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Peter Epstein
Since then he has appeared on over 30 recordings and toured in more than 20 countries with artists including Bobby Previte, Brad Shepik, Ralph Alessi, Michael Cain, Medeski, Martin, & Wood, Mike Stern, Jim Black, Ravi Coltrane, and many others. As a leader, Peter has released four albums for MA Recordings.
His most recent album for MA, Old School, features Peter Erskine on drums and Scott Colley on Bass. Even more recent is the Songlines release, Lingua Franca (with guitarist Brad Shepik and percussionist Matt Kilmer). Peter is involved in a number of ongoing or continuing projects: The Collective, Ralph Alessi’s Modular Theatre, Abstract Realism, The James Carney Band, Bug, and the Peter Epstein Quartet with Gary Versace, Sam Minaie, and Mark Ferber.
Peter received a Master of Music degree with an emphasis in classical saxophone from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2004; now teaching at UNR, he is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the Program in Jazz and Improvisational Music. Peter is also a co-founder (with Ralph Alessi) and Vice President of the School for Improvisational Music in Brooklyn, NY.
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Peter Epstein, Brad Shepik, Matt Kilmer: Temoin
by Mike Jacobs
The nimble Temoin" is one of the many piquant delights this unusually formatted trio (sax, guitar, frame drum) puts forth on Lingua Franca (Songlines, 2005), The absence of upright or electric bass creates a tangibly wider sonic space for their ethnically-tinged, odd-metered romps and highlights their wonderfully telepathic interplay. At times subtle, at others spicy, the tune (and album) is a unique pleasure to be savored. Bon appetit. ...
read moreManzanita Quintet: Osmosis
by Dan McClenaghan
The tried and true quintet formation, set in stone by alto saxophonist Charlie Parker and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1940s, is back in 2022 with the Reno, Nevada-based Manzanita Quintet. So how do they give a fresh shine to a sound that could be considered done to death?" On Osmosis the guys go at it with some fresh compositions, four by the group's bassist, Hans Halt, two more from their saxophonist, Peter Epstein, one from ...
read morePeter Epstein: Effortless Precision
by Stephen A. Smith
This article was first published at All About Jazz in June 2001. Peter Epstein is one of the brightest saxophonists on the New York scene. Since coming to New York from jny: Portland in 1992, he has recorded with Brad Shepik, Ralph Alessi, and a host of others, on more than 30 albums. He has released three discs as a leader with MA Recordings: a solo saxophone album, and two discs of his quartet with Jamie Saft, Chris ...
read morePeter Epstein Quartet: Polarities
by Dan Bilawsky
Polarity, depending on the usage of the word, can reference opposites, the carrying of positive and negative charges, or attraction to a specific point, object, or idea; saxophonist Peter Epstein's Polarities deals with all of that. Epstein, a notable player on the New York scene in the '90s, has kept a lower profile since moving to Nevada, where he now serves as director of the jazz studies program at University of Nevada, Reno. His playing, thankfully, hasn't ...
read morePeter Epstein and Idee Fixe: Abstract Realism
by John Barron
Abstract Realism is the debut recording for the band Idée Fixe, an experimental ensemble under the leadership of saxophonist Peter Epstein, that has been in existence since 1997. Along with Epstein, the band includes guitarist Andy Barbera, bassist Sam Minaie and drummer Matt Mayhall. Special guests for the disc include bass clarinetist Brian Walsh and saxophonist Gavin Templeton. With minimal ideas as the basis for each track, the music takes on spontaneous group thought with cohesive realizations. As ...
read morePeter Epstein / Brad Shepik / Matt Kilmer: Lingua Franca
by Abe Pollack
Technology and musical development have always seemed to work in tandem. Reel to reel recording made delay effects and multitracking techniques possible. Laptop processing has allowed trumpets to sound like cellos and cellos to sound like Jimi Hendrix. But the most intriguing technological advance for music in recent years has been the introduction of the iPod. Once you have spent a day listening to Balkan folk songs, The White Album and Tower of Power on shuffle, genre" slowly goes the ...
read morePeter Epstein/Brad Shepik/Matt Kilmer: Lingua Franca
by John Dworkin
Like what's being done by many creative musicians today, including Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, and Brian Blade's Fellowship, the music and approach on Lingua Franca are better described as searching than the more common burning. Peter Epstein, Brad Shepik, and Matt Kilmer trade more in water than fire. This is not a value judgement, just a shift of intent and perspective. Though rooted in the jazz aesthetics of improvisation and group interaction, Lingua Franca is not jazz with a capital ...
read morePeter Epstein Will Tour In Support Of New Songlines Release, Polarities
Source:
GoMedia PR
Saxophonist Will Perform on East and West Coasts from July through September Reno-based saxophonist Peter Epstein, whose new Songlines CD, Polarities, has garnered such strong reviews as it's music of a higher order that's filled with endless surprises...expanding and contracting in fascinating ways" (allaboutjazz.com) and it's a controlled burn...Epstein never loses the lyricism that defines his style"(Improvised blog), will tour throughout the US in the late summer/early fall. Epstein's slate of performances will begin in NYC on July 29, with ...
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Peter Epstein Joins With Ralph Alessi, Sam Minaie And Mark Ferber For First Songlines Release In Nine Years
Source:
Cary Goldberg
Polarities, the New Album from the Peter Epstein Quartet, Will be Released on May 13 ...a wonderfully compelling and gripping album, on which instruments and sounds are of a rare expressive power." - Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz Blog, reviewing Epstein's previous release as a leader, Abstract Realism Saxophonist Peter Epstein may have slipped from public view a bit since leaving New York to take up a teaching position at the University of Nevada, Reno (where he is now the director ...
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Photos
Music
Hansepts
From: OsmosisBy Peter Epstein
Creamy Center
From: Abstract RealismBy Peter Epstein
Keystone
From: The DarkBy Peter Epstein
Dark Matter
From: The GADflyBy Peter Epstein