Hendrik Meurkens Quintet
Tickets
On sale smallslive.com
About
Virtuoso instrumentalist and composer Hendrik Meurkens began his career in Germany playing vibes. At 19, he heard Toots Thielemans play harmonica, which totally changed his musical life. His career has taken him from Brazil to Germany, then throughout the European continent where he became a pivotal force on the studio and jazz scene, performing, composing, recording, and touring extensively with his own ensembles as well as with visiting legends Harry Sweets Edison and Buddy Tate. In 1989, he returned to Brazil to record his first album as a leader, "Samba Importado". In 1992, a trip to California led to his signing with the Concord label, and the resulting six recordings established him as the first major new voice on the harmonica since Toots Thielemans. He moved to New York in 1992 where he has lived ever since. His 24 CDs have received rave reviews and strong airplay, and established his immediately recognizable style of Brazilian Jazz. In 2014 he won the Brazilian International Press Award. Critics and the jazz listening public alike have recognized Meurkens' incredible talent, listing him repeatedly in the Downbeat and Jazziz Polls. Meurkens has worked with Ray Brown, Paquito D'Rivera, Oscar Castro-Neves, Herb Ellis, Herbie Mann, James Moody, Charlie Byrd, Jimmy Cobb, Ivan Lins, Monty Alexander, Manfredo Fest, Herb Ellis, Dori Caymmi, Toninho Horta, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, Buddy Tate, Joyce, Astrud Gilberto, Roberto Menescal, Antonio Adolfo, Emilio Santiago, and many others.
Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading voices on the trombone. After graduating from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz ('89), Davis first gained widespread recognition in 1990 upon joining as the last to join the Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Steve’s first record dates would be Blakey's last, including One For All (A&M), the title track penned by Davis.
Over the years since, Davis has worked with a broad range of jazz luminaries such as his first mentor Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Cecil Payne, Harold Mabern, Larry Willis, Freddie Hubbard & The New Jazz Composers Octet, Slide Hampton's World of Trombones, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, Rene McLean, Nat Reeves, Avishai Cohen, Roy Hargrove & Willie Jones III. Raised in Binghamton, New York, Steve has performed at major venues around the world including appearances at the North Sea, Montreal, Vienne, Montreaux, Newport, JVC, Detroit, Chicago & Playboy Jazz Festivals, The Jimmy Fallon Show with Stevie Wonder and at The White House Tribute to Ray Charles (PBS). Davis appears on over 150 recordings, including 20 as a leader. His 2022 release "Bluesthetic" (SMOKE Sessions) includes an all-star band featuring Steve Nelson, Peter Bernstein, Geoff Keezer, Christian McBride & Willie Jones III playing a program of Steve's originals. "Bluesthetic'' garnered rave reviews and spent months atop the JazzWeek Radio Charts. Other notable releases include Say When: Celebrating J.J. Johnson, Think Ahead, and Correlations (SMOKE Sessions), For Real and Gettin’ It Done (Positone). During 2019, Steve appeared on Chick Corea's Grammy Winning Spanish Heart Band album, "Antidote" and toured Europe with the group. Davis also continues to work regularly with the collectively-led sextet One For All (feat. Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber & Joe Farnsworth), bassist Nat Reeves' State Of Emergency & Blue Ridge Bands, as well as playing with John Lee's Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, Ron Carter and Christian McBride big bands and The Queens Jazz Orchestra. Steve’s original composition, “Optimism" appears on the McBride Big Band’s Grammy Award winning release Bringin' It (2018).
Davis performs and has recently recorded with his wife, vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis on her 2024 jazz debut "Where Is Love" (WJ3 Records) which also features his son, guitarist Tony Davis. Steve & Abena appear together on Natalie Merchant's 2023 release, "Keep Your Courage" (Nonesuch). Steve’s latest release, Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones Vol. 1 (2023) captures never before heard sessions with the legendary pianist in one of his final recordings, and also features bassist Peter Washington. In addition to playing regularly in NYC, Steve maintains an active presence on the vibrant local CT jazz scene. A long-time educator, Steve has guided a broad range of emerging musicians at the Hartt School's Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division, University of Hartford, CT where he was recently honored for over 30 years of service and as '23 Alumni Of The Year. In Fall '22, Prof Davis left Hartt to join the Berklee College of Music Brass Dept. as Full Professor. Other prestigious educational affiliations have included the San Francisco Conservatory's RJAM faculty, Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops, Skidmore Jazz Workshop, Jazz in July at UMASS Amherst, Stanford University Jazz Workshop.
www.stevedavismusic.com
A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Steve Ash received his formal musical training at Indiana University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano.He has been performing in the New York City area as well as internationally for over 30 years. Some steady engagements have included the Rainbow Room, Windows on the World, and Smoke Jazz and Supper Club.Steve has appeared with many jazz recording artists, including Frank Wess, Jon Hendricks, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Eddie Harris, Warren Vache, Harry Allen, Chris Connor, Annie Ross, Mel Lewis, Vernell Fournier and Doc Cheatham. Steve was honored to be selected by The Kennedy Center and The U.S. State Department to tour West Africa and France as part of The Jazz Ambassadors in 2004. His touring experience also includes performing at The Bern Jazz Festival with Warren Vache’s All Stars in 2001, and The Caesarea Jazz Festival in Israel with The Harry Allen Quartet in 2006, The New Mexico Jazz Festival with Jon Hendricks in 2012.His recordings include The Steve Ash Trio, "Once I Loved", The Steve Ash Trio, “Everything I Love,” Warren Vache’s “ Swingtime,” the Metropolitan Bopera-House, “Still Comin’ On Up,” Barbara Lea with The Loren Schoenberg Big Band, “Black Butterfly,” and the Neal Miner Sextet, “The Evening Sound”, Fabien Mary, “Conception”.Steve’s piano can be heard in the movie “Evening” (2007), accompanying Claire Danes on “Time After Time” as well as on the movie’s soundtrack recording, playing a solo version of “Pretend”.weblinks: [email protected]
This artist does not have a bio yet.
Three exemplary recordings from the first decade of the 21st Century, all issued on Marc Edelman's Sharp Nine imprint, are closely tied to two important New York City venues. Alto saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith's Up In Smoke (2003) and Still Smokin' (2004) were recorded live at Smoke Jazz Club (formerly Augie's), an uptown bastion of Hammond B-3 organ combos, jazz-funk bands, as well as an abundance of no-nonsense, straight-ahead sounds. In Orbit (2006), a studio date by Planet Jazz, the sextet founded by the late Johnny Ellis and currently led by pianist Spike Wilner, was nurtured by weekly appearances at Smalls, the legendary, musician-friendly Greenwich Village nightspot.
These recordings are living proof that jazz based on traditional practices continue to sound fresh and vital in an age when the music is stretching in a myriad of directions. The personnel include significant mainstream players who are held in particularly high esteem by their peers: Guitarist Peter Bernstein, trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and Ryan Kisor, tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, pianists David Hazeltine and Wilner, as well as bassists Barak Mori, Peter Washington, and Neal Miner. Hendrickson-Smith's records contain the enthusiastic blowing that one expects from live recordings, minus the customary excess. In Orbit is mostly dedicated to Ellis's unique, melodically rich compositions which lend themselves to improvisations of short-to-moderate duration.
Aside from unapologetic ties to swing and bebop, the common denominator of all three discs is drummer Joe Strasser. Although you'll search in vain for his name in critic and listener polls, Strasser is a one of a kind stylist. Joe has his own take on jazz drumming, his own sound, says Hendrickson-Smith, who co-founded The Hotpants, a funk band which was a mainstay at Smoke for several years, with Strasser. And that's the true mark of any musician. Spike Wilner regards Strasser as an artist at a very high level; so creative and so thorough. Everything is very meticulous and everything is musical. He's tremendously versatile and traditional in the sense that he's got a real foundation. I know his idol is Jimmy Cobb, then Philly Joe Jones and the classic bebop drummers.
Not unlike any tradition-minded trapster, Strasser's sound starts with the ride cymbal. The second he hits the cymbal, you know who it is, Hendrickson-Smith says. It's really crisp and exact. The cymbal beat contains just enough weight, pushing the band forward without taking up too much space. It drives an easygoing, medium tempo version of I Wish You Love, from Still Smokin', and works well with repetitive tom-tom and rim knock combinations. Tightly cleaving to Barak Mori's walking line, the light yet distinct cymbal is the most prominent part of Strasser's playing behind Hendrickson-Smith's solo on The Best Things in Life Are Free (Up In Smoke). Later on during Hazeltine's turn, he varies the ride cymbal rhythm, shifting into choppier patterns for a couple of bars.
A colorist who is mindful of the effect of each stroke on the band as a whole, Strasser mines the rest of the components of the drum kit with equal parts of efficiency and artistry. The snare drum snaps with authority yet retains a certain lightness. Throughout Ryan Kisor's solo on an up tempo Love For Sale (Still Smokin'), his edgy snare accents push the trumpeter, and he sometimes plays in unison with Hazeltine's chords. The tom-toms are tuned beautifully and often employed on heads and behind soloists, frequently in repetitive patterns that sound out in a bell-like clarity. Improvising second-line funk rhythms on Hendrickson-Smith's Jacob's Crib (Still Smokin'), recurring three and four stroke figures to the mounted tom-tom make a fine contrast to single and buzz strokes to the snare. Strasser uses the bass drum more sparingly, and it impacts in interesting ways, like comping rhythms that would normally be executed on the snare or in acute contrast to brush strokes on ballads. He animates parts of Wilner and Stewart's solos on Buttermoose (In Orbit) with prominent bass drum hits, including one pattern that marches across the pulse. Memories of You (Still Smokin') includes stimulating bass drum beats amidst sensitive brush work behind Hendrickson-Smith's rendition of the melody and Hazeltine's solo.
Both Wilner and Hendrickson-Smith speak enthusiastically about Strasser's rock solid time and his empathetic ways of interacting with other musicians. I love playing fast tempos with Joe, Wilner says. He just burns, but he's never out of control. It's so easy to play with him. He's on everything. You give him a glance and he gives you exactly what you want. Me and Joe have these weird, comping experiences that happen quite a bit, Wilner continues, where I'll comp an idea and he'll comp something elaborate at the same time-those great jazz moments. And it happens a lot. One of those moments occurs during the latter part of Wilner's solo on Ellis's The Squirrel is a Girl (In Orbit) when Strasser intuits one of Wilner's lines and tailors accents to it.
That's a tough tempo to keep rock solid, Hendrickson-Smith says of the slow-to-medium pace of Chelsea Bridge, from Up In Smoke. At the suggestion of David Hazeltine, Strasser played with sticks instead of brushes. Sounding perfectly at ease, his steady, patient ride cymbal leads the way. He adds significant touches, like repetitive eighth note triplets to the mounted tom-tom during Hazeltine's solo, that never get in the way or violate the spirit of Billy Strayhorn's composition. He's a consummate sideman, Hendrickson-Smith adds. Joe's always waiting for you to ask him for something, and never forces the tune in a specific direction. He's got the perfect balance between gut and brains. If somebody gives Joe something to work with, he's all over it. Conversely, Strasser knows when to stay out of the way. For example, he all but disappears during the early stages of Magnarelli's Dual Highway (In Orbit) solo, allowing the trumpeter to explore a floating melodic line without the slightest interference.
Apart from incisive playing on the heads and effective comping strategies, Strasser is a first-rate soloist who stays in close touch with the materials at hand. The thing about Joe Strasser is that his solos are unbelievable; they're really quite unusual, Wilner enthuses. Mommy, Mommy NO! (In Orbit) begins with a brilliant eight bar break. A repeated five note figure executed in unison on the bass drum and cymbal is answered by terse fills. Though the break is grounded in time and indicates a specific tempo, it nonetheless contains a slightly unsettled feel. When the band enters you realize that it's based on the composition's melody. That's stuff Joe came up with, Wilner replies when asked if the break is part of Ellis's chart. It's part of the level of authority that a guy like Joe brings to the table.
A two bar vamp played by Wilner, Bernstein, and Gill provides a foundation for Strasser's extended solo on Hampton Hawes's Sonora (In Orbit). Thickset rhythms to the tom-toms, snare and cymbals are bound up in the simple figure. He approaches the vamp from every conceivable angle, cleaving to some parts and leaving others exposed. In contrast to the rest of the track's fleet swing, Strasser sounds as if he's having a grand time thrashing about in the muck of his own making.
Weblinks:
[email protected]
Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading voices on the trombone. After graduating from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz ('89), Davis first gained widespread recognition in 1990 upon joining as the last to join the Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Steve’s first record dates would be Blakey's last, including One For All (A&M), the title track penned by Davis.
Over the years since, Davis has worked with a broad range of jazz luminaries such as his first mentor Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, James Moody, Cecil Payne, Harold Mabern, Larry Willis, Freddie Hubbard & The New Jazz Composers Octet, Slide Hampton's World of Trombones, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, Hank Jones, Rene McLean, Nat Reeves, Avishai Cohen, Roy Hargrove & Willie Jones III. Raised in Binghamton, New York, Steve has performed at major venues around the world including appearances at the North Sea, Montreal, Vienne, Montreaux, Newport, JVC, Detroit, Chicago & Playboy Jazz Festivals, The Jimmy Fallon Show with Stevie Wonder and at The White House Tribute to Ray Charles (PBS). Davis appears on over 150 recordings, including 20 as a leader. His 2022 release "Bluesthetic" (SMOKE Sessions) includes an all-star band featuring Steve Nelson, Peter Bernstein, Geoff Keezer, Christian McBride & Willie Jones III playing a program of Steve's originals. "Bluesthetic'' garnered rave reviews and spent months atop the JazzWeek Radio Charts. Other notable releases include Say When: Celebrating J.J. Johnson, Think Ahead, and Correlations (SMOKE Sessions), For Real and Gettin’ It Done (Positone). During 2019, Steve appeared on Chick Corea's Grammy Winning Spanish Heart Band album, "Antidote" and toured Europe with the group. Davis also continues to work regularly with the collectively-led sextet One For All (feat. Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber & Joe Farnsworth), bassist Nat Reeves' State Of Emergency & Blue Ridge Bands, as well as playing with John Lee's Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, Ron Carter and Christian McBride big bands and The Queens Jazz Orchestra. Steve’s original composition, “Optimism" appears on the McBride Big Band’s Grammy Award winning release Bringin' It (2018).
Davis performs and has recently recorded with his wife, vocalist Abena Koomson-Davis on her 2024 jazz debut "Where Is Love" (WJ3 Records) which also features his son, guitarist Tony Davis. Steve & Abena appear together on Natalie Merchant's 2023 release, "Keep Your Courage" (Nonesuch). Steve’s latest release, Steve Davis Meets Hank Jones Vol. 1 (2023) captures never before heard sessions with the legendary pianist in one of his final recordings, and also features bassist Peter Washington. In addition to playing regularly in NYC, Steve maintains an active presence on the vibrant local CT jazz scene. A long-time educator, Steve has guided a broad range of emerging musicians at the Hartt School's Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division, University of Hartford, CT where he was recently honored for over 30 years of service and as '23 Alumni Of The Year. In Fall '22, Prof Davis left Hartt to join the Berklee College of Music Brass Dept. as Full Professor. Other prestigious educational affiliations have included the San Francisco Conservatory's RJAM faculty, Jamey Aebersold’s Summer Jazz Workshops, Skidmore Jazz Workshop, Jazz in July at UMASS Amherst, Stanford University Jazz Workshop.
www.stevedavismusic.com
A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Steve Ash received his formal musical training at Indiana University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Jazz Piano.He has been performing in the New York City area as well as internationally for over 30 years. Some steady engagements have included the Rainbow Room, Windows on the World, and Smoke Jazz and Supper Club.Steve has appeared with many jazz recording artists, including Frank Wess, Jon Hendricks, Jimmy Cobb, Louis Hayes, Eddie Harris, Warren Vache, Harry Allen, Chris Connor, Annie Ross, Mel Lewis, Vernell Fournier and Doc Cheatham. Steve was honored to be selected by The Kennedy Center and The U.S. State Department to tour West Africa and France as part of The Jazz Ambassadors in 2004. His touring experience also includes performing at The Bern Jazz Festival with Warren Vache’s All Stars in 2001, and The Caesarea Jazz Festival in Israel with The Harry Allen Quartet in 2006, The New Mexico Jazz Festival with Jon Hendricks in 2012.His recordings include The Steve Ash Trio, "Once I Loved", The Steve Ash Trio, “Everything I Love,” Warren Vache’s “ Swingtime,” the Metropolitan Bopera-House, “Still Comin’ On Up,” Barbara Lea with The Loren Schoenberg Big Band, “Black Butterfly,” and the Neal Miner Sextet, “The Evening Sound”, Fabien Mary, “Conception”.Steve’s piano can be heard in the movie “Evening” (2007), accompanying Claire Danes on “Time After Time” as well as on the movie’s soundtrack recording, playing a solo version of “Pretend”.weblinks: [email protected]
This artist does not have a bio yet.
Three exemplary recordings from the first decade of the 21st Century, all issued on Marc Edelman's Sharp Nine imprint, are closely tied to two important New York City venues. Alto saxophonist Ian Hendrickson-Smith's Up In Smoke (2003) and Still Smokin' (2004) were recorded live at Smoke Jazz Club (formerly Augie's), an uptown bastion of Hammond B-3 organ combos, jazz-funk bands, as well as an abundance of no-nonsense, straight-ahead sounds. In Orbit (2006), a studio date by Planet Jazz, the sextet founded by the late Johnny Ellis and currently led by pianist Spike Wilner, was nurtured by weekly appearances at Smalls, the legendary, musician-friendly Greenwich Village nightspot.
These recordings are living proof that jazz based on traditional practices continue to sound fresh and vital in an age when the music is stretching in a myriad of directions. The personnel include significant mainstream players who are held in particularly high esteem by their peers: Guitarist Peter Bernstein, trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and Ryan Kisor, tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, pianists David Hazeltine and Wilner, as well as bassists Barak Mori, Peter Washington, and Neal Miner. Hendrickson-Smith's records contain the enthusiastic blowing that one expects from live recordings, minus the customary excess. In Orbit is mostly dedicated to Ellis's unique, melodically rich compositions which lend themselves to improvisations of short-to-moderate duration.
Aside from unapologetic ties to swing and bebop, the common denominator of all three discs is drummer Joe Strasser. Although you'll search in vain for his name in critic and listener polls, Strasser is a one of a kind stylist. Joe has his own take on jazz drumming, his own sound, says Hendrickson-Smith, who co-founded The Hotpants, a funk band which was a mainstay at Smoke for several years, with Strasser. And that's the true mark of any musician. Spike Wilner regards Strasser as an artist at a very high level; so creative and so thorough. Everything is very meticulous and everything is musical. He's tremendously versatile and traditional in the sense that he's got a real foundation. I know his idol is Jimmy Cobb, then Philly Joe Jones and the classic bebop drummers.
Not unlike any tradition-minded trapster, Strasser's sound starts with the ride cymbal. The second he hits the cymbal, you know who it is, Hendrickson-Smith says. It's really crisp and exact. The cymbal beat contains just enough weight, pushing the band forward without taking up too much space. It drives an easygoing, medium tempo version of I Wish You Love, from Still Smokin', and works well with repetitive tom-tom and rim knock combinations. Tightly cleaving to Barak Mori's walking line, the light yet distinct cymbal is the most prominent part of Strasser's playing behind Hendrickson-Smith's solo on The Best Things in Life Are Free (Up In Smoke). Later on during Hazeltine's turn, he varies the ride cymbal rhythm, shifting into choppier patterns for a couple of bars.
A colorist who is mindful of the effect of each stroke on the band as a whole, Strasser mines the rest of the components of the drum kit with equal parts of efficiency and artistry. The snare drum snaps with authority yet retains a certain lightness. Throughout Ryan Kisor's solo on an up tempo Love For Sale (Still Smokin'), his edgy snare accents push the trumpeter, and he sometimes plays in unison with Hazeltine's chords. The tom-toms are tuned beautifully and often employed on heads and behind soloists, frequently in repetitive patterns that sound out in a bell-like clarity. Improvising second-line funk rhythms on Hendrickson-Smith's Jacob's Crib (Still Smokin'), recurring three and four stroke figures to the mounted tom-tom make a fine contrast to single and buzz strokes to the snare. Strasser uses the bass drum more sparingly, and it impacts in interesting ways, like comping rhythms that would normally be executed on the snare or in acute contrast to brush strokes on ballads. He animates parts of Wilner and Stewart's solos on Buttermoose (In Orbit) with prominent bass drum hits, including one pattern that marches across the pulse. Memories of You (Still Smokin') includes stimulating bass drum beats amidst sensitive brush work behind Hendrickson-Smith's rendition of the melody and Hazeltine's solo.
Both Wilner and Hendrickson-Smith speak enthusiastically about Strasser's rock solid time and his empathetic ways of interacting with other musicians. I love playing fast tempos with Joe, Wilner says. He just burns, but he's never out of control. It's so easy to play with him. He's on everything. You give him a glance and he gives you exactly what you want. Me and Joe have these weird, comping experiences that happen quite a bit, Wilner continues, where I'll comp an idea and he'll comp something elaborate at the same time-those great jazz moments. And it happens a lot. One of those moments occurs during the latter part of Wilner's solo on Ellis's The Squirrel is a Girl (In Orbit) when Strasser intuits one of Wilner's lines and tailors accents to it.
That's a tough tempo to keep rock solid, Hendrickson-Smith says of the slow-to-medium pace of Chelsea Bridge, from Up In Smoke. At the suggestion of David Hazeltine, Strasser played with sticks instead of brushes. Sounding perfectly at ease, his steady, patient ride cymbal leads the way. He adds significant touches, like repetitive eighth note triplets to the mounted tom-tom during Hazeltine's solo, that never get in the way or violate the spirit of Billy Strayhorn's composition. He's a consummate sideman, Hendrickson-Smith adds. Joe's always waiting for you to ask him for something, and never forces the tune in a specific direction. He's got the perfect balance between gut and brains. If somebody gives Joe something to work with, he's all over it. Conversely, Strasser knows when to stay out of the way. For example, he all but disappears during the early stages of Magnarelli's Dual Highway (In Orbit) solo, allowing the trumpeter to explore a floating melodic line without the slightest interference.
Apart from incisive playing on the heads and effective comping strategies, Strasser is a first-rate soloist who stays in close touch with the materials at hand. The thing about Joe Strasser is that his solos are unbelievable; they're really quite unusual, Wilner enthuses. Mommy, Mommy NO! (In Orbit) begins with a brilliant eight bar break. A repeated five note figure executed in unison on the bass drum and cymbal is answered by terse fills. Though the break is grounded in time and indicates a specific tempo, it nonetheless contains a slightly unsettled feel. When the band enters you realize that it's based on the composition's melody. That's stuff Joe came up with, Wilner replies when asked if the break is part of Ellis's chart. It's part of the level of authority that a guy like Joe brings to the table.
A two bar vamp played by Wilner, Bernstein, and Gill provides a foundation for Strasser's extended solo on Hampton Hawes's Sonora (In Orbit). Thickset rhythms to the tom-toms, snare and cymbals are bound up in the simple figure. He approaches the vamp from every conceivable angle, cleaving to some parts and leaving others exposed. In contrast to the rest of the track's fleet swing, Strasser sounds as if he's having a grand time thrashing about in the muck of his own making.
Weblinks:
[email protected]
Lineup
