As I finish up my Master’s at William Paterson University, I have been playing more often with some great groups of musicians. One quintet started as a school group with the goal of studying music released on the ECM label, including Keith Jarrett, Steve Reich, Dave Holland, and my hero: Kenny Wheeler. As the group has grown, we’re playing more original music, and it’s been a really rewarding experience.
This past October, we performed an opening set for a quartet co-led by Gene Bertoncini and Mike Mainieri at the WP Jazz Room series (the opening act for these concerts is always a WP student ensemble). Hopefully I can track down a higher quality recording of the date, but for now, here’s some bootleg-style audio for you of our set.
In addition to myself on flugelhorn, the band features Hunter McKay on tenor saxophone, Gabe Plotkin on piano, Michael Topping on bass, and Nick Dekens on drums.
Joey Kendrick 