Photo by Andrea Canter

For a guy in his mid 30s, Doug Little is already a busy veteran performer and composer. Transplanted from San Francisco, Little graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, founded the popular 1990s band, the Motion Poets, and became director of the Twin Cities Jazz Workshop. In recent years he has led his own quartet projects, performed at most local jazz venues (including gigs with Ticket to Brasil), toured Europe, and released a superlative recording, Subtle Differences (2000, Touché Jazz). This past summer, he performed with Italian pianist Giacomo Aula at the Dakota as part of the Hot Summer Jazz Festival and released a new quartet recording, The Phoenix (Tesca Records). The winner of a number of grants and scholarships, including support from the McKnight and Bush Foundations, Little has also found time to teach master classes and participate in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Artist in the School Program.

Photo by Andrea Canter

Given the breadth and depth of his experience, which includes studies at the National School of Arts in Havana, it was inevitable that Little would bring yet another new project to the stage, in the form of a septet devoted to Cuban themes and rhythms. The band’s debut at the Dakota last September, as well as subsequent performances, was nothing short of nuclear fission.

Photo by Andrea Canter

Viviana Pintado may be familiar to patrons of Babalu in the Minneapolis warehouse district. Her vocals are rich and powerful, and her keyboard comping and soloing reveal a dynamic and emotional range often missing in the heavy percussive style of modern Cuban piano. Young trumpeter Greg Paulus is entering his final year at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, but not before he spends the summer gigging around the Cities with Seven Steps and his own quartet. A St. Paul native, Paulus began hanging out at the Dakota and Artists Quarter while still in high school, soaking up local jazz like a sponge. He brings a lot of energy and enthusiasm to the stage. Ethiopian born bassist Yohannes Tona studied at Berkelee in Boston before moving to the Twin Cities, where he is involved in gospel as well as jazz. His soul/fusion band performed at the Hot Summer Jazz Festival with its own brand of Afro-Funk. Essential percussion is provided by one of the area’s premier timekeepers, Detroit native Kevin Washington, a mainstay of Little’s current quartet as well Bruce Henry’s sextet. Washington’s support is always empathetic (if not also telepathic!), and he can weave a sonic safety net or push the ensemble to explore new territory with equal finesse. A committed educator himself, Washington always delivers master classes in thermaldynamics.

Photo by Andrea Canter

And it is Doug Little’s band, although he is a very generous leader who caters to the talents of his colleagues. Playing tenor, alto, flute, and bass clarinet, he covers the full range of whatever horn, from lyrical to playful to aggressive, seamlessly sliding from comp to solo and back; his bass clarinet is elegantly mournful and haunting.

The individual credentials and talents notwithstanding, it is the ensemble as a whole that will ignite the stage at the AQ. These musicians merge their efforts to create a highly energetic, creative and joyful big band sound with only seven voices. From mambo to cha-cha, Seven Steps to Havana will take your ears from Minnesota to Cuba, proving that seven is indeed a very lucky number.

For more information about Doug Little, see www.douglittlemusic.com. The Artists Quarter is located in the lower level of the Hamm Building in downtown St. Paul at 7^th Place and St. Peter St. Sets start at 9 pm, $10 cover. First sets nonsmoking.