Sandy Springs Performer at Famed ‘Blue Note’ in New York

Trumpeter Joe Gransden and his 16-piece big band perform at the Blue Note Jazz Club New York on Monday.

Gransden and the big band perform on the first and third Mondays of the month at Café 290 in Sandy Springs. Their next local show is July 15.

“We’re going to go and do our own thing,” said Gransden of the Blue Note show. “I’m going to feature our guys in the band. The band is so tight now and so strong after performing at 290 for so long.”

The trumpeter performed with Kenny G at the Blue Note in 2012. “Oh man it was great. Of course it was completely sold out,” said Gransden, a native New Yorker. 

He continued, “That’s kind of the night that I met the Blue Note people…Through that introduction with Kenny. They said some nice things about my playing. I said I had a big band.”

Gransden and Kenny G met after the trumpeter sent Clint Eastwood a noted jazz lover, a CD of his music, on a whim in 2007. The actor hired him to open for Kenny G at a private party and the two became fast friends. 

In spring 2012 Eastwood stopped in Cafe 290 to see Gransden's show.