A concert of improvised and composed music featuring legendary NYC trumpet player Steven Bernstein tangling with local creative music favorites.
About the artists:
An impactful presence on the New York scene over the past 30 years, trumpeter, composer, arranger and bandleader Steven Bernstein has immersed himself in such a wide array of music with his bands Sexmob, Millennial Territory Orchestra, Diaspora Soul, Universal Melody Brass Band, Spanish Fly, Blue Campfire and the Butler-Bernstein Hot 9 that he defies easy categorization. A former member of the Lounge Lizards and Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble Band, Bernstein has also composed works for film, theater and dance in addition to doing arrangements for a diverse list of artists ranging from Lou Reed to Lee “Scratch” Perry, Allen Toussaint, Marianne Faithfull, Linda Ronstadt, Rufus Wainwright, Darlene Love, Mario Pavone, Bill Frisell, John Lurie and the Kansas City All-Stars. His lengthy list of sideman credits includes recent recordings by Laurie Anderson (Heart of a Dog), Roswell Rudd (Trombone for Lovers), Mostly Other People Do The Killing (Loafer’s Hollow), Antony and the Johnsons (Turning) and Nels Cline (Lovers). He also continues to perform with Ray Anderson’s Pocket Brass Band, Omaha Diner and the Kamikaze Ground Crew.
Byron Asher is a saxophonist and clarinetist and composer based in New Orleans and working at the intersection of broadly experimental composition and jazz and improvised music. Since arriving there in 2011, he has become an integral member of New Orleans’ creative music community as a bandleader, collaborator, improviser, composer, and curator. Byron maintains an active performing and recording schedule in New Orleans and around the US as a leader and a sideman, notably with his award-winning Skrontch Music large ensemble, his “free jazz party band” Basher, and his free jazz quartet Sonic Chambers Quartet.
Guitarist/Composer, Jonathan Freilich has been an active part of the New Orleans music scene since his arrival there in 1989. Almost immediately, he found himself as sideman for notable locals such as Kermit Ruffins, Michael Ward and The Reward, and Sun Ra trumpeter, Michael Ray. In 1992 he co-founded the New Orleans Klezmer All-Stars (NOKAS), a pioneering klezmer ensemble that infused that music with the vibrancy and energy of the funk, jazz and brass music of New Orleans. To date he has had the opportunity to play with most of New Orleans’ greatest musicians from across all genres. Matt Booth is a bassist, composer, and educator based in Durham NC. Over the last decade, he has worked continuously in a wide range of groups and in various musical styles, both in his previous home of New Orleans, and touring around the world. He has a forthcoming album with a new quintet project, and has released numerous albums over the years as a co-leader of the piano trio Extended, his quartet Palindromes, and the guitar trio Some Antics. Booth’s pursuits have led to performances at standout festivals such as the Ottawa Jazz Festival, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, South by Southwest, and the Burlington Jazz Festival, and has been twice nominated by Offbeat Magazine for the Best Bass Player award. Booth has accompanied an eclectic variety of artists including John “Papa” Gros, Aurora Nealand, Anders Osborne, Lynne Arriale, Johnny Vidacovich, Leo Nocentelli, Sean Jones, John Sinclair, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, and Brian Haas.
Tanner Guss is a dynamic, sensitive drummer based in New Orleans: one who thrives on interaction and prefers to solo on ballads. He works with James Singleton, Aurora Nealand, and many other creative artists with shared affinities for textural sound, earnesty, and collective improvisation. He leads the Brave Acorn Band- a sextet performing venturous reworkings of Ellington/Strayhorn deep cuts, as well as the 8-pc friendship reunion turned chamber-pop collective Finding Frances. He grew up on a mountain outside Salt Lake City and ran a podcast on musician mental health for 4 years called The Happy Musicians.”
