Fall finds us back at AS220 on October 2nd for another night of extraordinary jazz!

Headlining we have The John Funkhouser Quartet coming down from Boston to give us their wide ranging approach to creating killer music. The quartet is a band of Musicians without Borders. With influences as wide ranging as Woody Guthrie, Thelonious Monk, Frank Zappa, Frederic Chopin, and Ravi Shankar, the Quartet “employs complex rhythms, deep soulful moments, rock and passion and sensitivity.” as noted by Bebop Spoken Here. Each of Funkhouser’s expansive compositions inhibits a unique universe, while the band seamlessly integrates composed music with improvisation into what Bop-n-Jazz.com calls

“a whirling dervish of sound and light.” They have headlined the Jazz In June festival in Oklahoma City and played at major music festivals nationwide, including the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga, TN, the Mellon Jazz Festival in Pittsburgh, PA, and Jazz In The Sangres in Westcliffe, CO. While concentrating mostly on the Northeast, Funkhouser’s trio has mounted two national tours, performing in nineteen cities including New York, Chicago, Washington DC, Kansas City and Denver. The band has played in such New York clubs as the Knitting Factory, Small’s, and Cornelia St. Café. The band has four CDs of original material to its credit: Still (2013), Time (2010), FunkHouse II (2003), and FunkHouse, (1998). All totaled, the Boston Globe writes “the styles and moods of this accomplished, often spellbinding collection range far and wide….distinctive in its extremes”. Truly a group to take serious notice of. Opening the night we have old friend of the series Leland Baker returning with a new duo between him and Zack Feigenbaum on drums. The music will explore an array of styles while showcasing the many possibilities that can develop melodically and rhythmically between drums and sax. This has always been a idea of Baker’s that began due to his obsession with the drums. With his developing concept of rhythm, this project has finally materialized. Leland always gives us some great sounds to ponder so you definitely want to be there to witness his latest experiment.