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NJJS FEBRUARY VIRTUAL SOCIAL
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, @7pm
IN HONOR of Claudio Roditi
AN EVENING WITH THE TRILATERAL PROJECT
Featuring:
Tomoko Ohno - Piano
Marcus McLaurine - Bass
Samuel Marttinelli - Drums/Percussion
In
April 2018, Brazilian drummer Samuel Martinelli self-released an
album called Crossing Paths, celebrating
the relationship between Brazilian music and jazz. Reviewing the
album for AllAboutJazz, Dan Bilawsky
pointed out that his quartet was “rich in rhythmic verve. Martinelli
provides strong originals, puts his own stamp on a classic or two,
adds hearty support, and delivers with grace, while his seasoned
colleagues — trumpeter Claudio Roditi, bassist Marcus McLaurine, and
pianist Tomoko Ohno — magnify his intentions and find deeper meaning
in the notes and tones of the project.” Six of the eight tracks are
Martinelli originals, added to Sonny Rollins’ “St. Thomas” and Dizzy
Gillespie’s “Birks’ Works”.
In
January’s Jersey Jazz, (“Talking
Jazz”), McLaurine recalled that Roditi, who died in January 2020,
really liked the group on the recording. After Claudio passed,” he
said, “we decided, in his honor, to keep it together as The
Trilateral Project. Claudio was a sweetheart and a total master. His
spirit is always there when we play.”
At 7
p.m. on Saturday, February 26, The Trilateral Project will be
performing at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Virtual Social. “The more
we play,” McLaurine added, “the more it really jells into something.
We are hoping to get a recording out as our next project. We are now
working on material, and we are going to get featured guests on it.”
One
of Roditi’s last recording projects was as a guest artist on the Diva
Jazz Orchestra’s Diva + The Boys album
(mcgjazz: 2019). Ohno is Diva’s pianist and she shared solos with
Roditi, clarinetist Ken Peplowski, and trombonist Jay Ashby on
Ashby’s “Deference to Diz”. Roditi told Jersey
Jazz’s Schaen Fox (January/February 2020) that album was
“one of the best projects I’ve ever participated in involving a large
ensemble.” As for “Deference to Diz” — “Jay Ashby’s arrangement is so
much in the pocket of the bebop era. Every solo is killing.”
Ohno’s
best memory of Roditi was, “when we were at a buffet style restaurant
somewhere in the Midwest for a gig. He was almost in tears and told
me how much he missed his mom’s shrimp. At the same time, we both
were peeling tons of shrimp shells from the buffet. And all of a
sudden, somehow, I felt like I could understand why he could write
such incredibly beautiful melodies.”
The
February 26th Social will be streamed on the njjs.org website as well
as on the Jersey Jazz Society Facebook page and YouTube channel.
There is no admission charge, but donations
are welcome and encouraged.
Funding
for the NJJS Socials has been made possible, in part, by funding
from Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the
Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment
for the Arts.
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