Jeff Lederer’s Brooklyn Blowhards
Jeff Lederer is a New York-based saxophonist-clarinetist/composer/educator whose work crosses the genres of jazz, Latin and creative improvised music. In 2014 he has been named in both the critics and Readers Polls of Downbeat Magazine recognizing his work on tenor and alto saxophones and clarinet. He has worked for many years in the Matt Wilson Quartet and the Grammy-nominated ensembles of Bobby Sanabria and salsa trombonist Jimmy Bosch. His quartet Sunwatcher made its debut in 2011 on the Jazzheads label featuring Buster Williams (bass), Jamie Saft (piano) and Matt Wilson (drums). His longstanding ensemble “Shaker n’ Bakers” performs modern jazz interpretations of the Vision songs of the Shaker religious sect and has released two recordings of Shaker music as well as performed at the World Festival of Sacred Music in Los Angeles. Jeff’s cross-stylistic composition/arranging projects include, “Los Sazones,” a salsa reimagining of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” which was commissioned by the Ravinia Festival for the Chicago Symphony and has been performed by many major orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. As an educator, Jeff has worked with Jazz At Lincoln Center and has taught workshops and residencies in jazz and saxophone at the University of Miami, New England Conservatory, Dartmouth College, SUNY Binghamton, University of Northern Iowa and many other leading jazz departments. His new project is the debut of his new ensemble, The Brooklyn Blow-Hards- a brass band that plays sea shanties and Albert Ayler compositions. Ayler was a jazz saxophonist and composer and Lederer is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Ayler’s music today. Ayler’s music actually combines well with sea shanties as his songs were constructs of work songs as are sea shanties.