There’s new blood coming to the jazz scene in Lowertown this weekend, as Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog presents the debut performance of the Free Range Jazz Quartet, featuring internationally renowned bassist Anthony Cox, following the series debut of the Rochester, MN-based D’Sievers Quartet.
D’Sievers Quartet, 7 pm
The D’Sievers Quartet is based in Rochester, MN, playing a repertoire of jazz, fusion, Latin and original music. Pronounced “deceivers,” the band name is a play on words. Rooted in the mythological sirens who would lure sailors off course with their beautiful singing, the band name “D’Sievers” is both a play on words and “a metaphor for just how much power music has over us.”
Leader John Sievers began playing trombone in his school band in fifth grade. He never took a private lesson until college, and has since performed in orchestras, jazz combos, and rock bands. John also teaches trombone, teaches English at Rochester Community and Technical College, and is a freelance writer. Other members of the band include Eric Straubmiller (piano), Steve Sawyer (bass), and Kurt Savel (drums).
Free Range Jazz Quartet, 8:30 pm
The new Free Range Jazz Quartet features veteran bass star Anthony Cox and three of the most incendiary young talents on the scene– Jabari Powell (saxophones), Ryan Nyther (trumpet), and Rodney Ruckus (drums).
Twin Cities native Anthony Cox studied bass at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, then headed to New York, building a reputation that took him on tour with Stan Getz. In the early 90s, he returned to the Twin Cities but his career has hardly been limited by his residence. Over the years, Cox has worked and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Sam Rivers, Dewey Redman, Geri Allen, Arthur Blythe, and Uri Caine, playing upright acoustic, electric and Spanish acoustic bass, as well as cello. With Bill Carrothers and Jay Epstein, he has performed and recorded as Easy Company, and recently has appeared at the Icehouse, Dakota, Black Dog and Jazz Central. He leads several ensembles including DD7 and the Regional Jazz Trio, and is a member of the Atrium Jazz Ensemble, with whom he recently debuted “The Rage of Achilles” at Orchestra Hall, co-written with Jeremy Walker.
The three young members of the quartet are also mainstays of the VIP Sound Collective, presented recently at the Bedlam by Pippi Ardennia and the PipJazz Foundation:
Saxophonist Jabari Powell recently relocated to the Twin Cities from Chicago, where he studied jazz at Columbia College. He’s a regular participant in “Solomon’s Sessions,” led by Solomon Parham at the Bedlam, as well as performing with Pippi Ardennia and the VIP Sound Collective.
Based primarily in Chicago until he relocated to the Twin Cities last fall, trumpeter Ryan Nyther and his quartet played throughout Windy City jazz clubs. He’s also a frequent flyer at “Solomon’s Sessions” at The Bedlam.
A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Rodney Ruckus was selected as drummer for The Grammys in the School Foundation and received an Art Blakey Jazz Messengers Presidential Scholarship to the McNally Smith College of Music. He’s performed recently with the Solomon Parham-Steve Kenny Quintet at the 2016 Winter Jazz Festival, and with the Steve Kenny Quartet on Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog.
Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog is a weekly series curated by Steve Kenny, at the Black Dog Coffee and Wine Bar at 308 Prince Street in the heart of Lowertown St Paul, street level in the Northern Warehouse Building at E. 4th Street and Broadway. There is no cover but donations ($10) appreciated to support the musicians and the series. Full schedule at www.saturdaynightjazzattheblackdog.info
