SPECIAL EFX featuring CHIELI MINUCCI & ERIC MARIENTHAL with LAO TIZER, ANTHONY CRAWFORD & JOEL ROSENBLATT

SEATED SHOW | 21+ | NO DINNER SERVICE

SEPTEMBER 30th, 2026, // Special EFX featuring Chieli Minucci & Eric Marienthal with Lao Tizer, Anthony Crawford & Joel Rosenblatt

Guitarist, composer, producer, and arranger Chieli Minucci is longtime leader of the Grammy-nominated jazz-fusion group SPECIAL EFX featuring Chieli Minucci, a major force on the jazz and world music scene for over 40 years.

Chieli recently released his first full CD in 3 years, the long-awaited, Special EFX featuring Chieli Minucci - “The Hits”! This ambitious project is comprised of 14 songs, including re-mastered favorites and chart-toppers from the band’s long multi-decade career, as well as brand new songs, and a few surprises!

Chieli also recently released “Marbella”, his third collaboration with renowned producer, Paul Brown. With its sunny, grooving, midtempo melody, Marbella creates visions of romantic memories - walking on the beach, a vacation in Spain perhaps, a kiss at sunset, a knowing glance between two lovers. Chieli’s melodies and recognizable guitar playing caps off the imagery with its ultra-smooth performance.

In 2025 Chieli and Special EFX released “Meant to Be”, the chart-topping single, which is presently in Billboard’s top 10! In the summer of 2024, their previous single, “Cool Summer”, reached the #1 spot on Billboard, as well as a total of 5 charts simultaneously

Chieli has also recently released 3 unique projects - “Return to Budapest With Love”, is an archived, 1990 live concert recording of Special EFX from their early days on tour in Europe; the solo, and mainly acoustic release, “Someone’s Singing”; as well as the 40th anniversary Special EFX CD, “Twenty Twenty 2”.

Chieli & Special EFX’s previous release saw title track, “Deep as the Night”, win Billboard Magazine’s 2018 top honors, best-song-of-the-year.

Besides writing and performing his own music, Chieli shares his guitar brilliance throughout the entertainment world. He has recorded and performed with many top artists, such as Celine Dion, Lou Reed, Lionel Richie, Jennifer Lopez, Jewel, Marc Anthony, Michael Bolton, Rupert Holmes, Anastasia, even classic artists Eartha Kitt, and Eddie Fisher. He’s collaborated and worked alongside contemporary jazz artists Kirk Whalum, Maysa, Jeff Lorber, Norman Brown, Bernie Williams, Marion Meadows, Lao Tizer, Mindi Abair, Rick Braun, Gerald Veasley, Omar Hakim, and many others.

Although renowned in the jazz and pop world, Chieli is also a gifted television and film composer. He has won 3 Emmy Awards and been nominated 10 times for his eclectic compositional work. His music can also be heard on the soundtracks of the films No Country for Old Men, Bowfinger, Legally Blonde, Panic, and others. Chieli's original scoring work can be heard in live stage productions of Peter Pan, Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine, and others.

Eric Marienthal graduated high school in Southern California in 1976 and went on to study at Berklee College of Music under legendary saxophone professor Joe Viola, achieving the school's highest proficiency rating and later receiving its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1995. He launched his professional career in 1980 with New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt before joining the Chick Corea Elektric Band, with whom he recorded 6 albums and won 2 Grammy Awards. He has since performed in over 75 countries, recorded 15 solo albums, and appeared on hundreds of records, films, TV shows, and commercials alongside artists such as Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and many others. His latest album, a collaboration with trumpeter Randy Brecker entitled "Double Dealin" on Shanachie Records, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album — one of several nominations throughout his career, with eight of his recordings reaching the top 10 of the National Contemporary Jazz Radio Charts and three hitting #1. Beyond performing, Eric has authored three instructional books, produced multiple instructional videos, and since 2015 has run an online saxophone school through ArtistWorks featuring over 200 lessons for all skill levels. He also serves as Music Director for Jazz Cruises, LLC, and for over 25 years has organized an annual fundraising concert for High Hopes, a nonprofit supporting traumatic head injury survivors in Orange County, California, raising over $2,000,000 to date.

Keyboardist Lao Tizer is one of today’s rising stars of the world-fusion genre. Tizer’s original music has spurred comparisons of a modern twist to the 1970s and early 1980s heyday of jazz fusion, when trailblazing ensembles like Return To Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report set the aesthetic standard. Lao’s music has a multi-genre, multi-national appeal and his group, The Lao Tizer Band, has toured the USA and the world while being nominated “Jazz Group of the Year”! Their new 2018 CD/DVD combo release, Songs From The Swinghouse has received acclaim across the industry while debuting near the top of the Billboard Jazz Album Chart!

Anthony Crawford grew up immersed in music and began playing drums at age 2 before picking up the bass at 12 and never looking back. A Victor Wooten record proved a pivotal influence, deepening his exploration of the instrument and expanding his musical range across jazz, rock, R&B, and gospel. His career has taken him from playing the National Democratic Convention for Bill Clinton in 2000 and appearing in a Burger King commercial with Shaquille O'Neal, to performing and recording with a remarkable roster of artists including Erykah Badu, Justin Timberlake, Kirk Whalum, Jeff Lorber, Dave Weckl, Allan Holdsworth, Eric Marienthal, and gospel legend Andrae Crouch. He has released two solo urban jazz albums — "Urban Jazz" (2010) and "Urban Jazz – My Story" — and has been featured in bass publications worldwide, including Bass Player Magazine and Bass Musician Magazine. More recently, Anthony joined rock band Witherfall, releasing four albums through Century Media Records that charted on Billboard and spawned tours across Europe and Asia, while also composing music for television networks including Bravo, Discovery Channel, MTV, VH1, and E! Entertainment.

Joel Rosenblatt is a world-renowned drummer and producer. He has performed and recorded with such greats as: Spyro Gyra, Special EFX, Lee Ritenour, Freddy Jackson, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton. Eileen Ivers, Michel Camilo, Chick Corea, Steps Ahead, Paquito d Rivera, Manhattan Transfer, Randy Brecker, Ken Navarro, Bill Evans and many more. Having toured the world many times over, Joel brings an international musical awareness to the music. Currently the owner and main engineer at world class Cliff Sound Productions, Joel is also actively involved in producing and cultivating new artists.