Wayne Tucker and The Bad Mothas Celebrate 100 Years of Miles Davis
Ft. Wayne Tucker (trumpet / vocals), Miles Tucker (tenor sax), David Linard (piano / keys), Tamir Shmerling (bass), Diego Ramirez (drums)
"Miles is my greatest musical inspiration and we will be playing our own unique renditions of his music from his time with Charlie Parker all the way up to his funk album 'We Want Miles.'"
WAYNE TUCKER is a trumpeter, composer, arranger, college professor, violinist, vocalist, author, actor and model based in New York City. He has released 5 albums under his name and performs regularly with his band, The Bad Mothas in New York City.
Wayne has toured and recorded with a diverse array of notables such as pop acts Taylor Swift, Raye, David Crosby, Elvis Costello; r&b singers Ne-Yo and Gabriel Garzon-Montano; hip hop artists Jidenna and Ryan Leslie; jazz musicians Kurt Elling, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Cyrille Aimée; house music stars; Crystal Waters and CeCe Peniston and with the rock band Brass Against.
David Linard
DAVID LINARD is a Grammy-nominated pianist, composer, educator, and musical director based in Brooklyn. He is known for his warm touch, stylistic range, and feel-good music.
As a longtime member of Sammy Miller and the Congregation, David toured internationally, performing at major festivals and venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz à Juan, Jazz à Megève, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, SFJAZZ, and the Bowery Ballroom. In New York City, he is an active collaborator and bandleader, frequently performing with trumpeter Wayne Tucker and his group, Wayne Tucker and the Bad Mothas.
His recording releases include For B (2025), an instrumental suite featuring Irene Han on cello; Songs for the Lonesome (2025), a collection of jazz songs featuring Katie Martucci on vocals; and Nearsighted (2023), a stylistically wide-ranging debut that moves between poetry, straight-ahead jazz, vocal harmony, and solo piano. In 2020, David received his first Grammy nomination for his contributions to Derek Bermel’s Migrations, and he has appeared on multiple recordings with Sammy Miller and the Congregation.
Alongside his performance career, David is deeply engaged in music education and mentorship. He has presented in schools across New York City through Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People program and has served as a musical director in Ars Nova’s Makers Lab, supporting the development of new work.
David earned his Master of Music from The Juilliard School in 2015, where he studied with Kenny Barron and Frank Kimbrough and collaborated closely with Wynton Marsalis.
Diego Ramirez
Diego Joaquin Ramirez, also known as Estratos, is an internationally acclaimed drummer and composer based in Brooklyn, NY. A sought-after collaborator across jazz, electronica, and R&B, he has performed with artists including Carrtoons, Kiefer, Wayne Tucker, Melanie Charles, Marc Cary, Pale Jay, and Braxton Cook. His work has appeared on stages and platforms such as NPR Tiny Desk, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Blue Note, and the Newport Jazz Festival.
Born and raised in Cork, Ireland, Ramirez draws inspiration from the sounds of his Irish upbringing alongside his family’s deep Native American and Latin American roots.
Tamir Shmerling
Tamir Shmerling is a double and electric bass player from Ashkelon, Israel. In 2008 he was awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied with Hal Crook, Ralph Peterson Jr., Terri Lyne Carrington, Greg Osby, John Lockwood, Jamey Haddad, Alain Mallet, Ed Tomassi, and John Lockwood.
Since his arrival in the United States in 2009, Tamir has been hired by bandleaders such as Terri Lyne Carrington, Cyrille Aimée, Yotam Silberstein, Jason Palmer, E.J. Strickland, Eli Degibri, Victor Gould, Wayne Tucker, Gilad Hekselman, Marc Cary, Takeshi Ohbayashi, Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, and many more.
Tamir has toured extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and has performed at festivals and venues including the Newport Jazz Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center, SFJAZZ, Martha's Vineyard Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Heineken Jazz Festival.