Brian Woodruff (drummer/composer) has performed with Takaaki Otomo, Jeff Newell’s New-Trad Octet, Eric Lewis, Jacob Varmus, Adam Hutcheson, Lee Tomboulian, Vicki Burns, Bobby Watson, Don Byron, Marian McPartland, Gary Versace, James Spaulding, Robin Eubanks, Jimmy Heath, Harvie S, Genes and Jazz, Iris Ornig, Hyungjin Choi, Ledisi, Melba Moore, and on the Today Show. He has been the house drummer for Unity of New York for 20 years. Woodruff studied jazz and classical percussion at the University of Connecticut and got a Master’s Degree in Jazz and Commercial Music from Manhattan School of Music. Brian is a founding member of the Queens Jazz OverGround and currently serves as its Executive Director.
Trumpeter/composer Michael Rodriguez has performed and toured with Chick Corea, Eric Reed, Clark Terry, Bobby Watson, Quincy Jones, Joe Lovano, Toshiko Akiyoshi Orchestra, pop icon Jessica Simpson, Chico O’ Farill Orchestra, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, and was a member of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra. Michael has also performed and traveled with the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, Carla Bley Band and Quintet, Kenny Baron’s Quintet, Conrad Herwig Latin Side Projects, Clayton Brothers Quintet, Harry Connick Jr., Bob Mintzer, Eddie Palmieri Septet, Lincoln Center Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, and the Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra. In December of 2003, Michael recorded on Charlie Haden’s GRAMMY award-winning recording album Land of the Sun. Michael has also recorded on Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra’s album Not in Our Name and is featured on “America the Beautiful” and Dvorak’s “Going Home.” Michael is currently a member of Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s quintet and has toured and recorded on his 2008 Blue Note album Avatar. Michael and his brother, pianist Robert Rodriguez, have recorded three albums together, Introducing the Rodriguez Brothers, Conversations, and their most recent album, Mood Swing.
Saxophonist Lisa Parrott (alto and soprano saxophone) has been with the sextet since its inception and is prominently featured on their first recording, The Tarrier. Her unique sound and approach provided the inspiration for many of the compositions written here. Ms. Parrott’s recent CD, Round Tripper, was awarded four stars by Downbeat, and she was awarded top listings in Downbeat’s “Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” 2016 reader’s poll for baritone saxophone.
Three-time GRAMMY-nominated trombonist-composer-arranger Alan Ferber has also been with the sextet since the beginning, and his nonet inspired Brian to start the group. For the last seven years, Alan has been recognized as one of his generation’s leading trombonists in DownBeat magazine’s International Critics’ Poll and Readers’ Poll. Ferber was the recipient of a 2013 New Jazz Works grant from Chamber Music America, funded by the Doris Duke Foundation. Since 2011, he has been an Adjunct Professor of jazz studies at New York University’s Steinhardt School.
Pete McCann (guitar) has been with the sextet since 2010. “Part of a pack of creative young jazz guitarists who emerged in the ’90s (including Ben Monder, Dave Fiuczynski, Adam Rogers, Kurt Rosenwinkel, and David Gilmore), McCann came up revering Jim Hall and Wes Montgomery while also embracing electronics and edgy dissonance—and he was not above stomping on a distortion pedal and rocking out with grunge tones. McCann could also swing authentically in a bop-ish vein or adopt a delicate ECM-ish, walking-on-eggshells aesthetic when the music called for it...the Eau Claire, Wisconsin, native continues to make strong personal statements with his sophisticated harmonic sensibility, blistering chops, and improvisation.”
–Bill Milkowski.
Matt Clohesy (bass), also featured on Brian’s first recording (The Tarrier), has been called upon to tour and/or record with such notable bandleaders as Seamus Blake, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Geoffrey Keezer, Eric Reed, Kevin Hays, Ingrid Jensen, David Kikoski, Laurence Hobgood, Donny McCaslin, Tom Scott, Sean Jones, Jonathan Kreisberg, Joel Frahm, Lage Lund, Mike Moreno, Will Vinson, John Ellis, Jo Lawry, Gretchen Parlato, Alan Ferber, Eric Alexander, Nat Adderley Jr, Diego Urcola, David Weiss, JD Allen, Jon Gordon, David Schnitter, Brad Shepik, Maria Schneider and the John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble. Clohesy is regularly involved with GRAMMY-nominated and DownBeat award-winning composer Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society. |
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