After wowing notoriously demanding New York audiences for more than 35 years and touring Europe, Woody Allen and the New Orleans Jazz Band have decided to treat Miami residents with a special performance at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts this week.

Leading his band on their first national tour, the three-time Academy Award-winning director, writer, actor and comedian has decided to reveal another of his passions to the world: music. “There’s nothing there between you and the pure feeling of playing. There’s no cerebral part to it,” Allen has said about his experiences on stage.

Allen’s musical exploits were documented in the 1997 film Wild Man Blues.

A passionate clarinet player, the native New Yorker cites inspiration from the likes of jazz greats Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong, not to mention fellow clarinetists George Lewis, Johnny Dodds and Jimmie Noone. His concerts celebrate the traditional New Orleans jazz sound.

“Jazz has been called the classical music of America,” said Justin Macdonnell, the Carnival Center’s artistic director. “I think audiences will be intrigued to see and hear someone who is a master of one classical American art form — film — as a master of another.”

A talented collection of musicians rounds out Allen’s outfit. The New Orleans Jazz Band includes musical director Eddy Davis on the banjo, Conal Fowkes on piano, Simon Wettenhall on trumpet, Jerry Zigmont on trombone, Greg Cohen on bass and John Gill on drums.

The Carnival Center-Chivas Regal Jazz Series aims to present a broad spectrum of styles and performers: from New Orleans roots, to contemporary American and Latin jazz, with artists like Arturo Sandoval, Dianne Reeves and Irvin Mayfield. 

Woody Allen and the New Orleans Jazz Band perform at 8 p.m. this Friday in the Knight Concert Hall, Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Tickets are $15-$95 and are available online at www.carnivalcenter.org.

Call the box office at 305-949-6722.

— Rayme Samuels