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Wednesday, 22 May 2013

Zacc Harris Quartet at Cafe Maude, July 17th

Written by Andrea Canter, Contributing Editor

Sunday, 15 July 2012

Zacc Harris©Andrea Canter

Surely one of the busiest jazz musicians in the Twin Cities, guitarist Zacc Harris is a man of many ensembles, heading the Atlantis Quartet, Monk in Motian, Zacc Harris Trio, Vital Organ and lending his strings to Counterclockwise, the Adam Meckler Quintet and more. In the past year, he also served as curator for Jazz at Studio Z, a monthly series supported by an MRAC grant that has been renewed for a second season starting in fall 2012. Unlike other quartet projects, his Zacc Harris Quartet subtracts horn and adds piano. The band will appear at Cafe Maude in southwest Minneapolis on Tuesday, July 17th.

Bryan Nichols©Andrea Canter

A graduate of Southern Illinois University, Zacc Harris has studied with Fareed Haque, Jonathan Kreisberg and Clay Moore. After moving to the Twin Cities six years ago, he formed the Luminessence Trio (now Zacc Harris Trio), with ongoing weekly gigs at the Riverview Wine Bar with Matt Peterson and Pete Hennig. Zacc has also played with Tanner Taylor, Jay Epstein, Katie Gearty, Sophia Shorai, Bryan Nichols and more; plays with the Adam Meckler Quintet and Counterclockwise; and leads Monk in Motian, the Atlantis Quartet, Zacc Harris Group, Zacc Harris Quartet, and Vital Organ. In addition to performing and booking music, Zacc is dedicated to teaching, and has taught guitar for the past decade.

Pianist Bryan Nichols returned to his native Minnesota after studies (in genetics!) 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, Kelly Rossume and more, and is currently on the faculty of the MacPhail Center for Music and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Locally Bryan is heard with his own trio, quintet and 9-piece We Are Many, with Dave King Trucking Company, John Raymond Project, Todd Clouser's A Love Electric, and other cutting-edge artists. Bryan was a 2010 recipient of a McKnight grant, which enabled him to complete his debut recording, Bright Places and perform a solo piano evening at MacPhail. In January 2012, he brought his quintet (plus percussion) to the AQ for an evening exploring the works of Keith Jarrett's American Quartet.

Chris Bates*copy;Andrea Canter

Bassist Chris Bates is familiar to Twin Cities’ audiences through his ongoing associations with the Kelly Rossum Quartet, How Birds Work, Dean Magraw’s Red Planet, Volcano Insurance, Framework, the Atlantis Quartet, Todd Clouser's A Love Electric, and many other innovative ensembles as well as the Minnesota Sur Seine Festival. Chris studied at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and later with Anthony Cox, was an original member of the Motion Poets and a 1999 McKnight Composer Fellow. His debut recording with his Quintet is due out this fall.

Drummer Pete Hennig came to the Twin Cities to study at McNally Smith. After graduating he spent an additional three years studying with Dave King (Bad Plus, Happy Apple). His performance credits include Debbie Duncan, Katie Gearty, Sam Kuusisto, Tickle Fight, Patrick Harison, Johnny Clueless, Park Evans, the Atlantis Quartet, Zacc Harris Trio, Monk in Motian and the Fantastic Merlins.

Of his quartet, Zacc notes that “having piano in this group is great. It allows me to focus less on the role of the comping or being the chordal instrument, and focus more on playing melodically, like a horn player. It's also great to hear some of the different things that these guys bring to my compositions, in contrast to Atlantis Quartet, for example, not to mention the compositions that I have written specifically for this group, for which the piano is integral to the piece itself...”

It's been a hot summer, so plan to cool down at Cafe Maude on July 17th and let all the heat come from the Zacc Harris Quartet!

Cafe Maude is located at 54 11 Penn Ave South; www.cafemaude.com. More on Zacc Harris at www.zaccharris.com

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