UW Music and Earshot Jazz present Jazz Studies faculty artist Ted Poor, drums, joined by New-York based musicians Bill McHenry, tenor saxophone; Josh Roseman, trombone; and Eric Revis, bass; performing a concert devoted to “Our Man in Jazz,” the 1962 album by Sonny Rollins. The concert includes an opening set by graduate student Gregg Belisle-Chi, guitar.
ARTIST BIO
Ted Poor, drums
After graduating from the Eastman School of Music in 2003, drummer Ted Poor moved to New York City, where he has made a deep impression on the jazz and improvised music scene. Modern Drummer describes his playing as “adventurous, truly dynamic, and forward-thinking.” Jazz Review writes, “Ted has an uncanny ability to shape the music and a refreshingly unique, organic approach to playing the drums.” This unique approach has caught the ears of many of jazz’s most established musicians and quickly placed him amongst those drummers most in demand.
Ted has toured the world over and is a regular member of many bands, including those of Grammy award winning trumpeter Cuong Vu, guitarist Ben Monder, Bad Touch, and the Respect Sextet. Ted’s most recent project as a leader is called Mt. Varnum. Formed in August of 2011, Mt. Varnum reconciles a life-long love of deep swing with an equally earnest adoration of classic and indie rock. The band’s forthcoming debut release “Wounded Caroline” is a powerful and complete manifestation of that union.
As an in-demand sideman, Ted has appeared on dozens of recordings and has shared the stage with many world renowned artists such as Kurt Rosenwinkel, Bill Frisell, Mark Turner, Chris Potter, Kenny Werner, Maria Schneider, Aaron Parks and Ralph Alessi. As a guest soloist and educator, Poor has held residencies at, among others, the Eastman School of Music, Berklee College of Music, Cal Arts, Lawrence University, the University of Oregon, and the HR Big Band of Frankfurt. He is currently an Artist in Residence at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Bill McHenry, saxophone
Bill McHenry is a saxophone player and composer who lives in New York, Barcelona, and Maine. He has made 7 recordings as a leader, and is known for his work with Paul Motian, Guillermo Klein, Andrew D’Angelo, Reid Anderson, Rebecca Martin, Ben Waltzer, John McNeil, Duane Eubanks, Jamie Saft, Ethan Iverson, Orrin Evans, Eric Revis and Andrew Cyrille.
His first two albums for the Sunnyside label, Roses, and Ghosts of the Sun are with Paul Motian, Reid Anderson and Ben Monder. 2012′s new album, La Peur du Vide was recorded live at the Village Vanguard with Orrin Evans, Eric Revis, and Andrew Cyrille.
Josh Roseman, trombone
Josh Roseman is a New York based jazz trombonist whose presence has been felt in the downtown scene of improvisers from the 1990s onward. Born June 5, 1972 in Boston, MA, he picked up the trombone because it was the most prevalent instrument in his household. His father, uncle, and cousins were all musicians, and as a youth he attended many concerts, participated in numerous classical and jazz demonstrations, and listened to the AM pop radio of the day. Classical influences informed his playing, but he was also enjoying Motown artists Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, Sly & the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, or early ska music (as his mother was from Jamaica) and the Beatles. As his jazz tastes developed, he heard John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Charlie Parker, Henry Threadgill, and James Blood Ulmer. Moving to higher education, Roseman stayed close to home, studying at both the Berklee and New England Conservatories.
Roseman's most telling mentorship was with trumpeter Lester Bowie, where he acquired a refined style and sense of humor. Arriving in New York City where he was a participant in the early Knitting Factory heyday of the early '90s, Roseman was acclimated quickly as a co-founder of the acid-jazz dance band the Groove Collective and the less appreciated Giant Step. Among the many artists he has performed with are Joe Maneri, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Russell, and Bob Moses while at school, and professionally, Frank Lacy, Graham Haynes, John Zorn, the Dave Holland Big Band, Roswell Rudd, Joey Baron, Ellery Eskelin, Don Byron, Dave Douglas, Steve Coleman, Steve Turre, Ron Blake, Oliver Lake, Christopher Hale, Don Byron, Uri Caine's Mahler Ensemble, the original SFJazz Collective, the Skatalites, Sheryl Crow, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Soulive, Charlie Hunter, the Roots, Cibo Matto, Mike Gordon, Sean Lennon, Brooklyn Funk Essentials, Bojan Z, John Aram & the Geneva Downtown Orchestra, and Riccardo Fassi.
A quintessential sideman, Roseman does own a small discography with his ensemble the Josh Roseman Unit produced for the Enja label -- Cherry, Treats for the Nightwalker, and New Constellations -- which collectively included Peter Apfelbaum, Barney McAll, Ben Monder, Jonathan Maron, Billy Kilson, Chris Potter, Liberty Ellman, Ben Perowsky and Mark Feldman. Roseman is busy aside from staged music, as a trombone instructor and improvisation coach for the New School For Social Research at N.Y.U., the Harlem School for the Arts, and the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. He lives in the Williamsburg district of Brooklyn, N.Y. where he is founder of a cooperative production and performance facility. A born experimentalist, Roseman also plays tuba, euphonium, bass, drums, piano, and his Mac P.C. ~ Michael G. Nastos, Rovi
Ben Street, bass
Ben Street is a New York-area jazz double bassist. He studied at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, with Miroslav Vitous and Dave Holland. He has played with many great jazz artists, notably Kurt Rosenwinkel on the Album "Next Step," Ben Monder on the Album "Dust" and the legendary Sam Rivers on the Album "Violet Violets."
Street has performed and toured with Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Roswell Rudd, Lee Konitz, John Scofield, David Sanchez, Terence Blanchard, and many others.
Street is the son of Saxophonist and Saxophone mouthpiece maker Bill Street and is native of Maine.
Gregg Belisle-Chi
Gregg Belisle-Chi is a guitarist and composer living in Seattle, Washington.
He has maintained a busy career in music performing and recording with various Jazz, Avant-Garde, Pop/Rock, Folk, and Chamber Ensembles. He is a regular member of Jim Knapp’sScrape Orchestra, Andy Clausen’s Shutter and Split Stream Big Band, Fluke (with Brian Kinsella, Chris Symer, and Chris Icasiano), and performs solo and duo music with vocalist Chelsea Crabtree. His newest project is Tyrant Lizard, a collaboration with trumpeter Ray Larsen and bassist Carmen Rothwell.
He is currently enrolled in the Masters Program at the University of Washington’s School of Music under the direction of Cuong Vu and Ted Poor. Prior to his time at UW, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Cornish College of the Arts where he studied with guitarists Dave Peterson and Michael Nicollela, multi-instrumentalist Jay Thomas, and composer Jim Knapp.
He has also studied under guitarists Steve Cardenas, Larry Koonse, Keith Ganz, and John Stowell.
He has performed with Bill Frisell, Cuong Vu, Steve Swallow,Eyvind Kang, WayneHorvitz, Tom Varner, Bob Sheppard, Jay Clayton, and Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver, Beck, The Shins.)
Gregg’s debut album, Tenebrae, features music for solo guitar and duo (with Chelsea Crabtree) and is expected to be released in 2015 on Songlines Records. He can also be heard on Scrape’s Approaching Vyonnes (Original Classical, 2013) Honey Noble’s self-titled album (self released, 2013) Tomten’s Wednesday’s Children (FlatField Records, 2012), and Annabel Lee’s Lone Bodies (self-released, 2012).