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The Ted Nash Quartet Performs The Mancini Project at the Jazz Standard, August 26-28 |
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Written by Ronaldo Oregano
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Sunday, 24 August 2008 |
 Ted Nash © Andrea Canter
Ted Nash, a three-time Down Beat “Rising Star” on both tenor and alto saxophones, and a crucial contributor to the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and the Jazz Composers Collective, will bring his stellar quartet to the Jazz Standard on Tuesday, August 26th through Thursday, August 28th. The quartet features Ted Nash on reeds, Frank Kimbrough on piano, Ben Allison on bass, and Matt Wilson on drums.
Ted Nash is celebrating the release of The Mancini Project on Palmetto Records. This collection, as entertaining as it is thought-provoking, draws on composer/conductor Henry Mancini’s rich repertoire of movie themes and songs—including “Something For Nash,” which Mancini wrote as a feature for Ted’s father, trombonist Dick Nash, on the soundtrack for the 1987 Blake Edwards film Blind Date. Ted's other recent projects include collaborations with the Augusta Ballet, Zenon Dance Company, and the Orquestra Jazz Sinfonica in Sao Paulo.
 Frank Kimbrough © Andrea Canter
Born in Los Angeles, Ted Nash's interest in music started at an early age. Exposed to music and encouraged by his father, trombonist Dick Nash, and uncle, reedman Ted Nash (both well-known studio and jazz musicians), young Nash started playing the piano at age seven. At age twelve he began playing the clarinet and a year later picked up the alto sax. While in high school, he studied jazz improvisation with the innovative teacher and vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake.
Ted’s first gig came at age sixteen, playing a week in Hawaii with legendary vibraphonist and bandleader, Lionel Hampton. That same year he won an audition to play lead alto with the Quincy Jones band. By age seventeen Nash had toured Europe, appeared on three records, and was performing regularly with Don Ellis, Louie Bellson, and Toshiko Akiyoshi, as well as with his own quintet. His first composition, “Tristemente,” was recorded on Louie Bellson’s record, Raincheck, on which Nash played with the late trumpeter Blue Mitchell. At age eighteen, Nash moved to New York City recorded his first album as a leader, Conception. Ted also became a regular member of the Gerry Mulligan Big Band, the National Jazz Ensemble, and the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra – of which he would be a member for more than ten years.
Cited as a “Rising Star” on tenor saxophone in 2003 and tenor and alto saxophone in the 2004 and 2005 DownBeat Critics Polls, Ted can be heard on several other recent releases: the Herbie Nichols Project – Strange City; with Ben Allison – Medicine Wheel, Third Eye, and Riding the Nuclear Tiger; and with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis – A Love Supreme and Don’t be afraid… the music of Charles Mingus. Matt Wilson © Andrea Canter
Pianist/composer Frank Kimbrough has been active on New York’s jazz scene for nearly twenty-five years. He is a founding member and composer-in-residence of the Jazz Composers Collective (est. 1992). His work has been cited by the Downbeat Critics Poll each year since 2001, and he has appeared on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz and NPR’s All Things Considered. Frank has released over a dozen recordings as a leader, and has appeared on nearly forty more as a sideman. His most recent CD, Lullabluebye (Palmetto) spent 8 weeks at #2 on the CMJ Jazz Charts in 2004. He has toured extensively, with appearances in the US, and around the world. Frank’s work has received funding from Meet the Composer, The National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America’s Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project. Along with Ben Allison, he co-leads the Collective’s Herbie Nichols Project. As a sideman, he has been a member of the Grammy-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra since 1993, and has also toured and recorded with saxophonists Dewey Redman and Lee Konitz, and with fellow JCC composers-in-residence Ben Allison, Ted Nash, Michael Blake, and Ron Horton, among others. Play, a new CD featuring drummer Paul Motian and bassist Masa Kamaguchi was released in May 2006 on Palmetto.
Born in 1966 in New Haven, Connecticut, bassist Ben Allison has performed the world over with musicians ranging from oudist Ara Dinkjian to saxophonist Lee Konitz to legendary performance artist Joey Arias. He has appeared on over 40 albums by various artists and has written music for film, national television and radio, including the theme for the National Public Radio (NPR) show On the Media (which boasts a listernship of over 1,000,000 people per week) and the score for Two Days, a play written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald Margulies. At the age of twenty-five, Ben formed the Jazz Composers Collective — a musician-run, non-profit organization based in New York City that is dedicated to constructing an environment where artists can exercise their ideals of creating and risking through the development and exploration of new music. As the Artistic Director and a Composer-in-Residence of the Jazz Composers Collective, Ben has produced or coproduced over 100 concerts and special events, including the Collective's annual concert series (which ran for eleven seasons), national and international tours by Collective artists, an on-going Collective residency at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA, NYC), and an annual "Jazz Composers Collective Festival" at the Jazz Standard — which has drawn international attention as a mainstay of New York City's musical life. As a member of the Collective Ben has received commissioning, performing, and recording grants from Chamber Music America, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the American Composers Forum.
Jazz Standard is located at 116 East 27th Street in New York. For more information visit www.jazzstandard.net or call 212-576-2232.
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 Monday, 01 December 2008
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