Roswell Rudd

"...a trombonist of such sweeping power and majesty that he transcends all styles." - John Wilson, The New York Times

In a strange musical career path that took him directly from dixieland to the Avant Garde, Roswell Rudd pioneered free jazz on the trombone in the 60's working with the late Steve Lacy. He co-founded the New York Art Quartet, which was comprised of trombonist Roswell Rudd, altoist John Tchicai, drummer Milford Graves (succeeded by Louis Moholo) and several different bass players including Lewis Worrell, Reggie Workman and Finn Von Eyben. Their music was fairly free, emotional, and quite notable for the trombone-alto frontline. The group was formed after Tchicai departed from The New York Contemporary Five, and the New York Art Quartet lasted until Rudd joined Archie Shepp's Quartet.

"Steve Lacy and I began a musical partnership back in the early 60's devoted exclusively to performing the works of Thelonious Monk. Both of us had come up on older music and both heavily into Dixieland. Our approach at the time was to come as close as we could to being faithful to the inherent structures of Monk's music. As time went on we were able to absorb these very original forms to where we could also project our own voices. Every time Lacy and I recorded or performed together, the Monk bond experience was always in the picture. This year [2000] Steve came to me and said, 'let's do Monksieland!' We had come full circle." -Roswell Rudd

In 2000, Rudd and Lacy reunited to record (with Lacy's regular rhythm section, bassist Jean-Jacques Avenel and drummer John Betsch, and vocalist Irene Aebi) Monk's Dream for the Verve label; the band also toured in support of the album. At the turn of the millennium, Rudd performed with some frequency in Europe and New York, regaining his deserved reputation as the father of free jazz trombone.

"My dear collaborator and friend Steve Lacy is no longer with us. We carry on in his spirit ". -Roswell Rudd

Rudd is joined by stellar musicians Dave Douglas on trumpet, Don Byron on reeds, Jean Jacques Avenel on bass and John Bestch on drums to form the Monksieland Band.

Dave Douglas has repeatedly been named trumpeter, composer, and jazz artist of the year by such organizations as the New York Jazz Awards, Down Beat, Jazz Times, Jazziz, and the Italian Jazz Critics' Society.

Born March 24, 1963, in Montclair, New Jersey, Douglas grew up in the New York Metropolitan area. From 1981 to 1983, Douglas studied in Boston at the Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory. Moving to New York City in 1984, he attended New York University, studying trumpet with Carmine Caruso, and performed around the city with jazz, funk and experimental music groups. From 1987 to 1990 he toured internationally with artists such as Horace Silver, Vincent Herring, Tim Berne, Don Byron, Dr. Nerve, and the Bread and Puppet Theater. He began to record in earnest in the 1990s and his discography includes recordings on the Hat Art, Soul Note, New World, Arabesque, Songlines and Winter & Winter labels.

Douglas' own ensembles have toured widely since 1994, performing at major jazz and new music festivals in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Finland, Estonia, Australia and New Zealand.

Don Byron has been a singular voice in a dizzying range of musical contexts, exploring widely divergent traditions while continually striving for what he calls "a sound above genre."

As clarinetist, composer, arranger, and social critic, he redefines every genre of music he plays, be it classical, salsa, hip-hop, funk, klezmer, or any jazz style from swing and bop to cutting-edge downtown improvisation. He has been consistently voted best clarinetist by critics and readers alike in leading international music journals since being named "Jazz Artist of the Year" by Down Beat in 1992. Acclaimed as much for his restless creativity as for his unsurpassed virtuosity as a player, Byron has presented a multitude of projects at major music festivals around the world, most recently in Vienna, San Francisco, Hong Kong, London, New York, and Monterey.

Since 2000, Don Byron has been creating a multitude of projects as Artist-in-Residence at New York's Symphony Space. Contrasting Brilliance: The Music of Henry Mancini and Sly Stone (November 2000) was followed last spring by Sugar Hill Revisited, a tribute to the music of the pioneering hip-hop label, which established his Symphony Space Adventurers Orchestra. The second installment of Contrasting Brilliance, in November 2002, was dedicated to the music of two more of his favorite composers: Igor Stravinsky and Raymond Scott. In December 2003, the third Contrasting Brilliance was performed, this time showcasing the horn section, with music by Earth Wind and Fire and Herb Alpert. Today, Don Byron's working ensembles include Music for Six Musicians, Bug Music/Bug Music for Juniors, the Don Byron Quintet and Quartet, and the Don Byron Medium Band featuring Abdoulaye Diabate.

Bassist Jean Jacques Avenel was active in the Parisian free jazz movement, performing with Noah Howard, Frank Wright's quartet and pianist François Tusques's Intercommunal Free Dance Music Orchestra. He performed and recorded with saxophonist Daunik Lazro in the late '70s and early '80s, replaced Kent Carter in Steve Lacy's quintet in 1981 and has performed with him ever since, recording over 20 CDs. In the '80s he also performed and recorded with Butch Morris and Tristan Honsinger's groups, and in the '90s with David Murray, more recently working with several younger European pianists.

Avenel was part of Steve Lacy's regular rhythm section with drummer John Bestch and recorded Monk's Dream with Lacy and Rudd in 2000.

Come celebrate the genius on Monk with some of the finest musicians in the world at the Iridium, March 30-April 3.