MARK SOSKIN TRIO

Featuring Jay Anderson & Matt Wilson

Soskin has recorded and performed with such diverse musicians as Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Randy Brecker, Billy Cobham, Buster Williams, Eddie Henderson, Stanley Turrentine, Cornell Dupree, Herbie Mann, John Abercrombie, Claudio Roditi, Sheila Jordan, Gato Barbieri, Joe Locke, David”Fathead”Newman, Mark Murphy, Slide Hampton, Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Bobby Watson, Miroslav Vitous, The NY Voices and others.

Since 1981 Soskin has resided in New York City, remaining active as sideman and as a leader. He has ten of his own recordings to date and three as co-leader, one which features Harvie Swartz and Joe LaBarbera with Sheila Jordan called “Spirits”, one under the name “Contempo Trio” with Danny Gottlieb and Chip Jackson featuring Ravi Coltrane and another Contempo Trio recording named”The Secret of Life” featuring Carolyn Leonhart. His recording, “17” on TCB, highlights Soskin in a quintet setting featuring mainly original compositions.

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RONI BEN~HUR SEXTET FEATURING GEORGE CABLES

• Remembering Barry Harris

Ben~Hur started playing guitar when he was eleven. He learned about jazz from a high school’s friend’s record collection. In Israel he performed in clubs and at weddings and bar mitzvahs until he had enough money to move to the U.S. He arrived in New York City in 1985, spending time at Barry Harris’s Jazz Cultural Theater. He took lessons from Harris, then became a member of his band.

Ben-Hur’s experience as an educator dates back to 1981 in Israel. In the U.S. he started jazz music programs at Professional Performing Arts School, the Coalition School for Social Change, and at the Lucy Moses School. At the request of Bette Midler, he started a jazz program for New York City high schools.[1] Ben-Hur began a jazz camp in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, France, with Santi Debriano. With Nilson Matta, he began a jazz and Brazilian music camp in Bar Harbor, Maine, both intended for adult jazz amateurs. He is the founding director of the jazz program at the Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Center in Manhattan where he teaches.

His book Talk Jazz: Guitar (Mel Bay, 2004) includes a CD with a removable guitar track of Ben-Hur performing the exercises in the book with Tardo Hammer on piano, Earl May on bass, and Leroy Williams on drums.

His album Anna’s Dance was named by The Village Voice one of the best jazz albums of 2001. All About Jazz called him “a virtuoso guitarist with impeccable swing”. In 2000, he won the Jazziz reader poll for “Best New Talent”.

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GREG ABATE QUARTET

Greg Abate jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer continues as an International Jazz/Recording Artist with 225 days a year touring the globe. In the mid 70’s after finishing a four year program at Berklee College Of Music, Greg played lead alto for the Ray Charles Orchestra for 2 years. In 1978 he formed his group Channel One which was a favorite in the New England area and from there had the opportunity to play tenor sax with the revived Artie Shaw Orchestra under leadership of Dick Johnson from 1986 to ’87.

Following this experience Greg ventured out as post hard bop soloist playing Jazz Festivals, Jazz Societies and Jazz Clubs throughout the U.S. Canada and abroad, including most of Europe, UK, and Moscow and Georgia Russia. His newest release Gratitude, with the Tim Ray Trio has received glowing reviews and a lot of international airplay.  Also, check out Greg’s other recordings including special guests Phil Woods and other notable artists.

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RODNEY JONES

A foursome of world-class musicians who have worked with countless top talents (like Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, Stevie Wonder) Rodney Jones Quartet thrills audiences worldwide by not just playing straight ahead jazz at its highest level, but performing for the audience, sharing stories about the music and its meaning.

Bandleader Jones was also the Apollo Theater house guitarist and staff guitarist on Rosie O’Donnell’s TV show. Jazz Times called him a “consummate guitarist.”

Featuring Rodney Jones, guitar | Ron Blake, saxophone | Lonnie Plaxico, bass | Ronnie Burrage, drums

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JOE ALTERMAN

Joe Alterman Album Release Show

Atlanta native Joe Alterman expresses a certain upbeat naivete, with a broad smile and bright eyes that make you feel welcome. One would not guess that this is a man hailed by greats; Ramsey Lewis describes his music as “happy music with tasty meat on the bones,” Les McCann states “Joe’s on a ‘blow your mind’ level,” and Ahmad Jamal calls him “a very special artist.” Journalist Nat Hentoff championed three of Alterman’s albums, as well as his writing (Joe wrote liner notes to three Wynton Marsalis/JLCO albums), calling one of Joe’s columns “one of the very best pieces on the essence of jazz, the spirit of jazz, that I’ve ever read, and I’m not exaggerating.”

Joe Alterman began at NYU with a BA and Masters in Jazz Piano from NYU and has since performed at many world renowned venues including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Birdland and Blue Note  alongside Houston Person, Les McCann, Dick Gregory, Ramsey Lewis, and his own trio, among others. Downbeat describes his sound as “rooted in the blues, and with a touch reminiscent of the great pianists of the 1950s—Red Garland, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans.” It is clear Joe hits all of the necessary points for Jazz critics and fans alike.

But there is more to the story, of course. The 21st century has brought another transition for this thing called jazz; in one moment we see the push and pull between tradition and progression, and in another we see Pop and Hip-Hop musicians emulating and sampling. In Joe Alterman we find none of this struggle; the music just sounds good. Our conscious faculties are instantly disabled as we tap our feet, feeling the intent and joy of his playing. An old classic is new when you feel good in the moment. Or, as Hentoff wrote about Alterman in the Wall Street Journal, “Alterman’s continually evolving presence on the jazz scene surely makes people smile and, if the room is right, dance. There’ll be no need for any last rites of jazz.”

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