Harlem Stride Piano

Gualala Arts proudly presents an afternoon of world‑class traditional jazz, led by renowned stride pianist Mike Lipskin, whose lifelong devotion to the Harlem piano tradition has shaped a remarkable career. Lipskin has performed at Carnegie Hall, Davies Symphony Hall, Newport Jazz Festival, and major European venues. He co‑produced the APTV documentary on his mentor Willie “The Lion” Smith, appeared in the landmark film Great Day in Harlem, and contributed photographs he shot at age fifteen. A protégé of Harlem legends Willie the Lion, Luckey Roberts, Eubie Blake, and Donald Lambert, Lipskin later spent 17 years producing at RCA Records, where he helped pioneer acclaimed techniques for restoring historic recordings.

Joining him is celebrated trombonist Dan Barrett, whose résumé includes performing for Benny Goodman, co‑leading the famed Alden–Barrett Quintet, and contributing to major motion pictures such as The Cotton Club, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite, Everyone Says I Love You, and Bullets Over Broadway. Barrett’s compositions and arrangements have appeared on American Playhouse and in Christopher Munch’s The Sleepy Time Gal. His distinguished collaborations include Doc Cheatham, Scott Hamilton, Rosemary Clooney, Ruby Braff, Jay McShann, Buck Clayton, and Goodman himself.

Critics have long admired Barrett’s artistry. As John S. Wilson of The New York Times wrote: “He is one of the delights here, a melodist, a colorist who knows how to use a plunger mute with taste and, in total, a player Duke Ellington would have loved.”

The ensemble also features drummer Benny Amon, praised as “a mature artist with large heartfelt visions and sensitivity… a spectacularly fine drummer… he swings no matter what the tempo.” Amon’s years in New Orleans included regular performances at Preservation Hall, Snug Harbor, Palm Court Jazz Café, and aboard the Steamboat Natchez. His international touring spans Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, with appearances at major festivals including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, and Brazil’s I LOVE JAZZ Festival.

Rounding out the program is vocalist Dinah Lee, celebrated for her deeply expressive interpretations of traditional jazz and the Great American Songbook. Her career has included work with Arizona’s Riverboat Ramblers, the Notables, her own Men of Note, and performances in France with Louis Mazatier and Paris Washboard. She has sung with Mike Lipskin, Paul Mehling, and Dan Levinson, and has been accompanied by jazz greats Dick Hyman and Terry Waldo in New York and San Francisco.