Kevin Norton: Vibraphone, Connie Crothers: Piano, Ed Schuller: Bass, Roger Mancuso: Drums
A new quartet that started from an impromptu jam at Connie’s loft, brings together a love for free improvisation as well as a love for standards and bebop.
Connie Crothers is well known for her performances on piano and her dedication to the art of improvisation. Within any given month of time Connie can be heard playing music with musicians as diverse as Jemeel Moondoc, Henry Grimes, Ken Filiano or poet Mark Weber. Whether in a European concert hall or a Brooklyn art gallery, Crothers always leaves her audience moved by direct and honest expressive power and sensitivity. Connie has also worked with jazz legends Max Roach, Lennie Tristano and Warne Marsh, to name a few.
Kevin Norton met Connie Crothers after hearing “Live at The Outpost” a CD with Crothers quartet and poet Mark Weber. They started working together in 2006 and soon after played a gig that was later released as “Kingston Tone Roads” (on the Deep Listening/New Vanguard series). Kevin is somewhat rare in that he is both a drummer and a vibraphonist (often at the same time) and has used that broad scope of skills to great effect in the bands of Anthony Braxton, Fred Frith, John Zorn and Phillip Johnston. Though known for his work in the avant-garde, Norton got his start with jazz legend Milt Hinton.
Speaking of great jazz bassists, Ed Schuller ’s steady pulse, big sound and exciting solos have been featured in the bands of Paul Motian, Jaki Byard, Tim Berne, Pat Martino, Lee Konitz and many others. He is one of the great bassists of contemporary jazz. He is also the son of composer, author and educator Gunther Schuller and brother of jazz drummer George Schuller.
Drummer Roger Mancuso is one of the most original drummers currently playing in the new scene. He is also one of the few drummers around to study with Lennie Tristano and truly incorporate the master’s ideas about poly-rhythms. Roger is also one of Tristano’s few “regular” drummers, working with him steadily from 1963-1966. Roger can be heard on dozens of recordings, many of them on the New Artists label witn musicians such as Richard Tabnik, Connie Crothers and Roy Campbell.
