Get ready for a rare treat!

You've never heard or seen anything like it!

Their arrangements emphasize the ability of the bassoon to accompany as well as lead. Their programs include jazz standards, originals, Brazilian, be-bop, rhythm and blues. When they play, the bassoon, vibraphone, bass, and drums breathe as one. Their performance literally brings the house down.

MICHAEL RABINOWITZ- Jazz bassoonist
For over twenty years Michael Rabinowitz has been on the cutting edge as a versatile bassoonist. His broad musical experience makes him as comfortable with Bach and Mozart as he is with Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.

Michael’s recordings have received high praise from around the world; and he has just recorded his third commercial CD, Rabinowitz in Utopia, in Holland, as aninvited guest. A fourth CD is already in the works.

Last year he made his debut at the Green Mill jazz club in Chicago, was favorably reviewed by the Chicago Tribune, and was invited back for another date soon after.

Michael also performs with The Mingus Orchestra; and has appeared at such New York City venues as The Kavehaz and Birdland. Recordings include: Bassoon On Fire — Cats Paw Records (1995); Gabrielle’s Balloon — Jazz Focus label (1996); and Rabinowitz in Utopia — Edition Compusic, Scrapes Series.

DIANA HEROLD - vibraphonist, marimbist, percussionist
Diana Herold received her two graduate degrees from the New England Conservatory and Rice University respectively.

Equally adept at performing both improvised and non-improvised music, Herold has worked with composers and musicians such as Yo Yo Ma, Lou Harrison (with the Mark Morris Dance Group), Anthony Davis and Buddy DeFranco. She has performed as a featured soloist and as a percussionist with several larger new music groups and orchestras, including the Discovery Orchestra, the BMI Orchestra, Muhal Richard Abrams, Butch Morris, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

Her performances have taken her throughout Europe, Central America, the United States, and Canada (where she attended the Banff Centre for the Arts).

She can be heard on recordings with They Might Be Giants, Tony Trischka, Sam Rivers, Fred Ho, Rob Henke, and Chuck Clark. Diana leads her own jazz group featuring her own compositions.

GRISHA ALEXIEV - Drums
Grisha Alexiev has been playing drums and writing music for 28 years. His performance experience with such varied artists as Archie Bell, Ken Werner, Sinfonia of Auckland (New Zealand), Sam Rivers, Randy Weston, Marty Ehrlich, Julius Hemphill, John Cage, Arnett Cobb, Muhal Richard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, and Richard Stoltzman, has given him a unique and impressive style. As a composer, Alexiev has been commissioned by dance companies and is recorded on The Jazz Club and Mapleshade Labels.

In 1990, while a student at New England Conservatory of Music, Alexiev was honored with the Presser Award, a grant given annually to the most promising student at each of the conservatories in the United States. In 1994, he was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Performance Grant, and he has received several Meet the Composer Grants since 1996.

He is co-founder (with Neal Kirkwood) of the Discovery Orchestra, (with Sam Bardfeld) The Atomic Strings, and leads his own 11-piece group, No Western Shirts.

JOE FONDA - Bass
A native of Amsterdam, New York, Joe Fonda received his musical training from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied composing and arranging.

He is the organizer and producer of the Joe Fonda Ensemble which has performed throughout the United States, and is the recipient of many grants from Meet the Composer Foundation.

In March and April, 1999, he performed with Brenda Buffalino and Company at Town Hall in New York; toured Europe with the Fonda/Stevens Group; and toured Portugal with Carlo Morena and Jeff Hershfield. In Spring, 1998, he toured with the Fonda/Stevens Group in Holland, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria, and Switzerland.

He has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, and at the Istanbul Jazz Festival in Turkey.

As a bassist, Joe has performed all over the world with ensembles and orchestras; and he has more than 25 recordings to his credit.

"It takes a fairly brave soul to champion the bassoon as a solo instrument in

jazz, and Michael Rabinowitz appears to be brave beyond belief."

Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune, Feb. '98

 

"Rabinowitz plays this music with confidence and authority...his phrasing is

remarkably fluid and rhythmically on target."

Cadence Magazine, Jan. '97

 

"Michael Rabinowitz merits a place in jazz history...he's evolved into an

astonishingly forceful presence."

Neil Tesser, Critic's Choice, Chicago Reader, Feb. '98

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