Roberta Piket Trio LIVE! - Third Thursday JazZ At La Zingara In Bethel CT

La Zingara Ristorante, 8 PT Barnum Square, Bethel, CT,

Seating at 6:30, jazz from 7 to 9

Tickets $15 at Eventbrite

$20 at the door. Dinner and drinks a la carte

Pianist & Organist: Roberta Piket  - 2018 Downbeat Critics’ Poll Winner (Rising Star, Organ) and 16th in the Rising Star category for Piano. In the 2018 Downbeat Readers’ Poll, Roberta was voted 8th in the Jazz Artist category, 7th in the Piano category and 5th in the Organ category. Roberta has performed with David Liebman, Rufus Reid, Lionel Hampton, Juini Booth, Victor Jones, Ted Curson, Mickey Roker, Harvey Wainapel, Eliot Zigmund, Virginia Mayhew, Billy Mintz and the BMI/NY Jazz Orchestra, and was thrice a featured guest on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz, on National Public Radio. 

Roberta hails from Queens, NY. where her father and composer Frederick Piket, started Roberta at the age of 7 navigating the 88s. She began playing jazz in her early teens, studying jazz piano with Walter Bishop, Jr and classical piano with Vera Wels before going on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz Piano from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied privately with Fred Hersch, Stanley Cowell, and Bob Moses. After graduation, Roberta returned to New York City where she studied for six years with Richie Beirach and also studied briefly with Sofia Rosoff. Roberta is highly regarded as a teacher and  has held master classes at numerous prestigious institutions including the Eastman School of Music, Rutgers University and Duke University as well as in Europe and Japan.

Saxophonist/composer/arranger/bandleader: Virginia Mayhew (selected by Downbeat magazine as a “Rising Star”)  broke into the  New York City jazz scene in 1987, and has led her own groups for over 25 years. She currently leads several quartets, a quintet, and a septet. Virginia has worked with renowned artists including: Earl “Fatha” Hines, Cab Calloway, Frank Zappa, James Brown, Norman Simmons, Al Grey, Junior Mance, Joe Williams, Chico O’Farrill, Marlena Shaw, to Toshiko Akiyoshi, Kenny Barron, Leon Parker, Ingrid Jensen, Claudio Roditi, Nnenna Freelon, and many others. Virginia has been a guest on Marian McPartland’s “Piano Jazz”, a featured artist on NPR’s ‘All Things Consideredʼ, and has appeared on ‘Jazz Set’ with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She was selected by Downbeat magazine as a “Rising Star”, and has been the subject of several feature articles in Downbeat, Jazztimes and Jazziz magazines.

Virginia has appeared in most of New York City’s major jazz venues including: Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Town Hall, Jazz Standard, Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Smalls, and has performed throughout the world. She has been featured as a leader at many jazz festivals throughout the world and has traveled twice as a representative of the United States as a Jazz Ambassador, once to the Newly Independent States and a second time to Southeast Asia.

Early in her career, Virginia worked with veteran trombonist Al Grey and is featured on his 1992 release, “FAB” (Capri), and contributed several arrangements to his 1995 CD, “Centerpiece” (Telarc). Additionally, She performed for several years with Brazilian trumpeter Claudio Roditi, and was part of “Dreamin’ the Duke”, featuring Nnenna Freelon, Harolyn Blackwell, Mike Garson, and Terell Stafford. 

Percussionist: Billy Mintz began his professional career at 15 he was playing in the show bands of the Catskill Mountain resorts. By his twenties, in New York City, he was recording with the Lee Konitz Nonet (1978), Kundalini with Perry Robinson and Badal Roy, the Eddie Daniels Quartet, Gloria Gaynor, and the Harold Danko Quartet. In 1981 Mr. Mintz relocated to Los Angeles where he was a member of the Mike Garson Trio with Stanley Clarke ; the Kim Richmond Sextet; the Bobby Shew Quintet, the Joey Sellers Jazz Aggregation, the Vinny Golia Quartet, the Mose Allison Trio and with Mark Murphy

In LA, Mintz performed with the Bill Mays Quartet, as well as with Road Work Ahead, with Mr. Mays, Bob Magnusson and Peter Sprague. In 1988 he toured Europe with saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s band. Mr. Mintz has authored two books: “Different Drummers” (AMSCO Publishing) and “Advanced Sticking and Sight-Reading” (BM Publications). His articles have been published in Not Just Jazz and Modern Drummer magazines.

Mintz currently lives in New York, where he performs with the Alan Broadbent Trio, Roberta Piket Trio, and Tony Malaby, among others. He leads the Billy Mintz Band and the Two Bass Band, a ten-piece ensemble.