Little Huey Not So Little Anymore

  I  

William Parker’s Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra will celebrate its 10th anniversary with two performances on Feb. 28 downstairs at New York City’s St. Nicholas (288 10th St.).

Little Huey plans to perform “Endless” at 8 p.m. and “Abur” at 10 p.m. Tickets are available at the door and will run patrons$15 per set with a $5 drink minimum.

Parker started the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra in January 1984 at Manhattan’s University of the Streets. Influenced by Mingus’ and Sun Ra’s large ensembles, he wanted to create a large ensemble that could work like a small one. Though his arrangements require discipline and attentiveness, they also allow for artistic freedom among the group’s members. According to Parker, “I bring in a foundation, and the musicians do the building.”

The Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra is composer/bassist William Parker; trumpeters Roy Campbell Jr., Lewis Barnes and Matt Lavelle; trombonists Masahiko Kono, Alex Lodico and Dick Griffin; saxophonists Rob Brown, Charles Waters, Henry Warner, Sabir Mateen and Dave Sewelson; drummers Guillermo E. Brown and Andrew Barker; and poet David Budbill.

For more information, call (212) 696-6681 or visit www.visionfestival.org



  • Sheila_Jordan_by_Mark_Sheldon_copy.jpeg

    Jordan was a dyed-in-the-wool bebopper whose formative musical experiences were with Charlie Parker.

  • DownBeat_palmieri.jpg

    “I don’t guess I’m going to excite you; I know I’m going to excite you,” Palmieri said in an August 1994 DownBeat feature.

  • Buster_Williams_by_Jimmy_Katz_copy.jpg

    “What I got from Percy was the dignity of playing the bass,” Buster Williams said of Percy Heath.

  • 02_Ryan_Truesdell_%28studio%2C_conducting%29%2C_photo_by_TODD_CHALFANT_lo_res.jpg

    ​“I love the place that fate or whatever has positioned me in Gil Evans’ life and legacy,” said Ryan Truesdell.

  • Don_and_Maureen_Sickler_by_Richard_Halterman_copy_2.jpg

    Don and Maureen Sickler serve as the keepers of engineer Rudy Van Gelder’s flame at Van Gelder Studio, perhaps the most famous recording studio in jazz history.