“Running throughout [The Respect Sextet] is a strong sense of humor and joy. Saxophonist Rutner epitomizes this playfulness, although he’s also a serious improviser and composer. Rutner seldom cracks a smile on stage, even when he’s slamming a canvas tote bag full of percussion instruments on the floor or blowing the shofar—a Jewish horn that it is used for serious religious purposes, but is after all a large ram’s horn.”
- Jason Crane, All About Jazz
Quinn’s is pleased to present as part of its Monday night jazz sessions the Beacon-based saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist and composer Josh Rutner, who leads a trio featuring Danloomis on bass and Jon WIkan on drums. Fresh from his appearance leading off the final day of the Brooklyn, NY Red Hook Jazz Festival this past June, Rutner is associated with some of the most exciting ensembles at work in jazz today, including The Respect Sextet (called “one of the best and most ambitious new ensembles in jazz” by Signal to Noise), TEETH along with many others. With his longtime associates Loomis and Wikan, the finest in modern jazz gets a locavore flavor when one of our neighbors makes his Monday jazz sessions @ Quinn’s debut.
The Josh Rutner Trio performs on Monday, August 4 at 8 pm. Quinn’s is located at 330 Main Street in Beacon, NY. As with every Monday jazz session @ Quinn’s, sets will begin at 8 PM and there is no cover charge at the door, but donations for the musicians will be requested and gratefully accepted.
Biographies of the artists follow below. Other concerts as part of the Monday jazz sessions @ Quinn’s for 2014 include:
August 18: Ray Blue Trio — Hudson Valley-based firebrand Blue brings in a smoking trio featuring Ben Paterson on organ and Craig Haynes on drums;
September 22: Dom Minasi Trio — the storied guitarist, whose work ranges from classic 70′s dates as a leader for Blue Note to the most cutting edges of improvised music, leads a trio of Quinn’s session veterans, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Jay Rosen;
October 20: Mario Pavone Trio — the legendary bassist Pavone, veteran of countless groups ranging from Paul Bley to Anthony Braxton to Thomas Chapin and countless others, is joined by the powerhouse ensemble of Ellery Eskelin on tenor saxophone and Gerald Cleaver on drums;
November 17: Kendra Shank/John Stowell — the extraordinarily talented and accomplished duo of vocalist Shank and guitarist Stowell — following their appearances at Roulette in Brooklyn, The Falcon and other venues worldwide — bring their celebrated project to Quinn’s;
December 22: Avram Fefer Trio — the scalding saxophonist leads a trio with Michael Bisio on bass and drums TBA
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Josh Rutner is a saxophonist, clarinetist, and flutist currently living in Beacon, NY. He is a co-founder of The Respect Sextet, a decade-old institution of jazz and improvisation called “one of the best and most ambitious new ensembles in jazz” by Signal to Noise. As a leader, Josh heads up a number of varied ensembles including TEETH (saxophone trio), G'hoktasaurus (klezmer repertory band), The Twelve Gates (gospel repertory band), and Defense Mechanisms (jazz repertory band). He is a frequent collaborator with new music ensembles such as Ensemble Signal, and as a sideman is a member of several ensembles including Sarah and the Stanleys, HappyFunSmile, and Salo.
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A fresh presence on the New York music scene, Dan Loomis has quickly become one the most in-demand bassists of his generation. Called “a forceful and creative bass player” (Cadence) “double-teaming you with style and substance” (All About Jazz), Dan has created a stir with both his powerful bass playing and his vision as a composer/bandleader. Dan tours extensively through the US, Canada and Europe with his groups The Dan Loomis Quartet (DLQ), The Wee Trio, Spoke, and as a sideman with wildly diverse ensembles including the TS Monk Sextet, winning new audiences and bringing enthusiastic praise from critics.
Dan’s musical roots lie in the historic jazz town of Saint Louis, Missouri. Under the guidance of early mentors Reggie Thomas and Tom Kennedy and through extensive playing experience on the local scene, Dan learned the fundamental importance of groove and sound and came away with the firm commitment to music-making that reaches people on a heart level. He went on for a period of intense study at the renowned Eastman School of Music. By then his playing was already receiving national attention; Downbeat magazine selected The Very Tall Band, made up of Dan and his Eastman compatriots, as Best Collegiate Small Ensemble. Dan hand-picked a chord-less quartet composed of two saxophones, bass and drums from that ensemble to form the Dan Loomis Quartet, which would record his first album, Tondos.
His second album with the DLQ, I Love Paris, marked Dan’s arrival in New York, and it earned him quite a welcome, called ‘one the top new releases of 2007’ by the noted jazz historian Scott Yanow. This group toured US extensively for much of 2006 and 2007. At the same time Dan kept quite busy as a sideman in New York. His large and growing discography includes styles ranging from jazz to indie-pop to eastern-European-improv music to post-punk. He has been active with a large number of projects including the TS Monk Sextet/Tentet, the Ernesto Cervini Quartet with Joel Frahm, Benny Reid’s Findings, the Erica VonKleist Quintet, The Dave Bixler Quintet, the Jay Collins Trio, The Ben Holmes Trio, the Rudy Linka Trio, The Sultans of Swing and The Belly of a Drunken Piano. His work as a sideman has seen him performing in New York’s most prestigious venues including The Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Birdland, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has also toured extensively though the Czech Republic, Canada, Italy, Slovakia, Germany, the United Kingdom and throughout the United States.
Dan reformed his quartet in 2009 with a hand-picked and gently-rotating cast of New York’s most exciting young improvisers. Together they have honed a new crop of compositions due for recording on Aleatoric Logic in 2012. Also during this time, Dan also received two commissions from St. Peter’s church to compose liturgical song-cycles for his quartet plus two jazz vocalists. He took the opportunity to explore some the stickier themes in Christian tradition, composing ‘The Unfathomable Misery of Being’, a work cycle based on the book of Job and ‘Plea to Be Passed Over’, a song-cycle based on Jesus’s sense of duty approaching his death.
Dan co-leads two collaborative groups that serve as an outlet for his visions as a composer and performer. S P O K E, with trombonist Andy Hunter, alto saxophonist Justin Wood and drummer Danny Fischer, features some of the most inspired, adventurous improvisers of the new generation of jazz coming together to create a sound that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Their self-titled debut earned serious praise, being called ‘one of the most inventive records we’ve heard all year’ (HotHouse). The Wee Trio – with vibraphonist James Westfall and drummer Jared Schonig – created a sonic landscape all their own with their debut album, ‘Capitol Diner, Vol. 1’. The album made an immediate stir with the press, who called The Wee Trio “definitely a group to watch” (Downbeat) and said “the trio puts forth a compelling case that they are the ambassadors of the genre’s future” (Saratogian). In 2010, The Wee Trio’s second album, ‘Capitol Diner, Vol. 2, Animal Style’, again made a big splash. Jazztimes called it ““Refreshing . . . no one-note jam band . . . intelligent, highly interactive tracks . . . “ and the band was dubbed “the worlds most vicious vibes-led threesome”(SomethingElse). As glowing as the praise from critics was, fans react even more enthusiastically as the trio played to rapt audiences from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Philadelphia to Chicago to New York.
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Currently based in New York, 39 - year- old Jon Wikan is a jazz drummer rapidly garnering praise on the international music scene. He has accompanied a cross-section of leaders, ranging from singers Ernestine Anderson, Mark Murphy and Freddy Cole to established horn players such as Bud Shank, Ingrid Jensen, and Pete Cristlieb. Born in Petersburg, Alaska, Wikan was transplanted to Seattle Washington at age 5.
He was turned on to the drums in high school there and began spending the summer months back in Alaska commercial fishing with his grandfather in order to buy his first drum set, as well as saving money for college. While attending high school in Seattle, he began playing in the school jazz band and was bitten by the jazz- bug through listening to old recordings, which his peers and teachers made for him.
From 1988-95 Wikan attended Central Washington University. Within this period he took a year off to tour with the legendary Mills Brothers and Ellington alumni Herb Jefferies. The road experience paid off as he was soon called to work with vocalist Ernestine Anderson. During his travels he managed to study with some of the great drum masters such as Chico Hamilton, Carl Allen, and Jeff Hamilton.
In 1996 Wikan immersed himself in the Seattle jazz scene and was taken under the wings of multi-horn man Jay Thomas, Bill Ramsay, and composer James Knapp. During this period he became one of the busiest sidemen in the northwest area backing international artists including Pat Labarbra, Herb Ellis, John Fedchock, Rick Margitza, Buddy Collette, Roswell Rudd, Mark Murphy, Kurt Elling, Bobby Shew, Brad Turner, Jessica Williams and Dan Faehnle.
Wikans' recent move to New York City immediately landed him a record date with pianist Geoff Keezer, a tour of Japan with Downbeat Vocalist of the Year, Mark Murphy and a week at the Blue Note with Grammy award winners, the New York Voices. As well, he performed with the Ingrid Jensen Quartet at the Detroit jazz festival, the Mary Lou Williams Jazz festival, the Savannah Jazz Festival and a live CBC radio concert in Montreal. Other artists Jon has played with include; Karrin Allyson, Sam Yahel, Ron Affif, Seamus Blake, Marcus Strickland, Jay Collins, David Budway, Mark Elf, David Berkman, Jeffery Smith, Antonia Bennett, and young piano prodigy, Aaron Parks.
Wikan does not limit himself to being just a sideman. He is an active clinician/ teacher, teaching privately at The New School University and out of his home studio in Queens, NY. He is also an emerging composer, writing music for various large and small groups which he both leads and plays in. September of 2001, Jon was chosen to participate in the BMI jazz composer's workshop in New York City, which gives him an opportunity to work with composers Jim McNeely and Mike Abene.
Jon's most recent projects have been touring with The Geoffrey Keezer Trio and the formation and recording of a new band called "Project O" with co-leaders Ingrid Jensen (trumpet) and Gary Versace (B-3 organ) and stellar saxophone players Seamus Blake, Steve Wilson and Christine Jensen. The bands' recent 2-week West Coast (US/Canada) tour found Project O playing to sold out crowds including 3 nights at The 2002 Earshot International Jazz Festival. Project O will release their new record entitled NOW AS THEN on Justin-Time records in spring of 2003.
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