about this event

Beth Lederman (piano), Steven Powell (vocals), and Juli Woods (sax) play a mix of blues, jazz, and gospel.

Beth Lederman is well-known for her sophisticated jazz and rhythmic Brazilian and Latin-jazz piano styles, not only in the Phoenix area but throughout the western United States and from Canada to Mexico. She has been playing professionally for more than 20 years, leading several bands and playing with such well-known names as The Diamonds, Bobbie Vinton, and the Drifters, as well as with local artists such as Dave Cook, Pete Pancrazi, Alice Tatum, Dennis Rowland, Renee Patrick, Paul McDermand, and her own groups, Jazz Con Alma and Novo Mundo. Her music is melodic, fun, fluid, passionate, innovative, heartfelt, rhythmic, eclectic, honest, artistic, humorous, and spontaneous. 

For the past 20 years—with four albums as a leader, several studio projects, and countless worldwide performances—saxophonist, vocalist, and composer Juli Wood has established herself as a solid, swinging, lyrical, and entertaining performer. She has played many jazz clubs and festivals nationally and internationally, including Chicago Jazz Fest, Hyde Park Jazz Fest, Milwaukee’s Summerfest, Chicago’s main jazz clubs—Jazz Showcase, Green Mill, Andy’s, and Katerina’s—Skansen Jazz and Blues (Stockholm , Sweden), Pori Jazz Fest (Finland), Bent J (Aarhus, Denmark), Storyville (Helsinki, Finland), Alandia Jazz Festival  Åland Islands, Finland) and the Made in Chicago jazz festival in Poznan, Poland, to name a few. Wood is in the tradition of saxophonists who were also great vocalists, like Cleanhead Vincent, Eddie Harris, and Louis Jordan. Never has that been more apparent than in 5 4 3 2 1 Juli Wood, her latest recording and most ambitious project to date.