclub owner into the 1980s. Gardner became board president of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts in the early 1990s where he passionately protected the organization’s mission to preserve the legacy of jazz and help young jazz musicians hone their skills. Among the many mourning his death is guitarist, singer and songwriter George Benson.

“He encouraged me to try out as a guitar player for Jack McDuff’s organ quartet,” said Benson. “I believed I had no chance of getting that gig, but Don was confident that I could achieve my goal. I tried out and I got the gig. I was 19 years old and that was the beginning of a career I could never had imagined.”

Throughout his career Gardner inspired and collaborated with some of the greatest musical talents of all time, including Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine and Count Basie to name a few. He is survived by; his son Darryl Baynes (Linda); daughter, Trina Reaves (Edmund); seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and other relatives and friends.

A memorial service will be held October 11th and 12th at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts located at 738 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be given to The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.

Contact: Carla Washington, lchines@verizon.net, 267-471-2573

Legendary Soul Artist and Bandleader Dies in Philadelphia
Recording Artists Pay Their Respects to Donald Gardner

A memorial service will be held October 11th and 12th at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts located at 738 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be given to The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.

Contact: Carla Washington, lchines@verizon.net, 267-471-2573

Philadelphia, September 8, 2018 – Jazz and R&B fans and stars are mourning the death of an internationally recognized singer, songwriter and drummer. Donald Gardner worked with some of the greatest singers of his time such as Curtis Mayfield. He died on September 4th. He was 87.

Gardner began performing as a self-taught professional drummer and singer while he was still a teenager in 1947. The biggest hit that he wrote and performed was, “Need Your Lovin,” which rose to number 4 on the R&B charts in 1962 and was later recorded by Otis Redding, Tom Jones, Jackie Wilson and many others.

Audiences in the U.S. as well as Europe were captivated by Gardner’s mix of R&B tunes with jazzy overtones, which would later be known as “soul” music. After enjoying initial success as a solo singer, he created his first music group in 1953 called the Sonotones. It was when he hired Dee Dee Ford as his new keyboardist that the group hit the R&B charts in the early 1960’s with such hits as Glory of Love, Don’t You Worry and Need Your Lovin.

In the 1970’s he teamed up with Baby Washington for their hit Lay A Little Lovin’ On Me. He continued to perform as a solo artist and remained in music as an artist and repertoire (A&R) manager and nightclub owner into the 1980s. Gardner became board president of the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts in the early 1990s where he passionately protected the organization’s mission to preserve the legacy of jazz and help young jazz musicians hone their skills. Among the many mourning his death is guitarist, singer and songwriter George Benson.

“He encouraged me to try out as a guitar player for Jack McDuff’s organ quartet,” said Benson. “I believed I had no chance of getting that gig, but Don was confident that I could achieve my goal. I tried out and I got the gig. I was 19 years old and that was the beginning of a career I could never had imagined.”

Throughout his career Gardner inspired and collaborated with some of the greatest musical talents of all time, including Dinah Washington, Billy Eckstine and Count Basie to name a few. He is survived by; his son Darryl Baynes (Linda); daughter, Trina Reaves (Edmund); seven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and other relatives and friends.

A memorial service will be held October 11th and 12th at the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts located at 738 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19146. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be given to The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts.

Contact: Carla Washington, lchines@verizon.net, 267-471-2573

Barry Harris is a renowned pianist/educator and NEA Jazz Master.  

PNC Arts Alive presents Jazz Cultural Voices. The PNC Arts Alive initiative has demonstrated a belief in the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts and a commitment to providing us with the funding that makes this event possible.

PNC Arts Alive presents Jazz Cultural Voices. The PNC Arts Alive initiative has demonstrated a belief in the Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz & Performing Arts and a commitment to providing us with the funding that makes this event possible.