The Claudia Quintet

Il Claudia Quintet al JAM Festival di Mira

by Angelo Leonardi
March 22, 2016

JAM Festival 2016 Teatro di Villa dei Leoni Mira, Venezia 12.03.2016 Il lungo tour europeo del Claudia Quintet ha toccato l'Italia in un'unica data, sabato 12 marzo nell'ambito del JAM Festival di Mira. Giunta alla dodicesima edizione, la rassegna ha assunto un ruolo centrale nella programmazione musicale in Triveneto, grazie alle ottime scelte qualitative e al coinvolgimento con le realtà economiche e istituzionali dell'area. Anche quest'anno il cartellone ha coinvolto massicciamente ...

The Claudia Quintet at The Workmans Club

by Ian Patterson
December 1, 2013

The Claudia Quintet The Workmans Club Dublin Ireland November 25, 2013 “Real fans do it on a Monday night," Improvised Music Company's Gerry Godley said in an address to the crowd that acknowledged the economic and logistical challenges facing promoters, musicians and fans alike. The Republic of Ireland's economy is still struggling half a decade on and at a time when incomes are stretched semi-improvised music isn't necessarily on the top of everybody's list ...

The Claudia Quintet: September

by Glenn Astarita
October 15, 2013

September is a month that signals the return of football, the advent of fall, and when the youngsters say goodbye to summer and venture back to school. But for bandleader and drummer John Hollenbeck, it's when he seeks isolation and concentrates on artist residencies. September is The Claudia Quintet's seventh-release as the celebrated ensemble reaffirms its domain as an extraordinarily hip and unique entity. Under Hollenbeck's direction, the band radiates a disparate focus that includes minimalistic oeuvres amid tightly-woven and ...

The Claudia Quintet + 1 featuring Kurt Elling and Theo Bleckmann: What Is The Beautiful?

by Raul d'Gama Rose
March 17, 2012

Poetry has always been the libretto of jazz music. Even before epic works of the late Gil Scott Heron like “H2O Gate Blues" or “Winter in America" (which inspired the nations of rap and hip-hop), there was Langston Hughes with bassist Charles Mingus on Weary Blues (Verve, 1958), the great Amiri Baraka, and A.B. Spellman. Then there was Kenneth Patchen, one of The Rebel Poets of America, an enigmatic legend who, if he chose, might have laid claim to creating ...

The Claudia Quintet: What Is the Beautiful?

by Mark Corroto
December 10, 2011

American poet Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972) has been a favorite of musicians for over half a century, from composer John Cage to saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and bassist William Parker. This everyman writer, considered to be the “father of the Beats," is their direct link to Walt Whitman and William Blake.Before Jack Kerouac performed his poems with a jazz band, Patchen was reciting poetry backed by Allyn Ferguson and Charles Mingus. His writings are a smattering of love poems to ...

The Claudia Quintet + 1 featuring Kurt Elling and Theo Bleckmann: What Is the Beautiful?

by Troy Collins
October 5, 2011

Jazz and poetry have a longstanding relationship that precedes the postwar experiments of the Beats, dating back to the Harlem Renaissance. As with any artistic collaboration, the cooperative efforts of improvising musicians and poets have yielded mixed results over the years. One of the first artists to successfully explore this territory (with John Cage and Charles Mingus) was Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972), a poet, novelist and painter whose innovative work ranges from political protest and sardonic humor to sentimental romance. In ...

The Claudia Quintet: For

by Tom Greenland
September 11, 2007

It's a challenge to describe the Claudia Quintet's sound: there are patent references, but distinct departures from these references as well. For, their newest project on Cuneiform, reunites Drew Gress (bass), John Hollenbeck (drums and electronica), Matt Moran (vibes), Ted Reichman (accordion) and Chris Speed (clarinet and tenor sax), continuing a trajectory established on three previous releases.Hollenbeck's nuanced part-writing fully exploits the tonal similarities of the frontline (clarinet, vibes & accordion); tracks like “Be Happy, “This Too Shall ...

Jazz This Week: Freddy Cole, Claudia Quintet with Theo Bleckmann, Koplant No, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
February 29, 2012

It's another busy week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with performances from both touring and local acts ranging from ragtime, traditional New Orleans jazz, and swing to thought-provoking modern jazz influenced by a variety of contemporary genres. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, singer and pianist Freddy Cole returns to St. Louis to open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Cole, the brother of the legendary Nat “King" Cole, has proved ...
read more

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: A Claudia Quintet Sampler

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
February 26, 2012

Today, let's take a look at some video clips featuring the Claudia Quintet, who will be making their St. Louis debut in a concert sponsored by New Music Circle at 7:30 p.m. next Friday, March 2 at the 560 Music Center. Formed by drummer John Hollenbeck in the late 1990s to play his small group compositions with some of his favorite collaborators, the Claudia Quintet also includes Chris Speed (clarinet, tenor saxophone), Matt ...
read more

The Cornelia Street Cafe presents The Alternate Takes Festival

Source: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity
January 5, 2012

Alternate Takes Festival this Saturday, January 7 at The Cornelia Street Cafe The Cornelia Street Cafe presents the Alternate Takes Festival APAP Event (FREE for all APAP attendees!) 8:00 PM—CLAUDIA QUINTET John Hollenbeck—drums Drew Gress—bass Matt Moran—vibes Red Wierenga—accordion Chris Speed—clarinet, tenor saxophone 9:30 PM—RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA'S GAMAK Rudresh Mahanthappa—alto saxophone David “Fuze" Fiuczynski—guitars François Moutin—bass Dan Weiss—drums 11:00 PM—BEN ALLISON BAND
read more

The Claudia Quintet + Gary Versace - Royal Toast (2010)

Source: Something Else!
August 8, 2010

By PicoThe Claudia Quintet is an ensemble that goes by its own set of rules. With its slightly weird combination of vibes, accordion, sax, double-bass and drums, and songs that don't follow the script of how songs go (but avoids skronkery and dissonance), the five piece band is an anomaly of an anomaly. It all comes for the deviously clever composing mind of its drummer and leader, John Hollenbeck. Drummers from Art Blakey to Matt Wilson have led ...
read more

Claudia Quintet's 'Royal Toast'

Source: Michael Ricci
May 19, 2010

A year removed from an unexpected (yet wholly deserved) Grammy nomination in the large ensemble category, jazz drummer and composer John Hollenbeck returns to what ostensibly makes up his day job.

Under Hollenbeck's complex yet always inviting compositional lead, the Claudia Quintets fifth album continues the groups moving-target aesthetic. Touching on enough influences to resemble an expertly curated corner record shop a thicket of Steve Reich-informed vibraphone here, a dash of knotty chamber jazz there the Claudia Quintet is one ...
read more

Avant-Jazzsters Claudia Quintet's Album Whimsically Extols the Wonders of Toast

Source: All About Jazz @ Spinner
May 8, 2010

Over the years, various musicians have gone out of their way to prove that jazz can have a sense of humor. The most obvious example is Horace Silver's 'Jazz Has a Sense of Humor.' And, of course, there was Slim and Slam with their playful mugging back in the old days when jazz was popular music. More recently, there's been folks like Matt Wilson, whose been known to don a costume for a mid-set heavy metal tribute. While his large ...
read more

The Claudia Quintet Releases 5th Album, "Royal Toast" on Cuneiform Records May 18, 2010

Source: Fully Altered Media
March 5, 2010

Composer/Drummer John Hollenbeck Continues Prolific Recording Period With Fifth Claudia Quintet Album, Royal Toast, Due May 18, 2010 on Cuneiform Records

On their fifth CD, Royal Toast, The Claudia Quintet raise a glass in salute to their regal muse with a set of new music fit for a king--albeit one with more refined tastes and open mind than your average monarch.

If a round table seems a wholly appropriate setting for this egalitarian ensemble (with an extra place setting this ...
read more

Medeski, Martin & Wood Perform John Zorn's Zaebos + the Claudia Quintet Perform at the Barbican!

Source: All About Jazz
June 12, 2009

Wednesday 8 July 7.30pm Medeski, Martin & Wood perform John Zorn's Zaebos + The Claudia Quintet Tickets 10/15/20/25 Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious Part of Blaze A firm favourite at the Barbican since their explosive set with guest guitarist John Scofield in 2007, the thrilling trio of organist/piano player John Medeski, drummer Billy Martin, and bassist Chris Wood formed in Brooklyn, New York, in 1991. Medeski and Wood, students at Boston's prestigious New England Conservatory of Music, ...
read more

Firehouse 12 to Present the Claudia Quintet October 12th

Source: Improvised Communications
October 9, 2007

On Friday, October 12th, New Haven's Firehouse 12 will present a two set performance by The Claudia Quintet as part of the venue's ongoing 2007 Fall Jazz Series. Led by New York-based drummer/composer John Hollenbeck, this decade- old ensemble features reed player Chris Speed, vibraphonist Matt Moran, accordionist Ted Reichman and organist Gary Versace. The group will be performing music from its fourth and latest CD, For (Cuneiform Records).

Critics have called The Claudia Quintet “a very fresh jazz band ...
read more

Henry Threadgill, Chris Lightcap, Claudia Quintet, Masada Rock, Benevento/Russo Duo Philadelphia Appearances in March

Source: All About Jazz
February 28, 2006

Wednesday, March 1 | 7pm SOULIVE + BENEVENTO/RUSSO DUO

Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street Receive a substantial discount (you'll pay only $10/ticket) by requesting the “Ars Nova" discount at the Annenberg box office on the day of show. Arrive early!

Soulive's latest album, Break Out, is full of beat-driven instrumentals and dazzling collaborations with a host of exceptional artists, including Chaka Khan, Ivan Neville, Corey Glover (Living Color), Robert Randolph and Reggie Watts (Maktub). ...
read more