Jimmy Greene, saxophone

with John Toomey Trio

Widely regarded by critics and musicians as one of the most important saxophonists of his generation, Jimmy Greene has been recording and playing live shows since the late 1990s, but last fall he came to the attention of a broader audience when National Public Radio did a story about his new release, A Beautiful Life—an album celebrating the life of his daughter, Ana Márquez-Greene, one of the children who died in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. "I want the music to reflect the way that Ana lived," Greene says. He fulfills that mandate with an intense, cohesive, genre-spanning program that juxtaposes the hardcore instrumental jazz for which he is best known with traditional spirituals, contemporary Christian music, standard ballads and three original songs framing his own lyrics.

Co-presented with Virginia Arts Festival