Grammy winner David Murray is considered by many to be one of the most important and versatile saxophonists, composers and bandleaders in modern jazz. Rising in the New York loft jazz scene in the 1970s, as co-founder of the World Saxophone Quartet and versatile guarantor of musical integrity also popular in Europe, later also with “The Grateful Dead” or “The Roots”. More than 150 albums have been produced under his own name, and he has performed as sideman on an additional 100 albums. His idols are the saxophonists Paul Gonzales, Lester Young and Ben Webster. His overtone-rich playing, his virtuoso overblowing techniques and his experience in gospel, avant-garde, rock and funk give him an enormous musical toolbox.
Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground. Overall has been working at the forefront of New York City’s jazz scene for two decades, touring and recording with artists as varied as Theo Croker, Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Yoko Ono, Peter Evans, Terri Lyne Carrington, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Gary Bartz.
Luke Stewart is a DC/NYC-based musician and organizer of important musical presentations, and has a strong presence in the national and international Improvised Music community. He has worked with musicians such as Camae Ayewa, Aquiles Navarro, James Brandon Lewis, Archie Shepp, Jaimie Branch, and Thurston Moore. The Downbeat Magazine noted him in 2020 as one of “25 most influential jazz artists” of his generation.
Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, pianist and composer Marta Sánchez is actively working in the contemporary creative music scene in New York City and around the globe. Charting a significant path through her innovative and original music, she has reached an international audience, gaining significant global recognition.
David Murray
Since he arrived in NY in 1975, David Murray established himself as one of the prominent saxophone players and leaders of jazz. He has released over 200 albums under his own name, working with the likes of Max Roach, Randy Weston, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Taj Mahal, Mal Waldron, Amiri Baraka, Jerry Garcia, Doudou N’daye Rose, Cassandra Wilson, Jason Moran, Macy Gray, Omara Portuando, Saul Williams, Vijay Iyer, Quest Love, Black Thought, and Gregory Porter to name a few. He is also a founding member of the groundbreaking World Saxophone Quartet which toured and recorded for 40 years.
As well as being a well known bandleader, he is a noteworthy composer and arranger providing memorable melodies and harmonies. His approach to improvisation is instantly recognizable. Even in its freest flights, he acknowledges the gravity of a tradition he honors more than most, combining all the influences he grew out of: gospel, jazz, free/avant-garde jazz, rhythm’n blues, R&B and, in his associations with writers, poetry. The great Cecil Taylor compared him to his greatest predecessors who had signature sounds: “You stick your ear in the door, you know it’s David!”
David Murray goes down as a worthy successor for some of the biggest names in jazz, and he is now contributing to the rise of many young talents acclaimed by the critics.
Kassa Overall
Kassa Overall is a Grammy-nominated musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer who melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions, reflecting a panoramic musical background from West Coast G-Funk to the sounds of the New York underground.
In the past two years, Overall has released four critically acclaimed projects: I THINK I’M GOOD (on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings Imprint), GO GET ICE CREAM AND LISTEN TO JAZZ, SHADES OF FLU and SHADES OF FLU 2, gathering support from artistic visionaries including Virgil Abloh and Thom Yorke. Whatever the experiment, Overall remains faithful to the pocket of jazz drums in the tradition of his mentors, Elvin Jones, Billy Higgins, and Billy Hart, with whom he studied at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Overall has been working at the forefront of New York City’s jazz scene for two decades, touring and recording with artists as varied as Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Francis and the Lights, Yoko Ono, Peter Evans, Carmen Lundy, Terri Lyne Carrington, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Theo Croker, and Gary Bartz. His work as a producer can be heard on albums by Theo Croker (Escape Velocity), Arto Lindsay (Cuidado Madame), and Das Racist (Sit Down, Man).
Raised in Seattle, Washington, Overall attended Garfield High School, the alma mater of Quincy Jones and Jimi Hendrix.
Luke Stewart
Luke Stewart is a DC/NYC-based musician and organizer of important musical presentations, and has a strong presence in the national and international Improvised Music community. He is noted in Downbeat Magazine in 2020 as one of “25 most influential jazz artists” of his generation. He was profiled in the Washington Post in early 2017 as “holding down the jazz scene,” selected as “Best Musical Omnivore” in the Washington City Paper’s 2017 “Best of DC,” chosen as “Jazz Artist of the Year” for 2017 in the District Now, and in the 2014 People Issue of the Washington City Paper as a “Jazz Revolutionary,” citing his multi-faceted cultural activities throughout DC. In New York City, Luke collaborated with Arts for Art in hosting the first ever “Free Jazz Convention” to share resources and strategies among the community. He has also performed in a myriad of collaborations and performances in venues such as the Kitchen, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pioneer Works, Roulette, and Issue Project Room.
As a scholar/performer, he has performed and lectured at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Medgar Evers College, George Mason University, Wayne State University, University of Montana, New Mexico State University, and the University of South Carolina. He also holds a BA in International Studies and a BA in Audio Production from American University, and an MA in Arts Management and Entrepreneurship from the New School. In 2019, Luke was also a finalist for the Johnson Fellowship, citing his work in changing the musical fabric of Washington, DC.
Marta Sánchez
Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, pianist and composer Marta Sánchez is actively working in the contemporary creative music scene in New York City and around the globe. Charting a significant path through her innovative and original music, she has reached an international audience, gaining significant global recognition.
Marta’s main project, her quintet, was created soon after she moved to New York, and since then has released four albums: “Partenika” (2015), “Danza Imposible” (2017), and “El Rayo de Luz” (2019) with the Spanish label Fresh Sound and SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum) with Whirlwind Recordings. All of the albums received high praise from American press. ”Partenika” received great reviews from The New York Times, Downbeat, All Music, All About Jazz,and many more.
She has toured the United States, Europe, South America, and Central America, performing as a leader or as a sideman at prestigious venues and prominent festivals such as North Sea Jazz Festival in the Netherlands, Eurojazz in Mexico City, Eurojazz in Athens, Jazz Festival Vitoria Gasteiz, Winter Jazz Festival in New York, and Madrid among many others. In the United States she has performed at some of the most prestigious clubs including the Blue Note, Birdland, Roulette, Jazz Gallery, 55 Bar, The Cell Theater, Cornelia Street Cafe, or Blue Whale.
She received prizes for the best soundtrack for short film in the festivals Alcalá de Henares, Curtficcion in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.
In 2017 and 2021 she received the prestigious grant for a residency from the MacDowell Colony, where Marta wrote prepared piano repertoire.
“David Murray is one of the great exponents of African-American free jazz. The richness and sophistication of his articulations on bass clarinet and tenor saxophone are striking and unbroken. Sovereign and subtle at the same time, he plays with the volumes of which his tone is capable, with an outrageously precisely shaped richness of overtones, an incredibly subtle vibrato […]” Frankfurter Rundschau
“Playing joy, finesse, improvisational furor, awareness of history, desire and air are there, immediately go into the legs without forgetting the head.”
“This emotional music is more than just craftsmanship. The organic flow beyond all complacency is its real fascination.” Ulrich Steinmetzger, Leipziger Volkszeitung
“The concept of freedom expressed here involves drawing freely from myroad styles, minting them into music that is both uncompromisingly rigorous and directly communicative.” Downbeat
““not just a simple soloist with rhythm but an authentic group whose members are involved in an equal way, driven by an enthousiasm that shuns any form of nostalgia, restoring us intact… Murray is back: don’t underestimate him.” Musica Jazz
“David Murray’s trio is certainly a dreamteam of modern jazz.” All About Jazz
“Great art full of confidence and which exudes the pleasure taken in common.” Télérama
“A masterpiece that makes your ears pierced from start to finish by three players who deeply dig deep into the main elements of black music!” MM Jazz (Japan)
“Simply put, this album is a gem.” Best Of Jazz
Grammy winner David Murray is considered by many to be one of the most important and versatile saxophonists, composers and bandleaders in modern jazz. His overtone-rich playing, virtuoso overblowing techniques and experience in gospel, avant-garde, rock and funk give him an enormous musical toolbox. More than 150 albums have been produced under his own name, and he has been a sideman on another 100 albums. The Frankfurter Rundschau also sees him as “[…] one of the great representatives of Afro-American Free Jazz. The richness and sophistication of his articulations on bass clarinet and tenor saxophone are striking and unbroken. Confident and subtle at the same time, he plays with the volumes of which his tone is capable, with an outrageously precise richness of overtones (and) an incredibly subtle vibrato.”
His new trio of drummer Kassa Overall and bassist Luke Stewart will bring a particularly refreshing touch to his playing.
His new Grammy-nominated drummer Kassa Overall has worked at the forefront of the New York jazz scene for two decades and has recorded with a wide variety of artists including Theo Croker, Geri Allen, Steve Coleman, Yoko Ono, Peter Evans, Terri Lyne Carrington, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Gary Bartz. Rounding out the trio is DC/NYC-based bassist Luke Stewart, who has a strong presence in the national and international improvised music community. He has worked with musicians such as Camae Ayewa, Aquiles Navarro, James Brandon Lewis, Archie Shepp, Jaimie Branch, and Thurston Moore. In 2020, Downbeat Magazine named him one of the “25 most influential jazz artists” of his generation.
David Murray is also bookable as a duo or quartet with pianist Marta Sánchez who is actively working in the contemporary creative music scene in New York City and around the globe. Charting a significant path through her innovative and original music, she has reached an international audience, gaining significant global recognition.
