It's a Hardbop Life
Encyclopedia
Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
, was developed from Royal's weekly engagement at Birdland
Birdland (jazz club)
Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979...
in New York City called The Art Blakey Jazz Messenger Review during 2001 http://www.ny.com/clubs/jazz/.
The play debuted Off-Broadway at the Producer's Club as a Special Event of the New York JVC Jazz Festival in July, 2004 and included as part of the cast, Art Blakey
Art Blakey
Arthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
saxophonist Billy Harper
Billy Harper
Billy Harper is a Jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.-Biography:...
; Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
trumpeter Chris Albert; Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
Orchestra trombonist and author, Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
; Elvin Jones
Elvin Jones
Elvin Ray Jones was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Michigan....
bassist Andy McCloud; Sugar Hill Quartet pianist Marcus Persiani; and Ain't Misbehavin' drummer Ken Crutchfield. Royal actually proferred the title of the theater to the owners during that festival.
Although there was a play entitled the Connection by Jack Gelber, which starred alto saxophonist Jackie McLean
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...
and ran Off-Broadway in 1959, that play, which was revolutionary, did not feature an entire cast of musicians as the principal actors.
It's a Hardbop Life, which has undergone a few revisions, is currently running at the Producers Club in New York City (beginning February, 2011) as a Thursday night open engagement and stars Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal
Gregory Charles Royal is an American musician, composer, author, and a judge on America's Hot Musician, as well as a plaintiff in a 2009 lawsuit against Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.- Biography :...
in the role of Q. and Jolynn Carpenter, who is the model for the current Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
Spider Woman, in the role of Julie.