A Jazz Duet of Music Theme Cruise Lineups

Entertainment Cruise Productions’ 2018 The Smooth Jazz Cruise is already sold out, but the company is putting on two more great jazz sailings to be excited for next year: Blue Note at Sea ’18 and The Jazz Cruise ’18.

Blue Note at Sea ’18

Coming January 27 to February 3, 2018 aboard Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Summit in the Caribbean will be Blue Note at Sea ’18. Already on the docket are improvements over this year with more musicians remaining onboard for the length of the cruise and overall more music sets being featured. Blue Note Records, Blue Note Jazz Clubs and Entertainment Cruise Productions are all teaming to select the lineup, and it’s already shaping up to be legendary.

Leading the jazz crew will be multi-Grammy winner Marcus Miller as the Musical Director of Blue Note At Sea. Also repeating from 2017 will be other multi-Grammy winners, Robert Glasper, Lalah Hathaway and David Sanborn.

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Meanwhile, leading the guests will be 22-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master Chick Corea. Special guest in St. Thomas will also be Charles Lloyd joined by by The Marvels (Bill Frisell, Greg Leisz, Reuben Rogers and Eric Harland).

On the vocalist side of things, award-winning Dee Dee Bridgewater and Leslie Odom, Jr. will be gracing the ship with their presences. Also headlining will be NEA Jazz Master and Hammond B-3 player, Dr. Lonnie Smith. More participants are still to be announced.

The Jazz Cruise ’18

Fleshed out even more is The Jazz Cruise ’18 immediately following on Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Summit once more in the Caribbean on February 3-10, 2018, making for the perfect double feature of theme cruises. Proving the most difficult has been choosing the lineup from such a wide selection of musicians, however. The solution: dividing regulars, returnees of some form and newcomers into thirds, and even then there are four distinct categories everyone fits into.

Legends in 2018 will include Houston Person, John and Jeff Clayton, Lewis Nash, Monty Alexander, Byron Stripling, Brecker Brothers Reunion Band and Arturo Sandoval. When the ship is docked in New Orleans, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band will also come aboard, and Herlin Riley will perform at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Theater.

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Vocalists in 2018 will encompass Kurt Elling, Nnenna Freelon, Roberta Gambarini, Ann Hampton Callaway, John Pizzarelli, New York Voices and Niki Haris.

Performing groups in 2018 will extend to the Clayton Brothers Quintet, Trio da Paz, Houston Person Quartet, The Cookers and Jeff Hamilton Trio.

Lastly, the big band all stars in 2018 will be comprised of leader Shelly Berg; pianists Renee Rosnes, Allen Farnham, Gerald Clayton, Tamir Hendelman and Ted Rosenthal; reed players Jimmy Greene, Eric Marienthal, Dick Oatts, Bob Mintzer, Gary Smulyan, Ken Peplowski, Anat Cohen, Ada Rovatti and Alex Han; drummers Ernie Adams, Dennis Mackrel, Lewis Nash, Tim Horner and Rodney Holmes; horn players John Fedchock, John Allred, Robin Eubanks, Jennifer Wharton, Tony Kadleck, Sean Jones, Michael Rodriguez, James Morrison and Wycliffe Gordon; and bassists David Finck, Tom Kennedy, Nicki Parrott, Martin Wind and Christoph Luty.

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