Alto saxophonist Alex Laurenzi
WHEN: Sunday, February 16. Doors open at 2:30 p.m., and the music is performed from 3-5 p.m., with one short intermission
WHERE: Shanghai Jazz is located at 24 Main St. in Madison
ADMISSION: free to members. Admission is $10 for non-members, and there is a $10 food/beverage minimum for all attendees
For more information, email music@njjs.org.
Alto saxophonist Alex Laurenzi, a resident of Mountain Lakes, is the winner of two DownBeat Magazine Student Soloist Awards and two Soloist Awards from Jazz at Lincoln Center's Essentially Ellington competition. He has performed at JALC as well as the Blue Note jazz club and at the Somerville and Montclair Jazz Festivals. Laurenzi was also a member of the 2015 Grammy Jazz Session Big Band and toured Peru in April 2016 with the Jazz House Kids on behalf of the U.S. Embassy.
Laurenzi will lead a quartet at the New Jersey Jazz Society's Social, held at Shanghai Jazz in Madison. Currently a student majoring in African-American history at Princeton University, he is an active member of Princeton's Jazz Program, playing in an ensemble led by composer/bandleader Darcy James Argue and a small group directed by alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, who is Director of the Princeton Jazz Program. He is also studying privately under alto saxophonist Ralph Bowen.
At Shanghai Jazz, Laurenzi will be accompanied by a rhythm section of Juilliard Jazz students. Pianist Isaiah Thompson is featured on the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra album, Handful of Keys (Blue Engine Records: 2017). Bassist Felix Moseholm, from Copenhagen, has studied under legendary bassist Ron Carter. Drummer T.J. Reddick has played at Smalls jazz club in Greenwich Village and is a member of Wynton Marsalis' Future of Jazz Orchestra.
Funding for the NJJS Socials has been made possible in part by Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts.
