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Photo via All About Jazz // Filter by Pixlr

Photo via All About Jazz // Filter by Pixlr

Speaking in The New York Times about Ralph Alessi‘s album This Against That, Nate Chinen praises the artists’ “prodigious trumpet technique,” noting that “what Mr. Alessi prizes in music is not the impeccable but the ineffable: the thrill of seeking but not knowing.” As Chinen has claimed elsewhere, Ralph and his collaborators propel the music forward with ”the urgent force and clarity of a manifesto.”

Born and raised in San Francisco, Ralph comes from a musical family – both of his parents are musicians (in fact, his first trumpet lessons were with his father), and his brother Joseph Jr. is currently the principle trombonist of the New York Philharmonic. While still a teenager, Ralph began freelancing as a classical trumpeter, performing with the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera, and various chamber orchestras. Soon thereafter, Ralph enrolled the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he received a bachelors’ degree in trumpet performance and a master’s degree in jazz bass performance (he studied under the legendary Charlie Haden, and also apprenticed in Charlie’s Liberation Music Orchestra during his time there).

After finishing his studies, Ralph made the move to New York, where he immersed himself in the city’s vibrant downtown scene. In the years following his arrival, he performed and recorded regularly with bands led by Steve Coleman, Don Byron, Uri Caine, Ravi Coltrane, Sam Rivers, and others. As a leader, he has released several critically acclaimed albums - This Against That (RKM) was selected by JazzTimes as one of the “Ten Best Recordings of 2002″, and Cognitive Dissonance (CAMJazz) received a four star review in DownBeat. Ralph is also active as an educator – he is the co-founder and director of the non-profit School for Improvisational Music (SIM) and serves on the faculty of New York University.

On Friday and Saturday, we welcome Ralph and the current This Against That band (featuring the reedist Tony Malaby, the keyboardist Andy Milne, the bassist Drew Gress, and the drummer Mark Ferber) to our stage for a two-night run.

Listen to This Against That performing Ralph’s composition “Near Cry.”

Photo by Will Boisture // Filter by Pixlr

Photo by Will Boisture // Filter by Pixlr

The New York Times‘ Nate Chinen describes Nils Weinhold as ”a young German guitarist given to crisp intricacy.” JazzTimes‘ Bill Milkowski concurs, characterizing the young musician  as “a technical monster with a warm tone and fluid delivery.” According to Milkowski, it is obvious that Nils is “a product of the angular, odd-intervallic, slightly dissonant school of post-Metheny/post-Abercrombie guitar playing.” Yet the guitarist has also been shaped by a unique lifelong journey, from his roots in a remote German village to his current rise in one of the world’s most vibrant musical cities.

Nils was raised in Bad Sachsa, Germany, a small village in the Harz mountains. He picked up the guitar before his tenth birthday, and his passion for the instrument eventually led him to the Netherlands, where he completed his undergraduate studies at the Conservatory of Amsterdam. After receiving his first degree, the guitarist packed his belongings and relocated once again, this time journeying across the Atlantic to attend the Manhattan School of Music.

Since moving to New York in 2008, Nils has lent his sound to both established and up-and-coming artists, including Seamus Blake, Joe Lovano, John Riley, John Escreet, and Justin Brown, among others. The guitarist can be heard regularly with the saxophonist Adam Larson‘s group, as well as the Danjam Orchestra and The Manhattan Experiment.

Milkowski notes that Nils also “impresses with…his writing,” which can be heard on his self-released debut album, Shapes. This first effort features like-minded collaborators including the saxophonist Adam Larson, the pianist Fabian Almazan, the bassist Luques Curtis, and Nils’ brother, the drummer Bastian Weinhold.

We first heard Nils in Adam Larson’s group, and presented his own project for the first time last fall. On Thursday night, we welcome him for his second bandleading appearance as a part of our debut series.

Watch a clip of Nils and his band performing “A Horse Is Still A Horse” live at The Jazz Gallery.

Photo by Cees Van de Ven // Filter by Jazz Speaks

Photo by Cees Van de Ven // Filter by Jazz Speaks

“Harish [Raghavan] always has been a marvelous talent, but he’s really taken off with that talent,” remarks the bassist John Clayton. The vocalist Kurt Elling agrees: “Harish is a bass player whose reputation for musicality, musicianship and professionalism is taking firm hold on the New York scene. Cat is solid, man.” Growing up just north of Chicago, Harish began his musical training on both western and Indian percussion, eventually taking up the double bass in his late teens. Something took hold quickly; before long, the young musician was enrolled at USC, studying with both Clayton and Robert Hurst, and apprenticing under some of the finest musicians on the Los Angeles scene. In 2007, he moved to New York, and has subsequently become one of the most in-demand bassists of his generation, making contributions to bands led by Ambrose Akinmusire, Vijay Iyer, Taylor Eigsti, Eric Harland, Kurt Elling, and dozens of others. Two years later, he made it to the semifinals of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Bass Competition. Harish has been performing at The Gallery for many years; on Saturday, he will return once more to celebrate his birthday on our stage. We caught up with the bassist via email while he was on the road to discuss his current projects, including the one we’ll hear this weekend, and his early memories of The Jazz Gallery. Harish Raghavan speaks:

 You’re in Paris right now. What projects have you been involved with lately and where have you traveled recently?

So, currently I’m here after spending a few days in Athens. Right now, I’m on tour with Eric Harland‘s Voyager band. I’m still just playing with my friends: Ambrose [Akinmusire], Walter [Smith III], Taylor [Eigsti], Eric [Harland], and Logan [Richardson] as of late.

We’re looking forward to celebrating your birthday with you at The Gallery; you’ve been part of our community for a long time. Tell us about the first time you came here, and/or about some memorable experiences you’ve had at The Gallery.

Wow, I can’t really recall the first time…I’m sure it was with Ambrose or Logan. There have been so many memorable experiences at the old Gallery and the new one! It’s hard to really pinpoint one in particular; I know that they have all been scenarios in which we were searching. The Gallery definitely provides an atmosphere where that is encouraged, which is rare and necessary.

Tell us about the music you’ll be performing.

We’ll be playing a lot of my music….some new and old, but for me it’s all new. Leading a band is a completely new experience for me. Hearing this music in this context is still very fresh. All of the members of the band are very gifted and inspiring composers, so we’ll be playing some of their music as well. The personal for this particular gig includes: Taylor Eigsti, Charles Altura, Logan Richardson, and Justin Brown. I just wanted to do a gig with all my friends. I trust and respect these guys so much, which allows me to not have to worry about the notes on the page being played correctly, and really focus on creating a sound. I’ve played with Taylor for over a decade. We met in LA when we were both at USC. Coincidentally, LA is also where I met Charles and Justin. I met Logan when I first moved to the city in June, 2007. I don’t think this particular configuration has ever performed, so its really exciting for me. I’m really looking forward to presenting this music with these individuals!

Photo via The Oswegonian

Photo via The Oswegonian

Lage Lund is a “deftly imaginative guitarist,” according to The New York Times. Nate Chinen elaborates, “Lund exudes a diffident and self-deprecating kind of cool… His playing and presence can both be casually magnetic. Like Jim Hall, one of the guitarists in his heroes’ gallery, he channels reticence into a whisper-quiet mystique.”

Originally from Skein, Norway, Lage moved to the States to attend Berklee College of Music, and was the first guitarist to be enrolled in Juilliard’s Institute of Jazz Studies. In 2005, he won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Guitar Competition. The decision was made by a panel featuring Pat Martino, John Pizzarelli, Earl Klugh, Bill Frisell, Stanley Jordan and Russell Malone, who explained, “Lage wasn’t flashy. He was just all music and soul – that’s what we all agreed upon.”

As a bandleader, Lage has released five albums; his sixth, Foolhardy (Criss Cross) arrives later this month. Since moving to New York in 2002, he has also been a first call sideperson, and has appeared on recordings and in concert with David Sanchez, Seamus Blake, Jaleel Shaw, Will Vinson, Jimmy Greene, Marcus Strickland, Carmen Lundy, and others.

Lage has performed here as a leader dozens of times dating back to 2006. On Friday, he takes the stage with a quartet featuring the pianist Glenn Zaleski, the bassist Orlando le Fleming, and the drummer Johnathan Blake.

Watch a clip of Lage’s quartet performing at Smalls in March 2013.

Photos via http://reztone.com & Flickr // Filter via Pixlr

Photos via http://reztone.com & Flickr // Filter via Pixlr

A native of Karachi, Pakistan, Rez Abbasi spent his formative years in California, where he fell in love with the music of Rush, Led Zeppelin, and King Crimson. Before long, however, the young guitarist got his first exposure to jazz through the music of Joe Pass, and soon thereafter discovered Allan Holdsworth. Around this time, he made the decision to pursue the guitar, which led to studies at USC and the Manhattan School of Music, as well as a sojourn to India to study with the master percussionist Alla Rakha. Since graduating, Rez has lived in New York for over two decades. He has released nine recordings under his own name, and has collaborated on stage and in the studio with artists such as David Liebman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, and Kiran Ahluwalia.

Roman Filiu was born and raised in Cuba. The reedist comes from a musical family; his father is a musician and teacher of European classical music, and all of his siblings are also musicians. He studied the European classical tradition in the local conservatory, where he met extraordinary musicians like the pianists Aruan Ortiz and David Virelles, and subsequently moved to Havana to begin his career as a professional musician. He was based there for eight years, recording frequently and traveling internationally with a variety of projects including Chucho Valdes‘ “Irakere” band. Next, Roman moved to Spain, and began to apprentice under more elder statesmen like David Murray and Doug Hammond. Yet the reedist had his eyes on New York, and finally moved to the city in September of 2011. Although he’s only been here a short time, Roman has quickly becoming a part of the city’s vibrant music scene, performing with his own groups as well as those led by David Virelles, David Murray, and Dafnis Prieto, among others.

On Thursday, Rez and Roman bring a new, collectively-led band, CUBINDUS, to our stage. The two artists were kind enough to answer a few questions about the venture:

 

How did the band form? Where did the initial idea come from?

Roman:
I met Rez during some regular sessions we were having in Astoria, Queens. The original idea was a trio and Rez suggested Aruan Ortiz on piano as the third member. Rez didn’t know that Aruan and I have known each other since we were eight years old! We attended at the same conservatory and Aruan was one of my little brother’s best friends. We played together during my stay in Spain either with my band and with some of his different projects.

Rez: I suggested getting a drummer because, between India/Pakistan and Cuba, there is so much rhythmic complexity that I felt we would be leaving a huge layer out with no drummer. I happened to be playing a bit with Michael Sarin, who is one of those extremely versatile players, at the time, and suggested him. Everyone was on the same page and it started like that.
How were the members of the group chosen? Please describe your relationships to each other and previous performance history.
Rez: Collectively we don’t have previous performance history. I suppose this is an NYC kind of phenomenon: we played a bunch of sessions with various combinations of players, and from there, gathered that this group would work well.
Tell us about the music.
Rez: The important thing with this group is that there are three composer:, myself, Roman and Aruan. We all are very much into the art of composition on its own terms. In other words, composing isn’t merely secondary to improvisation, it’s equally and often more important. If you listen to any of our albums, you’ll hear an overarching voice, sound and vibe. Fortunately, what we’ve composed for this group translates well as all of the players synchronize to each others ideas. I’m quite happy with the outcome, and look forward to recording this group. CUBINDUS is our attempt to merge Cuban, Indian and American elements, hence, CUB-IND(US).
Roman: Because we have three composers in the band, the result is a mix of textures, colors, and states of mind. In my case, I try to experiment and put together different ideas and concepts; I don’t have a specific way of doing things.
Rez: Also, for this show, we welcome another wonderful pianist, Sam Harris. We will focus on Roman’s and my compositions.

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Photo Courtesy of the Artist

“This album is a collection of original music meant to highlight the conversational voices of the individuals in the band,” explains the pianist Pascal Le Boeuf on the subject of his forthcoming release, Pascal’s Triangle (Nineteen-Eight). The album features Pascal’s trio, which includes the bassist Linda Oh and the drummer Justin Brown (who led his own group at The Gallery last weekend). ”We trust each other’s choices and share an orientation towards self-expression through group improvisation. Every time we sit down to make music, we are exploring the depths of what is possible.”

Though the final product is an acoustic jazz trio album, many of the compositions originally included electronic instruments, and programmed sequences of computerized rhythms. “Though this vision was successful, and I plan to release these [versions] at a later date, I enjoyed the spontaneity of the more acoustic songs,” Pascal says. “When I took the electronics away, the compositions all had an intimate conversational feeling.” This is, in some sense, the aesthetic Pascal was after all along: “a conversation in which the composition is a subject or the frame work of a story, and Linda, Justin and I expand upon it as a collective.”

Pascal was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, and developed his talents alongside his twin brother, the reedist Remy Le Boeuf. The connections strengthened and grew deeper and more serious over time, as turns towards composing and improvising led Pascal and Remy to realize that they both wanted to keep playing music for the rest of their lives. The brothers moved to New York in 2004, and have continued to perform and record together to this day. Since arriving, Pascal has received degrees from Manhattan School of Music and performed with some boundary-pushing elders and peers, including Chris Potter, Marcus Gilmore, John Benitez, Marcus Strickland, Ambrose Akinmusire, Clarence Penn, and others.

Akinmusire, Penn, and Strickland appear alongside Pascal and Remy on House Without A Door, which The New York Times describes as ”an impressively self-assured new album, which reaches for the gleaming cosmopolitanism of our present era.” The twins’ latest recording is In Praise of Shadows (Nineteen-Eight), which you can stream in its’ entirety here. Downbeat praises the “brothers in musical crime and creative invention with chops and a flexible pocketful of ideas about how jazz could go in the 2010s,” and JazzTimes compliments the way in which the brothers, ”deftly blend elements of electronica with touches of indie rock and sophisticated jazz writing.”

We look forward to welcoming Pascal, Linda, and Justin to our new stage (1160 Broadway, 5th floor) on Thursday for a pre-release performance in celebration of the album, which drops officially on May 28th. In anticipation of the show, we’re offering an exclusive stream of the first track from Pascal’s Triangle, “Home In Strange Places.” Listen below:

Photo by Peter Gannushkin, http://downtownmusic.net

Photo by Peter Gannushkin, http://downtownmusic.net

“A freethinking, gifted pianist on the scene, [Kris] Davis lives in each note that she plays,” writes the pianist Jason Moran in his Best of 2012 list for ArtForum. “Her range is impeccable; she tackles prepared piano, minimalism, and jazz standards, all under one umbrella. I consider her an honorary descendant of Cecil Taylor and a welcome addition to the fold.” In an article entitled “New Pilots at The Keyboard,“ Ben Ratliff of The New York Times adds, ”Over the last couple of years in New York one method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down pianist Kris Davis.”

The Canadian-born pianist had an exceptionally strong run over the past couple of years. Her work was featured on two head-turning releases on Clean Feed in 2011: Aeriol Piano, her own solo album, and Novela, the eponymous release by a band led by Tony Malaby for which she also did the arrangements (they performed here recently). Aeriol Piano received several year-end accolades. Ben Ratliff of The New York Times listed the release as one of the Best Albums of 2011, and also profiled Kris in the aforementioned article. (If the interview below isn’t enough, you can read a previous guest post on Jazz Speaks here.). Kris also released two albums with Paradoxical Frog, a trio she collectively leads with the reedist Ingrid Laubrock and the drummer Tyshawn Sorey, which landed on year end lists from The New York Times, NPR, and more. Her most recent release is Capricorn Climber (Clean Feed), which The New York Times describes as “an engrossing lesson in ensemble flux, carried out with finesse.”

We’re thrilled to be presenting Kris as the first of our 2012 – 2013 Jazz Gallery Residency Commissions artists this Friday and Saturday. As a part of this program, the pianist used our space for a few weeks in April to compose, develop, and refine new work for a trio with the bassist John Hébert and the drummer Tom Rainey. We caught up with Kris about half way through her residency to ask her about her time in our space and how things were unfolding. Without further ado, Kris Davis speaks:

 

 

How’s the residency going so far?

Well, I’m halfway through, and I think I’ve written most of the music now. It’s for the trio with John Hébert and Tom Rainey. There are six or seven pieces; fairly arranged and involved compositions. So, I’m almost done with those and the rest of the residency will probably just be fine tuning, rehearsing with the band, and practicing the music…getting ready to go. You know, because I can’t play any of it yet! [laughs]

How have you been using your time in The Jazz Gallery space thus far?

I’ve been here probably two times a week – usually Mondays and Fridays – for four or five hours [at a time]. It’s nice because the piano’s great and it sounds really good in here.

When you aren’t in residence here, where do you usually work?

I do a lot of work at home; I have a grand piano there and a space that’s just dedicated to the music, so the rest of the week I’m just working there. And sometimes I go to IBeam, which is the place where I usually rehearse with the band, since it’s closer to my house.

Let’s talk a bit about the collaborators in your trio. How did you go about deciding to work with bass and drums – and John and Tom specifically – for this project?

I’ve done one trio record before with Tom and John. That was a couple of years ago, and I wanted to do another one, and I’d actually booked a tour for that band for the first week of May. So when the residency came along, it seemed like a really good opportunity to write some music, tour with it, come back here and play the concerts, and then record. So it just kind of fell together timing wise.

Can you fill us in on your backstory with the band? When did you meet these musicians and what other projects have you done together?

I met Tom six or seven years ago. We played a session and that was it for a couple of years, and then I think the next time we played we did a gig with Tony Malaby and Eivind Opsvik…I think it was at the Tea Lounge. And, for some reason, when we played that day, it was just [clear to me that] Tom is amazing and we have a really good connection, and musically it just felt like we’re in the same place. So I asked him to do the trio record really soon after that. Since then we’ve played together a lot in different projects; he plays in my quintet and in Ingrid Laubrock‘s band, Anti-House, and he just did a standards record which I played on, so we’re doing a lot of collaborations in different groups.

And then John…I played with him off and on in a lot of groups as a sideperson. I’d never played with Tom and John together before, but I just thought that that would really work. I remember putting it together on a whim and just really going for it; writing a couple of pieces and doing that record, Good Citizen (Fresh Sound).

[Stream Good Citizen via Spotify]

How does the music you’re working on now compare with the music on the last album?

My concept for that record was that I was trying to write a bunch of short pieces, pop-like tunes almost…not that the material was pop-like, but the sureness of the ideas. Everything was kind of compact and I tried to make the improvising fairly short and have a lot of different pieces.

The next record is pretty different, I think. In this music that I’m writing, things are much more drawn out and composed. There’s lots of improvisation, but it’s kind of approached in a different way.

The trio isn’t my most natural group to write for; I like having the voice on top, a saxophone or a trumpet to help balance the melodies out. After I was just on tour with Ingrid’s band and I really wanted to…there’s a couple of pieces where I end up improvising on these bass lines and things, and I just really connected with that and had forgotten how much I like doing that as a pianist. Some of the newer pieces are more like written forms that I blow over, or that John blows over, or Tom blows over, and then those [elements] change and evolve throughout the piece. There are also lots of different sections within many of the pieces. That’s more of the concept I’m going for this time, instead of just completely free, or a written part [juxtaposed against] a completely improvised section. This time it’s more forms and things in time.

You said earlier that you’ve written most of the music at this stage of the residency and that you’re fine-tuning it now. What is that process like for you?

Some things are outlined; maybe there’s just a bass line that I came up with using my left hand and a [melody or contrapuntal] line with my right hand, and now I want to avoid doubling the bassline. So a lot of times it’s filling in that third voice with the left hand, and [determining] how I want the left hand to interact with the trio and the basslines. Or [in some cases it's] fleshing out the harmony of the melody lines, or those sorts of things.

How much do you specify [notationally] for the drums?

Not very much! [laughs] I have pretty specific ideas about it, but they are usually more descriptive things than [things I've] actually written out.

So you communicate those ideas verbally?

Yeah. It’s more of a direction that I want it to go in that’s not hand-written into the piece somehow, but it’s more conceptualized to help lead the music to a certain place, certain landing spots. Other times there’s a lot of rhythmic [interpretation]…like he’ll end up playing the line of the bass or piano rhythmically. There’s a new piece where I wrote out an actual drum part, but I didn’t want him to play those specific rhythms; I wanted something completely different against that. But I actually went through and wrote that in this time. There’s a couple pieces like that.

What have you been listening to lately? Are you listening to music right now?

No. [laughs]. I’ve been going out to see things; I went and saw the ICP (Instant Composers Pool) on Thursday at Roulette. I like the music – it’s not the direction that I personally want to go in, but I was happy to go hear something completely different, and just enjoy that for what it was. And then I went to see Matt Mitchell‘s trio, just to hear another piano trio – that was really nice.

Are there other things that have been inspiring you lately?

I had about five weeks of playing every day, with my quintet first and then Ingrid’s band, because I was on tour with both of those groups. Playing every day for five weeks – your own music and other people’s music – really gets you into a different headspace. I was really thinking about this project coming up as I was playing in those other projects, and trying to figure out what I wanted it to be, especially since Tom plays in both groups and John plays in Ingrid’s band. I think I got a lot of ideas just from playing so much.

What are some of your favorite places to grab a bite or a coffee in our neighborhood?

Num Pang - 1129 Broadway (at 26th St)
Stumptown Coffee - 18 W 29th St (at Broadway)
(Unnamed) Juice Cart – 31st & Broadway ["I got a fruit salad from them earlier today that was awesome"]
“There’s a really good Korean BBQ place on 32nd, a few stores in. They have a white piano in there…”

Photo via http://www.craviottodrums.com/

Photo via http://www.craviottodrums.com/

“Moments after Justin Brown sat behind a drum kit on Saturday afternoon, the mood at the National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium shifted,” writes Larry Blumenfeld in the Wall Street Journal. “When he took a solo, it expressed narrative arc more than technique. The ninth of 12 semifinalists to perform at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Drums Competition, Mr. Brown had upped the ante, not so much by displaying skills—he did that, but so did others—as by bringing the house band together as a well-tuned vehicle fueled by clear rhythmic ideas. Above all else, that’s what good jazz drummers do, each in a personal way.”

From getting his start on the drums in church at age two to touring the world in his twenties, Justin has become one of the most in-demand voices on his instrument. His sound has been sought after for performances and recordings by the likes of Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, Stefon Harris, Esperanza Spalding, Bilal, Ledisi, Thundercat, and countless others. Justin has also made invaluable contributions to the groups of Gerald Clayton and Ambrose Akinmusire, two of his peers who are shaping the current direction of the music.

We’ve been featuring Justin’s own bands at The Gallery with some degree of regularity since he first performed here as a leader almost two years ago. The drummer has also appeared here as a sideman on innumerable occasions over the past several years. Here’s an excerpt from an interview we conducted with Justin last year:

Because of these times and all of this stuff going on, people are looking for an outlet and [are ready] to relate to [a broad musical perspective], instead of putting a stamp on it. With this generation and our laptops, we truly have that power. I’m just trying to be honest about that and trying not to be shy about it.

Basically, this music is all about love, really. It’s ultimately about inspiring one that they can be themselves. We each have a purpose, and I just want people to realize that purpose within themselves, and be uplifted through my experiences with the music. (Read more here).

This weekend, we welcome Justin back to our stage for a two night run with a quartet featuring the guitarist Matthew Stevens, the pianist Sam Harris (appearing on Fender Rhodes), and the bassist Tim Lefebvre.

Watch an up-close video of a Justin Brown drum solo, recorded in 2012.

Photo by Billie Jo Sheehan via Flickr

Photo by Billie Jo Sheehan via Flickr

“Bryn Roberts is really good and really worth hearing” writes the critic Peter Hum in the Ottawa Citizen, praising the pianist’s “maturity, poise and content.” According to Hum, “The smart money is on Roberts taking off, headed for big things.” His music ”has all the drive, inventiveness and originality you would expect from a person twice his age…well-played, thoughtful and erudite (not showy) jazz piano performance,” in the words of All Music.

Bryn grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and moved to Montreal to attend McGill University in 1994. While still a student, he began turning the heads of local musicians, and was performing frequently by the time he graduated. Around this time, Bryn began an apprenticeship with the pianist Fred Hersch, released his debut album (Present Tense), and landed a spot in the touring band of Maynard Ferguson.

Before long, Bryn moved to New York, where he has steadily found work in a variety of musical situations. He’s performed with a laundry list of the city’s best mid-career jazz musicians (Chris Cheek, Chris Potter, Jaleel Shaw, John Ellis, Will Vinson, and Seamus Blake, to name just a few of the saxophonists), and is a member of the Alan Ferber Nonet. Bryn’s second album under his own name, Ludlow (Fresh Sound), features the saxophonist Seamus Blake, the bassist Drew Gress, and the drummer Mark Ferber. However, the pianist can also frequently be heard alongside folk pop artists such as Dar Williams and Juno award winner Serena Ryder, as well as numerous others from the US, UK, and Malaysia.

On Thursday, Bryn will bring his group to our stage as a part of our debut series. The ensemble features the saxophonist Seamus Blake, the bassist Orlando le Fleming, and the drummer Jochen Rueckert.

You can stream Bryn’s most recent album, Ludlow, in it’s entirety via Spotify.

Photo via Worldwide Scene

Photo via Worldwide Scene

In a review of the guitarist Gilad Hekselman‘s 2011 album, Hearts Wide Open (Le Chant du Monde), The New York Times‘ Ben Ratliff writes: “Crucially, this record isn’t only understandable as jazz-guitar music, a maze of speed and soloing. Some of these tracks…are actually songs, singable, playable on other instruments. They are melodies that stay with you.”

“Fifteen years ago he probably would have been signed to a major label,” notes Ratliff. ”You might already have read about him in a men’s magazine, or seen his face on a display rack at Tower Records. But the jazz business is more modest and artist-directed now.” Yet Gilad is thriving in this climate, in no small part due to his knowledge of his instrument, and of the music. Nate Chinen’s Best of 2011 list in The New York Times describes his playing as “an object lesson in the high bar facing a young jazz guitarist today…so much fluid knowledge it’s scary.” Chris Potter, Mark Turner, John Scofield, Ari Hoenig, and Esperanza Spalding are among several bandleaders who agree, apparently; they’ve all appeared onstage with the young guitarist.

Gilad was born and raised in Israel, and began his musical training on the piano at age six. Picking up the guitar shortly thereafter, he continued to hone his abilities through performance (even appearing for a time with the band on a children’s television show) and academics. After graduating from the highly reputed Thelma Yellin School of Arts, the young guitarist moved to New York to attend the New School on a scholarship. While still a student, Gilad won the 2005 Gibson Montreux International Jazz Guitar Competition, opened for the guitarist Paco de Lucía, and released his debut album, 2006′s SplitLife (Smalls Records). Before long, he followed with more acclaimed recordings: 2009′s Words Unspoken (LateSet), and 2011′s Hearts Wide Open (Le Chant du Monde).

On April 9th, 2013, Gilad released his most recent album, This Just In (JazzVillage), featuring his frequent collaborators Joe Martin (bass), Marcus Gilmore (drums), and Mark Turner (saxophone). The album takes a formal “cue from that rapid-fire information stream” that is the modern day news cycle. Gilad speaks: “Each one of these pieces has a totally different mood to it, like they’re telling stories from different places in the world.”

We’ve been presenting Gilad in various contexts for several years, and we look forward to hosting another one of his projects on Saturday. The group will feature the keyboardist Shai Maestro, who will play both Fender Rhodes and piano, and the drummer Justin Brown.

Watch Gilad’s quartet performing live in France.