It’s Almost Summer and Our Jazz is Heating Up!
In a few days, it will be Summer, as per the calendar. Depending upon where you live, the hot days may have already taken hold. But, even if your mailing address is the North Pole, Summer means jazz festivals and enjoying the great world of jazz!
At Signature Cruise Experiences, our events are heating up as well, as we close out our manifests and finalize the programming for Journey of Jazz ’25 and our ’26 programs, while assembling lineups and determining itineraries for our ’27 programs.
In this edition of Jazz Notes, our jazz consultant, Lee Mergner, will be sharing insights on the amazing lineup of vocalists on Christian McBride’s World at Sea, the return of Monty Alexander to The Jazz Cruise and an insider’s look at Kenny G, poised to perform for the first time on The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘ 26.1 & ‘26.2..
Michael Lazaroff will bring you up to date with the lineup for Botti at Sea ’26 and will share his view as to why Take 6 may be the Band for All Seasons on our programs.
Those stories and more, including a quick update on the upcoming cruises.
Journey of Jazz ’25
Never Sailed With Us? Check This Out!
In just over 80 days, Journey of Jazz ’25 will begin its inaugural sailing. A few staterooms are available even now.
That does not mean that the cruise is not sold out. You see, the staterooms left are available only because a guest has had to cancel their reservation due to illness or other circumstances.
In fact, every stateroom has been reserved at some point in the process, some more than once. Rather than continue to promote those few staterooms, we would like to use them to invite folks who have never sailed with us to do so.
What remains available are a few Veranda and Inside Staterooms. The online Cruise Prices are intended for new guests and those prices have been lowered dramatically. Check it out at https://journeyofjazz.com/pricing/.
Everyone should sail on an SCE Cruise at least once. This is your chance.
Botti at Sea ’26
Full Lineup Coming Soon
While several headliners, Elvis Costello, Boz Scaggs, Melody Gardot, Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle have been announced, since Botti at Sea III does not sail for 15 months, Chris and Signature Cruise Experiences have been very deliberate in completing the lineup for the cruise. We have waited long enough. Sometime between July 9 and July 16, the full (and final) lineup will be announced. You will love it.
The Smooth Jazz Cruise
‘26.1 & ‘26.2 Fully Reserved; ‘26.3 Staterooms Available
Update on ’27
Both The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.1 & ’26.2 are fully reserved. Cancellations will continue to occur, but they are filled immediately from the vast Waitlist. Staterooms are available for The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’26.3, which sails in 450 days.
In response to questions from our guests, we will be announcing the lineup for The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’27.1 & ’27.2 (Caribbean Itinerary) no later than August 15, 2025. The Smooth Jazz Cruise ’27.3, which will have a “first time ever” itinerary, will be presented at the same time, though the lineup will not be confirmed until later.
For those wishing to mark their calendars now, here is the ’27 schedule for The Smooth Jazz Cruise:
The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘27.1: 1.31.27 – 2.7.27
The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘27.2: 2.7.27 – 2.14.27
The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘27.3: 10.13.27 – 10.20.27
The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘26.1 & ‘26.2
It’s Not Just an OG…This is Kenny G
My interview with the iconic smooth jazz saxophonist who talked about his music (and his golf)
Kenny G loves to practice. Although his distinctive saxophone sound seems almost effortless, in fact it’s the result of hours upon hours of picking up that horn every day. “To me practicing is two parts,” he explained. “One part is that you’ve got to get that saxophone and mouthpiece in your mouth. You have to. Otherwise, you lose the muscle control. It’s a physical thing. It’s hours of practicing. I’ll turn on a golf tournament and watch while I’m playing my saxophone. That way I’m going to play longer and stronger.”
The second part is all about the technique. “It’s like a gym,” he said. “You’re exercising. I play every one of my exercises in every key and I play them slow or I play them fast. I try to circular-breathe them. Sometimes I go like 15 minutes without taking my mouthpiece out of my mouth because I’m circular-breathing a bunch of exercises. When I’m done with that, it’s like I take a 5-minute break now. That’s how you work it. So that when I play live, nothing is holding me back from what I want to do with the saxophone.”
The saxophonist sees an analogy with his aforementioned favorite sport. “Jack Nicklaus always said at the driving range, you practice the shots you’re going to use when you play,” said Kenny. “You’re not just going to hit a ball a certain way because you’re at a driving range. My practice sessions are so that when I’m out playing my game, figuratively speaking, then I’m going to be able to recall all these things that are in my muscle memory and they’re going to be licks that are going to be awesome.”
Those references to golf are not the idle comments of a fan or even a weekend hacker. Kenny G is apparently a kick-ass golfer with a scratch handicap, which—for those unfamiliar with the sport’s terminology—means he generally can make par on any course. Most of us mere mortals are happy to break 100, whereas the G-force on an average day is scoring in the ’70s. Perhaps one of the reasons that his playing in both music and golf seems to be related is that he started both at nearly the same age. He was 10 when he picked up both a saxophone and a golf club. The two pursuits have been symbiotically intertwined ever since. “I played in high school on the golf team. When I went to college, I stopped playing. Then when I went on the road, I did play more. Over the years, it’s been in and out of my life a lot.”
It wasn’t until the early ’00s that he got as serious about the sport as he did about the music. “Back in 2005 or so, I decided I wanted to get good and I said, ‘I’m just going to approach it like playing the saxophone, so I need to practice.’ But how do I practice? I have to practice the right things. I have to practice correctly. I sought out teachers. Fortunately, when you have a name that people know, you can make a phone call to people that wouldn’t normally take your call. You can go get a lesson from Tiger Woods’ teacher. I got the information I needed and then I just practiced.”
He takes his clubs with him when he goes on the road and does his best to fit in a round of nine or eighteen holes between all the rigors of touring. And, when he’s home, he practices the golf almost as much as the music.
Make no mistake, whether on the course or on stage, Kenny G is fully prepared to give it his best. We’re looking forward to welcoming him for his debut sailing on The Smooth Jazz Cruise ‘26.1 and ‘26.2.
– Lee Mergner
Christian McBride’s World at Sea
Songs of Singing
It should come as no surprise that McBride’s World at Sea is top-loaded with great vocalists, including Ledisi, Angélique Kidjo, Samara Joy, Cécile McLorin Salvant, José James and Melissa Walker. After all, our host has performed and recorded with numerous pop stars like Queen Latifah, Billie Eilish and James Brown, as well as veritable who’s who of jazz singers.
For Christian, his first experience working with singers came with one of his earliest gigs as a teenager in his hometown of Philadelphia.. He was just 15 years old when he was hired by saxophonist Joe Sudler and his Swing Machine big band that worked at just about every sort of function around town—from weddings to bar mitzvahs to private parties—albeit with a who’s who of local Philly jazz and soul cats including pianist Uri Caine, trumpeter John Swana, drummer David Gibson and saxophonist Zach Zachary.
For the young Christian, it was a crash course as part of the rhythm section for a band that featured vocalist Michelle Beckham, who could sing material from any genre. “I had to be ready for just about any tune that would be called,” he recalled. “The band’s book was huge. I had to learn so many songs and also learn how to think on my feet.”
In the ensuing years, Christian would go on to play with many great singers, and not just jazz stars like Abbey Lincoln, Betty Carter and Diana Krall, but also vocalists in R&B, soul, funk, blues and pop. So when it came to curate McBride’s World at Sea, he knew who he wanted as headliners alongside his various groups—singular vocalists who transcend category. He first met the Afro-pop legend Angélique Kidjo at the grand opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville in 2005. “She basically put her finger in my chest and said, ‘We’re going to play together,’” he laughs.“ Later we recorded one of her hit anthems – ‘Afirika.’ She’s just a force of nature.”
As one of the judges for the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, Christian got an early look at Samara Joy who took the first-place prize in 2019 and who would then go on to become one of the music’s most popular vocalists, with multiple GRAMMY® awards and sold-out tours. “What most impressed me about Samara from the beginning was her diligence in wanting to learn,” Christian explained. “That’s what you want to see in a young musician. But she’s really an old soul.”
Speaking of old souls, Cécile McLorin Salvant seems to have channeled so many jazz greats into her creative DNA, yet has emerged as one of the most important jazz singers of her generation with a voice all her own. Often paired with the gifted pianist Sullivan Fortner, Cécile creates musical tapestries that draw on so many artistic colors. Quick, name the jazz singers who have received the famous MacArthur Fellowship, familiarly known as the Genius Grant? Yep, she’s the only one.
Christian was introduced to Ledisi by Peter Williams, a noted Bay area presenter, who told him, “You have to hear this singer.” He indeed heard her and was knocked out by her facility to sing across many genres – jazz, R&B, soul, blues, etc. – but still retains her own unique voice. “Ledisi is everything – 50% jazz, 50% R&B, 100% soul.”
José James has been a longtime favorite of Christian’s and is yet another vocalist who can sing jazz, as well as R&B, soul and funk. From his acclaimed tribute albums to Billie Holiday and Bill Withers to his own recordings of original music, José has carved out his own path as a once-in-a-generation singer and songwriter. “Way back in 2008, Terri Pontremoli, who was then artistic director of the Detroit Jazz Festival, introduced me to José,” Christian said. “We’ve been close collaborators ever since. It’s his jazz knowledge and understanding of tradition that makes his contemporary sound so amazing.”
Before Melissa Walker was Christian’s wife, he took note of her powerful presence on the ’90s jazz scene, fueled by the Young Lions movement, with a lot of machismo and notes. “It was a time when it was all about the instrumentalists,” Christian said. “But Melissa stood out as a jazz singer who broke through all that instrumental young lion energy.”
Christian’s deep-seated love of vocalists will be on display not only on McBride’s World at Sea, but also on his next two Big Band albums on Mack Avenue, which will feature several of the aforementioned vocalists. More on that later.
– Lee Mergner
The Jazz Cruise ’26
Monty Alexander: His Big Mistake
In recent years, Monty Alexander has performed a retrospective concert spotlighting his long and esteemed career that spans both decades and eras. Coming from Jamaica, Monty might surprise you with some of his early influences that include more than jazz, such as the reggae and ska of his native country as well as calypso and even cowboy music.
“My heroes when I was younger were Roy Rogers and Gene Autry,” Monty explained. “I was a stubborn guy, so when somebody would say, ‘You should do this, you should do that,’ I did the opposite. I never took a lesson. I had a piano teacher who would rap me on the knuckles at seven years old. And I said, ‘The hell with this.’ I went home and I had fun playing boogie-woogie songs and that’s how my career started.”
In his teen years in Kingston, Jamaica, Monty played in a band called Monty & the Cyclones. He was just 18 years old when he came to Miami to play in what he says were bars for gangsters. “Them guys carried guns,” he says. “That’s right, that was my Juilliard.” It was there that Frank Sinatra saw him perform and brought him to New York to play at Jilly’s Saloon, a club on 49th Street owned by Sinatra’s longtime friend and aide Jilly Rizzo. As the house pianist there in the early ‘60s, Alexander met and befriended many of his heroes, including Duke Ellington, Milt Jackson, Ray Brown and Miles Davis.
Monty would become friends with Davis, who amongst other things shared his interest in a particular sport. “It was a hell of a time,” he recalls. “I would stop at Miles’s apartment and he had signs that said, ‘Go away.’ I’d knock on the door and he’d say, ‘Who’s there?’ I’d say, ‘Monty.’ He’d say, ‘Monty, come on in.’ And I’d hang out with him. I got to know Miles really well. We both loved boxing and me and Miles went to the Garden for boxing matches.” Davis also shared with Monty a deep appreciation for Ahmad Jamal.
Ellington in particular looms large for Monty, not just because of his musical influence, but also because he wrote a letter on Monty’s behalf to the Department of Immigration so that the pianist could remain in the U.S. Milt Jackson and Ray Brown took a young Monty under their wings and Monty would pay it forward with our friends John Clayton and Jeff Hamilton, who were both barely out of college when he took them on tour and recorded the seminal album Montreux Alexander in 1976.
“They all impacted me in such a personal way because I never went to any music school,” Monty says. “I don’t read music. If you want to look at it in a sort of silly way, I’m just one big mistake.” We’re thrilled to have that “big mistake” return to wow our guests again on The Jazz Cruise ’26.
– Lee Mergner
David Foster: The Hitman Cruise
Take 6: The Band for All Reasons
I can name five different cruise programs of ours that have featured Take 6, one of the world’s most beloved and talented acapella singing groups/bands. Their music can fit into virtually every cruise program we produce, which is why you will see them on our cruise roster time and time again.
First of all, they are great performers. 10 GRAMMY® Awards, 10 GMA Doves and three Gold Albums confirm that tout. Second, they are so much fun to be around and they enjoy our cruises and our guests. Third, as I said above, their music makes everyone happy, regardless of the main theme genre of the program.
Last, but certainly not least, they are true professionals. Case in point was last year’s McDonald LaBelle Cruise. When Take 6 learned that Michael McDonald was performing, they jumped at the chance to be his background vocal team. Mind you, this offer was made on the ship!
No notice. No rehearsal. No hesitation. No doubt, one of the coolest performances on our cruise stage ever. Michael McDonald, a band led by Marcus Miller and Take 6 providing additional vocals. Really? It is moments like that which make me love what we do.
Take 6 will be a featured performer on David Foster: The Hitman Cruise. Now, let me see, who else is on that cruise? Michael McDonald. Can anyone spell “reprise”?
One final confession. Take 6 is my favorite performing group of all time. If it were up to me, they would be on every cruise. Yeah, it may be up to me after all, but you get my point. The only thing better than Dave Brubeck’s “Take 5” is our Take 6!
Michael Lazaroff
Executive Director
Signature Cruise Experiences