 Kelly Rossum©Andrea Canter On September 26-27, trumpeter Kelly Rossum and his quartet will celebrate the release of Family at the Artists Quarter in St. Paul. Rossum’s fourth recording, Family most clearly defines his musical heritage as well as his status as one of the region’s most divergent thinkers and performers. “Each project comes from a different place,” says Rossum of his four CDs. “I don't view these recordings as an evolution per se, but as an eventual profile of my personality.” [Click here for the full Jazz Police review.] A distinctive and versatile trumpeter whose history includes directing the big band at Busch Gardens (Virginia), earning his doctorate in Baroque Trumpet at the University of Minnesota, and currently coordinating jazz studies at the MacPhail Center for Music, Kelly Rossum has honed his skills over two decades of performing everything from Bach to rock, from swing to avant garde. Even his current projects reflect a restless eclecticism that informs his compositions—Pete Whitman’s X-Tet, the Jazz Is Now! Nownet, the Ellen Lease/Pat Moriarity Quintet, the Dolphy-inspired Out to Lunch Quintet, his new Rossum Electric Company, and soloing with the Skyway Jazz Orchestra. But his small ensembles, the Kelly Rossum Quintet and now Quartet, offer the most integrated view into the heart and mind of a musician who reveres his artistic roots while always pushing ahead to wherever those connections might lead.
_7954e.jpg "Image") Bryan Nichols©Andrea Canter
The “Family” that Kelly Rossum brings to the recording and to the CD release at the Artists Quarter includes simpatico musicians who have also built reputations for their versatility and innovation: Bryan Nichols returned to his native Minnesota after studies at Iowa State and gigging in Chicago. A member of the 2004 edition of Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead (“Jazz Stars of Tomorrow”), he performed at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. He’s played with Ari Brown, Maurice Brown, Von Freeman, and more, and is currently on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music. A member of the Motion Poets, bassist Chris Bates has focused on composing (he was a 1999 McKnight Composer Fellow) and playing regularly with Low Blow, the Ellen Lease/Pat Moriarty Quintet, How Birds Work, and the guitar trios, Framework and Red Planet. J.T. Bates is one of the busiest drummers in the Twin Cities, on and off the bandstand. He also was a member of Motion Poets, has played and recorded with Doug Little, and recently has worked with a variety of Latin, electronic, and experimental ensembles, including Low Blow and Fat Kid Wednesdays.  JT and Chris Bates©Andrea Canter
The best introduction to Family will be in live performance, this weekend at the Artists Quarter, September 26-27. The Kelly Rossum Quartet will celebrate the release of Family on September 26-27 at the Artists Quarter in downtown St. Paul (408 St. Peter Street), sets at 9 pm; visit www.artistsquarter.com. CD available at the gigs and at CD Baby and Amazon. More about Kelly Rossum at www.kellyrossum.com
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Thursday, 08 January 2009
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