Photo by Andrea Canter
Eric Alexander (September 13-15). A highly accomplished musician in his mid-30s, tenor saxman Alexander was the runner-up to super-star Joshua Redman in the 1991 Thelonious Monk Saxophone Competition and has been on a roll ever since. Highly influenced by George Coleman and mentored by pianist Harold Mabern, Alexander is known for a warm, fat tone, boppish compositions, and a bevy of stellar recordings. Most recently he appeared at the www.ericalexanderjazz.com)

David Sanchez (September 19): Yet another jazz veteran still in his 30s, Puerto Rico native David Sanchez was first attracted to the congas and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, switching to the alto and later tenor saxophone. Studying jazz at Rutgers in New Jersey, he was soon playing with Danilo Perez, Eddie Palmieri, Claudio Roditi, and Paquito D’Rivera, eventually joining Dizzy Gillespie in 1990. His more recent credits include Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Heath, Kenny Barron, and Chucho Valdes, and as an original member of Slide Hampton’s Jazz Masters. For the past ten years, he has concentrated on his own quintet, using “the traditions of jazz and Latin America as a launching pad for a dazzling new blend - a fusion that will stand the test of time" (Bob Young, Boston Herald). Sanchez first performed at the old www.davidsanchezmusic.com)

Gonzalo Rubalcaba (September 20-21): Born Gonzalo Julio Gonzalez Fonseca in Havana, the son of pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba grew up surrounded by master musicians of his homeland as well as the sounds of American jazz (Monk, Powell, Peterson, Gillespie, Parker). With a background of classical training and a degree in composition from the Havana Institute of Fine Arts, the pianist came to international attention with Charlie Haden and Paul Motian at the 1990 Montreaux Jazz Festival. Rubalcaba moved to the US in 1996, won Latin and American Grammys, and has made more than a dozen outstanding recordings. He performs with both American and Cuban musicians, seeking what he describes as “forms, harmonies, and rhythms that…embody the sources and nuances of Cuban culture…” No stranger to the www.g-rubalcaba.com)

Janis Siegel (September26-27): For over 30 years, Janis Siegel has been an anchor of the famed Manhattan Transfer. Balancing solo and quartet careers for the past two decades, the nine-time Grammy winning vocalist is known for her eclectic range of projects and recordings, including collaborations with Fred Hersch, Jay McShann, Natalie Cole, the Beaux Arts Trio, and Bobby McFerrin; she has performed at Alice Tully Hall and on a number of movie soundtracks. Of her most recent CD, Sketches of Broadway (Telarc, 2004), JazzReview noted that “Siegel presents a sequence of thoughtful provocations amid flotation-like grooves often spiked with moments of wit and whimsy.” Regarding vocalists, Siegel herself says, “I think people will always respond to emotion and to great songs sung well…There’s nothing that approximates the human voice. In the end, when you come down to it, people want to feel something.” (For more information, see: http://www.telarc.com/biography/bios.asp?aid=146)