Home » Jazz Musicians » New Tricks

New Tricks

Personnel:
Mike Lee: Saxophones
Ted Chubb: Trumpet
Kellen Harrison: Bass
Shawn Baltazor: Drums

Four members of the celebrated Cecil’s Big Band at Cecil’s Jazz Club and Restaurant in West Orange, New Jersey" tenor saxophonist Mike Lee, trumpeter Ted Chubb, bassist Kellen Harrison, and drummer Shawn Baltazor"decided five years ago to get together for jam sessions in the basement of Lee’s house in nearby Montclair. Lee and Chubb brought some original compositions to jam on at the Wednesday afternoon sessions, and the men soon discovered they had a special musical affinity for one another.

“We didn’t get together with the idea of being a band,” Lee explains. “We just realized after a few weeks that we were a band.”

They decided to call the quartet New Tricks. All four musicians are firmly rooted in post-bop jazz traditions, yet they bring new twists to acoustic straight-ahead jazz conventions with their use of challenging rhythmic and harmonic devices. The name also refers to Lee, at age 47, being the “old dog” of the bunch. Chubb is 30 and, like co- leader Lee, hails from the Cleveland, Ohio area. Both Harrison and Baltazor are originally from Northern California"the bassist was raised in Concord, the drummer in San Rafael" and are in their mid-20s.

Following the release of New Tricks’ self-titled debut CD in the summer of 2009, the quartet toured for a weekinOhio. In the spring of 2010, the group toured for three weeks in the Midwest and two in California. During these tours, New Tricks focused on nine new tunes"six by Lee, three by Chubb" that were recorded immediately upon returning home and comprise Alternate Side, New Tricks’ brilliant sophomore CD.

The music on Alternate Side is clearly a group effort in which the four musicians interact with and complementeach other as if they are of one mind. Their empathy is uncanny.

“Mike and I always say that the band sounds the best when we’re all playing at the same time,” Chubb states. “If I’m soloing, Mike is playing a background. We’re always musically complementing each other to reinforce the tune. Everything about this band is about reinforcing the compositions.”

Although the instrumentation of New Tricks is similar to that of Ornette Coleman’s classic quartet" saxophone, trumpet, bass, and drums, with no piano or guitar supplying chords" New Tricks’ tunes, unlike most of Coleman’s, are constructed with chord changes as their foundations.

“We’re not playing without a chordal instrument in order to have more freedom,” Lee says. “We feel that the absence of piano means we have more responsibility to play the harmony, not less. We want people to be able to hear the tune. Ted and I comp for each other. We try to catch part of the harmony while the other one’s playing so that we reinforce the song.”

Read more

Tags

351
Album Review

New Tricks: Alternate Side

Read "Alternate Side" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


Each of the nine tracks of Alternate Side by New Tricks, a quartet co-led by saxophonist Mike Lee and trumpeter Ted Chubb, is a journey of an irregular route with lots of detours. The melodies and some of the tunes' structures resemble hard bop but, in general, the music is freer and more intensely interactive. The give and take between the four principals never ends. Because things frequently change in an instant, nothing can be taken for granted. The band ...

249
Album Review

New Tricks: Alternate Side...

Read "Alternate Side..." reviewed by Greg Simmons


Here's something you don't read in album liner notes every day: “We recorded in Shawn's apartment...using only blankets wrapped around music stands for audio separation." New Tricks has seemingly recorded Alternate Side... in some no-frills circumstances, but there's truth in the old saying that adversity sometimes brings out the best in people. This piano-less collective, featuring a trumpet and tenor sax front line, plays an energetic brawl of traded solos, hard bop melodies, and freely constructed harmonization. Likely ...

240
Live Review

New Tricks at Cecil's Jazz Club

Read "New Tricks at Cecil's Jazz Club" reviewed by David A. Orthmann


New Tricks Cecil's Jazz Club West Orange, New Jersey July 17, 2009

Over the past few years, the northern New Jersey-based band New Tricks has painstakingly developed a distinctive sound during weekly sessions in the basement studio of saxophonist Mike Lee. It is almost bad form to single out contributions of the tightly knit quartet's members, which include Lee, trumpeter Ted Chubb, bassist Kellen Harrison and drummer Shawn Baltazor. An excellent, self-titled compact disc ...

Read more articles
87

Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Brad Mehldau, Cyrus Chestnut with Jon Faddis, John Pizzarelli, Marlin Bonds, Diverse, New Tricks, and More

Jazz This Week: Brad Mehldau, Cyrus Chestnut with Jon Faddis, John Pizzarelli, Marlin Bonds, Diverse, New Tricks, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

It's a very busy week for jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with several well-known touring musicians coming to town to perform over the next several days. Perhaps the most highly anticipated performances are those of pianist Brad Mehldau, who brings his trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jeff Ballard to Jazz at the Bistro tonight and Thursday as part of a short spring tour. Mehldau currently is riding a wave of critical acclaim for his two most ...

56

Performance / Tour

New Tricks to Play Sunday, April 10 at the Bistro at Grand Center

New Tricks to Play Sunday, April 10 at the Bistro at Grand Center

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

The New Jersey-based jazz quartet New Tricks (pictured) is coming to St. Louis to perform at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, April 10 at the Bistro at Grand Center. The jazz combos from Webster Groves High School will open the show. New Tricks is co-led by tenor saxophonist Mike Lee and trumpeter Ted Chubb, who are both originally from Cleveland, and includes bassist Kellen Harrison and drummer Shawn Baltazor. They're touring in support of their second self-released CD Alternate Side, which officially ...

55

Recording

"Alternate Side": New CD by Mike Lee & Ted Chubb's New Tricks Due April 5

"Alternate Side": New CD by Mike Lee & Ted Chubb's New Tricks Due April 5

Source: Terri Hinte Publicity

The four members of New Tricks first discovered their uncanny musical affinity more than six years ago, and have been delving into creative possibilities ever since. Their brilliant sophomore CD Alternate Side, which New Tricks Records will release on April 5, is clearly a group effort in which the band mates interact with and complement each other as if they share one mind. “This CD was recorded the way we had dreamed of recording," says tenor saxophonist and co-leader Mike ...

“New Tricks has all of the cohesion and assuredness of a working band " something not experienced as often as it once was in jazz. New Tricks mirrors the personality of Its leader, Mike Lee, a brilliant saxophonist of the highest level.”

- Christian McBride

“New Tricks conveys a distinct New York sound on its aggressively swinging sophomore effort. The quartet puts a new spin on an old hard-bop formula without crossing over into the avant-garde camp.” -Bill Milkowski, JazzTimes

“Mike lee and New Tricks have a real New York sound..very seasoned and swinging..I like this band..”

Read more

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Alternate Side...

Self Produced
2011

buy

Alternate Side

Self Produced
2011

buy

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.