Queens Jazz Orchestra (QJO) returns live on stage at Flushing Town Hall, with a special tribute program "Bird Flight" honoring Phil Schaap and the genius of Charlie Parker. QJO will be led and conducted by Grammy-award nominated jazz artist and an original member of the QJO, Antonio Hart who was selected by the late NEA Jazz Master and former QJO Music Director, Jimmy Heath.

Phil Schaap (1951-2021) was a radio broadcaster, record producer, educator, and historian whose knowledge of jazz was legendary in its breadth and detail. Schaap who lived in Hollis, Queens, was best known as the host of Bird Flight, a radio show on WKCR that's devoted to Charlie Parker. Schaap received six Grammy Awards over the course of his career.

Charlie Parker Jr. (1920-1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. During his short life, Parker changed the course of music. Like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and John Coltrane, Parker was a pioneering composer and improviser who ushered in a new era of jazz and influenced subsequent generations of musicians, writers and artists.

This concert will present some of the seminal work of Charlie Parker and some special music composed by NEA Jazz Master Jimmy Heath. There will be special commentary from the colleagues of Phil Schaap as well.