Ralph Pucci 9TH ANNUAL JAZZ SET

The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian®

Featuring the great Beninese-French powerhouse + messenger for peace ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO with host CHRISTIAN McBRIDE


Thursday, March 6, 2025
Angélique Kidjo preforms at the 9th annual jralph pucci jazz set by jazz house kids

The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian

Featuring the great Beninese-French powerhouse + messenger for peace ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO with host CHRISTIAN McBRIDE

Thursday, March 6, 2025

The 9th Annual RALPH PUCCI Jazz Set was a great success! We are grateful for our indelible host Christian McBride and special guest Angélique Kidjo whose spectacular performances and message of love were so uplifting and will continue to resonate with us all. It is moments like these that inspire our students and provide an example to reach higher, to have greater expectations for themselves and for the world around.

Special thanks to Ralph Pucci and our signature sponsors:

Angélique Kidjo’s collaboration with the Soweto Gospel Choir on “Sunlight To My Soul” earned a nomination for Best Global Music Performance at the 67th GRAMMY Awards.

OUR GENEROUS PRODUCER’S CIRCLE

Impresario
Ann + Ralph Pucci
Director
Paula + Michael Lazaroff, Signature Cruise Experiences Trinity Church NYC

PERFORMER’S CIRCLE

Visionary
Dinan Family Foundation Joyce and George Wein Foundation Manhattan Mechanical Contractors On-Ramps
Champion
Cool Wind Ventilation Jayne + Hans Hufschmid Mary Catherine + Trevor K. Person
Advocate
Gregory Floyd Rita + Terry Woodard
We are grateful to all our signature supporters!

2025 Program Book

ABOUT THE RALPH PUCCI JAZZ SET

Ralph Pucci, Melissa Walker and Christian McBride This one night only event of the year supports JAZZ HOUSE KiDS and its many life-changing programs that level the playing field to access and learning through tuition assistance to year-round classes and programs, private music lessons, music education in schools, instruments in the hands of young artists, and bringing jazz to the community.

For almost a decade, RALPH PUCCI INTERNATIONAL has partnered with nationally-acclaimed music education organization JAZZ HOUSE KiDS and its Artistic Director CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE, nine-time GRAMMY-winning virtuosic bassist, composer, Newport Jazz Festival Artistic Director, host of NPR’s Jazz Night in America and Sirius XM Jazz show, The Lowdown: Conversations with Christian®. Each year JAZZ HOUSE turns Ralph’s House – RALPH PUCCI Interntional’s spectacular NYC luxury furniture design gallery — into a world-class jazz club for the RALPH PUCCI JAZZ SET, an exclusive evening of music and conversation.

Past guests have included John Pizzarelli, Laurie Anderson, Esperanza Spalding, Diana Krall, Wynton Marsalis, Norah Jones, Gregory Porter and Sting.

We are grateful to RALPH PUCCI for its leadership support.

“Jazz runs through RALPH PUCCI veins, both the person and the place. It is the soundtrack that fills our galleries.”