The Revive Da Live Big Band kicked off their New York City debut last week as part of this year’s 2010 Care Fusion Jazz Festival scheduled events. Founded by Meghan Stabile while attending Berklee College of Music, Revive Music Group’s mission is to create and produce music based programs where both musicians can fuse and unite both Hip-Hop and Jazz genres to appeal to all ages. Also, provide an educational and legacy series like the Revive Da Live Big Band to keep major elements of jazz alive by keeping the younger generation in tune to the music and it’s importance in modern music.

This year’s show featured the legendary Grammy-Award Winning trumpeter and band leader Nicholas Payton. The show was divided into two parts. The Nicholas Payton Sexxxtet featuring Lawrence Fields on piano, Vicente Archer on bass, Marcus Gilmore on drums, and Daniel Sadownick on percussion opened the set. This unit cooks from beginning to end. Lawrence did a job on the Fender Rhodes and added to the mellow element which allowed him to relax and set the mood for the rest of the evening.

The big band also backed the tap dancing troupe The Tap Messengers to a rousing standing ovation. Trumpeter Nicholas Payton and vocalist Somi sang a duet together accompanied by the Sexxxtet and members of the big band.

Musician Igmar Thomas deserves a lot of credit for playing and directing the Revive Da Live Big Band. Payton’s band backed the big band and he also played some stirring solos.

At the end of the evening the audience was treated to the lyrical stylings of MC Talib Kweli. Both he and Nicholas with the big band created magic that could only be hailed as organic and entertaining.

Megan Stabile and her vision of creating innovative Hip-Hop and Jazz shows is needed at a time when real music has taken a turn for the worse. Programs like this prove that both genres don’t have to perform in the grunge “rap” venues or the “stuffy” concert halls to appeal to the masses. Plus, most of Revive Music Groups shows won’t break your wallet book.

It’s events like these that will help jazz music reach to the younger audiences. It’s too bad that the jazz police can’t realize that good music shouldn’t and mustn't be confined to the traditional trio, quartet, and sextets. Revive Da Live and Revive Music Groups’s vision is changing that. And for artists like Nicholas Payton, Talib Kweli, and Somi; to Patience Higgins and Frank Lacy to reach out to a set like this, speaks volumes of where this music is going.