TICKETS are $12 General/$6 Student. Concert is one long set. End time is approximately 9:00 pm.

Alyssa Allgood is an award-winning jazz vocalist, composer, arranger and educator with a compelling voice in the modern jazz landscape. Described as “assured and daring” by Downbeat Magazine and “a model of sophisticated song interpretation” by the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago-based artist boldly weaves soulful storytelling and rich improvisational language through original compositions, captivating arrangements, and a lyrical focus of self-love and human connection. Allgood returns to Merriman's Playhouse in support of her exhilarating new album, “From Here."

Alyssa Allgood - vocals

Julius Tucker - piano

Jon Deitemyer - drums

Ethan Philion - bass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPePMyz9pk&t=5s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=727U68tygwk&t=8s

https://orcd.co/qjxmjaj  - new album streaming links will be live April 19

Alyssa Allgood is an award-winning jazz vocalist, composer, arranger, and educator with a compelling voice in the modern jazz landscape. Described as “assured and daring” by Downbeat Magazine and “a model of sophisticated song interpretation” by the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago-based artist boldly weaves soulful storytelling and rich improvisational language through original compositions, captivating arrangements, and a lyrical focus of self-love and human connection. She won the Inaugural Ella Fitzgerald Competition (2017) and the David Baker Memorial Scholarship (2022) through the Jazz Education Network. Named “Best Jazz Singer” in the Chicago Music Awards, Allgood has performed at many distinguished venues including Jazz at Lincoln Center Shanghai, Shadboldt Centre for the Arts in British Columbia, Birdland Jazz Club, the Chicago Jazz Festival, Green Mill and Jazz Showcase. Allgood returns to Merriman’s Playhouse to celebrate her exhilarating fourth album, “From Here”, which was recorded with internationally renowned musicians John Patitucci, Kendrick Scott, Geoffrey Keezer and Greg Ward.

Jon Deitemyer has established himself as a unique and versatile voice in modern jazz drumming. After graduating from the esteemed University of North Texas where he studied with Ed Soph and Lynn Seaton, Jon settled in Chicago and quickly became a fixture in the city's expansive creative music community. Jon has performed and/or recorded with Matt Ulery (Greenleaf), Zach Brock, Alyssa Allgood, Ethan Iverson, Patricia Barber (Concord), Phil Markowitz, Paul Mutzabaugh’s Unknown New, Ben Paterson (MaxJazz), Grazyna Auguscik (EMI), Renee Fleming, Lynne Arriale, and American Public Media’s “Prairie Home Companion”. Jon is also an active educator, with positions at Northwestern University and Loyola University. In 2016 Jon debuted the full-length album Tall Taleson ears&eyes Records. Jon is a proud partner of Canopus Drums.

Ethan Philion is an award-winning bassist, composer, and bandleader based in Chicago. Philion has been praised by the Washington Post for his "well-honed chops and astounding musicality” His debut album, Meditations on Mingus, was commended as “a labor of conspicuous love and respect for a musical titan” by Downbeat Magazine and his follow up quartet album Gnosis received rave reviews from Downbeat, Jazz Thing, Frankfurter Allgemeine, JAZZIZ, and more. He has led bands across the country at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, The Green Mill, Chicago Jazz Fest, Cliff Bell’s, Hyde Park Jazz Fest, An Die Musik, and more. He has performed with an extensive list of jazz artists including Greg Ward, Jon Irabagon, Mark Feldman, Frank Lacy, Russ Johnson, Dana Hall, Howard Levy, Ryan Cohan, Nick Mazzarella, Bobby Broom, Gary Bartz, Alyssa Allgood, Ernest Dawkins, Geof Bradfield, Dee Alexander, Lenard Simpson, Victor Garcia, Mike Allemana, Paul Marinaro, and more.

Philion won the 2019 International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition and won a 2020 Chicago Luminarts Jazz Fellowship. More recently, Philion was selected by the Jazz Institute of Chicago for their 2022 New Works Fresh Voices Fellowship. He was awarded a Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Fellowship in 2015 where he worked with director Jason Moran.

A multitalented and accomplished musician, Julius Tucker is a pianist, composer, bandleader, and producer. His musical voice encompasses a multitude of genres, from jazz to house music. He is especially known for his complex sensitivities and agile fluidity on the piano and keyboard which have become his signature style.

Steadily rising in the Chicagoland area, Tucker has had the opportunity to play at noted venues around town, including The Green Mill, Room 43, Andy’s Jazz Club, Winter’s Jazz Club, Constellation, the Jazz Showcase and The Promontory. He has also been featured at the Chicago and Hyde Park Jazz Fests, as well as many summer concerts throughout the city. Traveling abroad, he was fortunate to play at the JazzIt jazz festival in Italy where we played a multitude of shows alongside musicians from across Italy. A recipient of many awards, Tucker is a Luminarts Fellow and recently was named an Artist in Residence at the Cliff Dwellers Club in Chicago. With a promising future ahead of him, Tucker is eager about continuing to share his musical talents with enthusiasts and newcomers alike.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Fargo Philanthropic Services Private Trust Foundations, which include grants from the Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation (2020-2021; 2022-2023 seasons), the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation (2021-2022; 2022-2023 seasons), and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust (2021-2022; 2022-2023; 2023-2024 seasons). Special concert event support provided by the Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund grant (2022-2023 season). Activities are made possible in part by the Arts Organization Support (AOS), Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency (2023-2024 season).

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation (2020-2023 seasons). The Student and Home Grown Series concerts made possible, in part, with support from the ArtsEverywhere Grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the Arts Project Support Grant and the Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.