Come celebrate the great contributions of African-American musicians to the world of music! Valery Ponomarev, a trumpeter of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, will play the Messengers' repertoire and his original compositions as he recounts his experiences with the iconic band and its founder Art Blakey, one of the greatest jazz bandleaders and drummers of all time. Mr. Ponomarev's life encompasses a narrow escape from the Soviet Union and a brilliant career on both sides of the Atlantic. He made eleven albums with Blakey on labels such as Roulette, Timeless, and Concord, and he is the author of the book "University of Jazz Messengers."