Paul Dietrich's 5+4

Arts + Literature Laboratory welcomes Paul Dietrich's 5+4, a unique combo of a jazz quintet with a string quartet, to celebrate their recent CD release on Friday, February 23, 2024 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 student/ALL Member in advance online, or $25 at the door for everyone. Tickets available at https://fiveplusfour.bpt.me.

Paul Dietrich's 5+4 was conceived as a group that would combine the instrumentation of a classic jazz quintet (trumpet, tenor saxophone, piano, bass, and drums) with that of a string quartet. While strings have been present in jazz music since the 1920s, they have not traditionally played a central role, and composer and trumpet player Dietrich was interested in exploring the sonic possibilities of this combination. Dietrich's work in this regard has been commended: All About Jazz says that "the two components mesh so seamlessly that it's hard to imagine the album with one but not the other," and Textura adds that "Dietrich has worked hard to integrate strings fully into the arrangements rather than use them as window dressing-like add-ons."

The group's eponymous album was released in mid-October, but as Dietrich had only recently become a father at that time, he felt it was a good idea to delay any release shows. Arts + Literature Laboratory is fitting venue for this belated CD release show, as the ensemble's first performance in 2021 was supported by an Artistic Development Grant from ALL and the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium. Previews of music from the album can be heard at www.pauldietrichjazz.com/5-4.

Personnel:

Paul Dietrich, trumpet and compositions, Dustin Laurenzi, tenor saxophone and clarinet, Jason Kutz, piano, Brian Courage, bass, Juan Pastor, drums

Paran Amirinazari, violin, Wes Luke, violin, Kayla Patrick, viola, James Waldo, cello.

Paul Dietrich

Paul is currently a resident of Madison, Wisconsin where he is an active member of the music scene. In addition to his own groups, he plays with the Darren Sterud Orchestra, the Madison Jazz Orchestra, the Neophonic Jazz Orchestra, the Ben Ferris Octet, and the Ben Ferris Quintet, whose 2016 album, Home, featured two of Paul's compositions. Paul is also active as an educator. In addition to a private studio, Paul is also the coordinator of the jazz program at Prairie Music & Arts, and directs the Madison East High School Jazz Orchestra.

Dustin Laurenzi

Chicago saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi has developed a distinctly personal approach to improvisation a composition that has garnered the attention of the city's creative music community. Recognized for his "offbeat approach to articulating harmonies and constructin melodies" (NextBop), Laurenzi's music is inspired and informed by jazz, folk, and improvised music. His wide range of influences and inventive improvisational sensibilities have made him a sought-after musician in many circles of Chicago's rich music scene.

In addition to working as a collaborator in Chicago jazz-centric ensembles and with his own projects Twin Talk and Natural Language, the saxophonist has recently toured with Grammy award-winning indie rock band Bon Iver, performing at Coachella Music Festival, Primavera Sound, and the Hollywood Bowl, among others. Laurenzi also appears on the band's critically acclaimed 2016 release 22, A Million.

Jason Kutz

Jason Kutz is a musician based in Madison, WI, playing, performing, teaching, and composing all styles of music. He is rooted in contemporary music and improvisation, often combining acoustic and classical piano styles with electronic synthesis. He studied recording technology and music business at UW-Oshkosh and completed his Master's in Piano Performance at UW-Madison.

He is a founding member of Mr. Chair, an innovative and inimitable ensemble that plays music in its own style. Mr. Chair was the WAMI Jazz Artist of the Year 2021; has released two acclaimed albums of original music; has reimagined Stravinsky's Pulcinella; worked with Filipino singer/artist Leslie Damaso to create an opera-like stage work featuring Filipino art songs and contemporary myth; and is working on an orchestral hip-hop album with First Wave Scholar, activist, poet, and Atlanta-based singer Dequadray White.

In 2018 and 2019 Kutz was commissioned by Dr. Stephen Meyers, Vilas Distinguished... Read More

Brian Courage

Originally from Long Island, NY, bassist Brian Courage has spent the last decade as an integral part of the creative music scenes in Minneapolis, Brooklyn, and now Chicago, where he currently resides. He has performed alongside an extensive array of nationally acclaimed improvisers, including Greg Ward, Jon Irabagon, Lew Tabackin, David Hazeltine, Jason Stein, Weasel Walter, Michael Lewis, Erik Fratzke, Russ Johnson, JT Bates, and Billy Mintz. Brian is adept at a wide range of styles and has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, renowned vocal quartet The Four Freshmen, the Chicago Tap Theater, and the New York based Americana / blues rock band Hollis Brown, with whom he toured the US and Europe extensively. His most recent creative endeavor is Abhorrent Expanse, a fully improvised metal band. Their debut album "Gateways to Resplendence" has been featured in prominent outlets including Decibel, Metal Injection, Burning Ambulance, and Wire Magazine.

Juan Pastor

Drummer/percussionist and composer Juan Pastor finds himself caught between two homes: his native Lima, Peru, and the city where he has lived for the past 13 years, Chicago. As a result, both his original compositions and the sound of his ensemble, Chinchano, draw life from deep sources—Peru’s enchantingly diverse culture, history, landscapes, and folk music, and the language of North American jazz.

Drummer and percussionist Juan Pastor's fourth and latest release, Cachito, shines in its maturity and emotional depth. The album highlights not only Pastor's unique artistic voice and compositional prowess, but also the musicianship of his collaborators, including core bandmates Dustin Laurenzi, Stu Mindeman, and Matt Ulery, as well as several additional special guests. Dedicated to Pastor's late father Carlos, the album is an exploration of grief and loss, of acceptance, of steadfast courage.

Paran Amirinazari

Having recently received her Doctorate Degree at UW-Madison, Paran Amirinazari is a violinist whose teachers have included Soh-Hyun Altino and Felicia Moye. An avid chamber musician, she is a founding member and Artistic Director of the Willy Street Chamber Players and a former member of the Hunt String Quartet. While studying to receive her Master's Degree in Violin Performance and Orchestral Career Skills at the University of Nevada-Reno, she was a member of the Nightingale String Quartet.

Since moving to Madison in 2013, Dr. Amirinazari has been a member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra's first violin section, Concertmaster of the Middleton Community Orchestra, and has performed with the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and Dubuque Symphony Orchestra. Highlights from her time at UW-Madison have included being a winner of UW Madison’s concerto competition, and playing alongside the Pro Arte Quartet for Live at the Chazen’s Mendelssohn’s String Octet broadcast.

A native... Read More

James Waldo

A native of Minnesota, cellist James Waldo leads a musical career marked by diversity and adventure. James performs regularly around the U.S. with his wife—pianist Alyona Aksyonova—as A.W.Duo (awduo.com), and the two completed their first tour of China in 2017. Formerly based in New York City, the duo performed in many of the city’s finest venues, including Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A specialist on baroque cello and viola da gamba, Waldo has collaborated with violinist Monica Huggett and lutenist Ron MacFarlane, and will debut with the Madison Bach Musicians in fall 2018. Waldo is a co-founder of Listen Closely, (listenclose.ly) an uptown Manhattan chamber music collective now in its sixth season. A regular grant-recipient from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the organization has presented over fifty community concerts in uptown Manhattan. Waldo serves as principal cellist of the award-winning Cecilia Chorus of New York,... Read More

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Arts + Literature Laboratory is located at 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison, Wisconsin, 53703.

Our galleries are open Tuesday through Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday noon to 5pm, and other programs take place throughout the week. Please check the events calendar and education section for details.

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