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Dustin Laurenzi

Chicago saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi has developed a distinctly personal approach to improvisation and composition that has garnered the attention of the city's creative music community. Recognized for his "offbeat approach to articulating harmonies and constructing melodies" (NextBop), Dustin's music is inspired and informed by jazz, folk, improvised music, and contemporary classical 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.

Dustin has been a leader/co-leader of his own projects, Twin Talk, Snaarj, and Natural Language, and a member of the Marquis Hill Blacktet, the Quentin Coaxum Quintet, and Katie Ernst's Little Words, among others. He has released several albums featuring his original compositions, including Twin Talk’s eponymous release, praised by Chicago Jazz Magazine as “a cohesive and original album that brims with a vibrant fluidity and a poetic sense.”

Dustin earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies and a Performer's Certificate from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in 2011. He has performed or recorded with Jeff Parker, Matt Ulery, Russ Johnson, Jeff Hirshfield, Corey Christiansen, Lil BUB's Big Show, the Dave Lisik Jazz Orchestra featuring Tim Hagans, and has recently been featured at the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and the Kennedy Center. Dustin’s debut album as a leader, Natural Language, will be released in September 2016 on ears&eyes Records.

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30
Album Review

Paul Dietrich: 5+4

Read "5+4" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The concept for this latest album by Wisconsin-based trumpeter, composer and educator Paul Dietrich, his fourth as leader, can be found in its title, 5+4, wherein he employs a jazz quintet and four-member string section. It is to Dietrich's credit that neither one outshines the other; the quintet takes the lead on six of the album's eight numbers (all written by Dietrich), the strings on the others ("Out Here," “A Separation"). Indeed, the two components mesh so ...

4
Album Review

Matt Ulery: Mannerist

Read "Mannerist" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


There is a lilting magic to the music of Mannerist that is hard to deny or find fault with. The “Bridge" starts and the whole day changes, eliciting, perhaps, a feeling of being lighter on the feet, lighter in spirit and, most importantly, lighter in the head. Suddenly all the information they want you to swallow goes away and its just you and the music. It is a beautiful thing. It is something bassist/composer/bandleader Matt Ulery sets out to do ...

5
Album Review

Dustin Laurenzi's Natural Language: A Time And A Place

Read "A Time And A Place" reviewed by Mark Corroto


When Chicago tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi dedicates a song “Albert" on A Time And A Place to the the Holy Ghost of the avant- garde, Albert Ayler, he doesn't follow what most impersonators do and scream “ALBERT" at you. He builds upon a simple melody pattern (Ayler-like) patiently magnifying the intensity and fervor. Unlike Ayler, whose music hinted he wouldn't live long (he died at 34), Laurenzi's invocation maintains an equanimity within the eruption. That's just Laurenzi being Laurenzi.

8
Album Review

Matt Ulery: Pollinator

Read "Pollinator" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


What a wonderful lift to an otherwise dismal year is Pollinator, Chicago based bassist Matt Ulery's unabashed revelry in swing jazz circa King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. Add a few pops, skips and other random surface noises to the sound of these eight unbridled, hothouse Ulery compositions and you'd swear you were sitting in and listening to the real thing. Because Pollinator sure sounds like your grandad's 78s. Those mysteriously heavy, black platters that set you on this beautiful ...

7
Album Review

Jeremy Cunningham: The Weather Up There

Read "The Weather Up There" reviewed by Jakob Baekgaard


The complex landscape of human emotions is still vastly uncharted, but every true work of art adds a little piece to the puzzle. This can be done in many ways, but it is rare that an album connects emotion with complex layers of memory, interpersonal relations, politics and societal structures. Nevertheless, this is what drummer and composer Jeremy Cunningham's album does. In a statement, Cunningham explains the background: “I wrote The Weather Up There to confront the ...

7
Album Review

Dustin Laurenzi: Snaketime: The Music Of Moondog

Read "Snaketime: The Music Of Moondog" reviewed by Mark Corroto


Many genius artists have been labeled as freaks or lunatics because they didn't conform to the standards of civil society, let alone the codes of behavior for musicians. Thelonious Monk, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Sun Ra are obvious examples of brilliant creators whose music endures and is celebrated. Add to that list Louis Thomas Hardin (1916-1999) aka Moondog. The blind composer-musician could often be found on 6th Avenue in New York dressed as a Viking, selling his music and poetry. ...

4
Album Review

Dustin Laurenzi: Natural Language

Read "Natural Language" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The first thing you notice about saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi is that he is an old soul. Not that he's old, he and bandmates guitarist Jeff Swanson, bassist Mike Harmon, and drummer Charles Rumback, are the next generation in Chicago's creative jazz tradition. It's his music that fits within the definition of old soul. It is comfortably easy to inhabit while avoiding being mainstream, patient with far-reaching wisdom that exhibits compassion and a certain inner peace. Ok, I know this is ...

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“Laurenzi plays with a beguiling cool that belies the sophistication and flexibility of his lines” Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader ​ ​ "Laurenzi’s playing here is superbly winning; it’s like listening to a human voice." Robert Rodi, Newcity Music ​ ​ "Laurenzi plays with a sense of economy, using a strong narrative to make points without the need to show flash." Michael Shanley, Shanley On Music ​ “Laurenzi’s tenor tone has something in common with cool players such as Zoot Sims. However, Laurenzi’s soloing — not aggressively radical, yet still steering clear of any clichés — is more along the lines of fellow Chicagoan Ken Vandermark.” Jack Walton, South Bend Tribune ​ "...Laurenzi instead went for emphasizing those lines that showed an offbeat approach to articulating harmonies and constructing melodies." Alex Marianyi, Nextbop ​ ​ "...a modern voice and a quiet storm." Mike Lebrun, The Woodshed Blog
Primary Instrument

Saxophone, tenor

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Mannerist

Woolgathering Records
2023

buy

Cachito

Self Produced
2023

buy

5+4

Shifting Paradigm Records
2023

buy

The Weather Up There

Northern Spy Records
2020

buy

Pollinator

Woolgathering Records
2020

buy

A Time And A Place

Woolgathering Records
2020

buy

Big Talk

From: Natural Language
By Dustin Laurenzi

Videos

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