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Jeff Stitely Jazz QuartetFast FactsLocation: Evanston, IL BioThe Jeff Stitely Quartet’s unique sound combines musical vision and a sense of tradition into a compelling jazz experience. The quartet has been received enthusiastically by audiences and critics at festivals and jazz clubs both locally and internationally since 1990. They have three award-winning CDs and were finalists in the 1995 Hennessy National Jazz Competition in New York. Here is what jazz critics have to say: “The most striking feature of this ensemble is that it genuinely functions as a unit. The idea here is not to offer a series of ostentatious solos but to create a fabric of sound... The caliber of each of these players, and the seriousness with which they collaborate, says a great deal about how deep the current jazz resurgence runs.” “In his own drum solos Stitely offers plenty of thunder, but he ignores the petty flamboyance and predictable patterns that have given drum solos a bad name. Instead he concentrates on structure and form, and he and his band apply that approach to each piece in their repertoire, unveiling one impressive stratagem after another to burrow deep into their material. As a result, they consistently squeeze something new and often exhilarating out of tunes they’ve played a dozen times before.” “Jeff Stitely is a great drummer, a great stylist, and what I like about him most is his sensitivity to the other musicians," says renowned saxophonist Von Freeman. Stitely has performed with Eddie Harris, “Groove” Holmes, Slide Hampton, Randy Brecker, Wynton Marsalis, Lew Tabakin, Chick Corea, Oliver Lake, Fareed Haque, Wallace Roney, Sheila Jordon, Brian Lynch, Bob Belden, John McNeil, Zoot Sims, Chuck Israels, Arnett Cobb, Patricia Barber, Larry Coryell, Von Freeman and Bobby Enriques. Larry Kohut is among the most in-demand bass players in Chicago. Larry has performed with Randy Brecker, Ed Thigpen, Paul Smoke, Clark Terry, Von Freeman, Paul Wertico, Steve Turre, Kenny Werner, Ramsey Lewis, Barry Manilow, Michael Brecker, Vinnie Calliuta, Larry Coryell, David “Fathead” Newman, and Hank Crawford. John McLean is featured on Patricia Barber’s latest recordings and just signed his own group to Premonition records. He has performed with Jane Ira Bloom, Jon Hendrics, Randy Brecker, Marvin Stamm, and Jerry Granelli. John has led his own group at the Montreal Jazz Festival and is currently on Faculty at Roosevelt University. Ryan Shultz “whose fiery solos are conceived with an intelligence and imagination that make him a young man to watch” (Mark Stryker, Bloomington Herald). Ryan has performed with John Abercrombie, Anthony Braxton, Rick Margitza, Dave Liebman, Tim Hagans, Minola Badrena, Randy Brecker, Robby Ameen, and Ira Sullivan. |
      
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