Photo: Steven Laschever

On Friday, February 24th, veteran bassist/composer Mario Pavone will return to New York’s Cornelia Street Café for a two-set performance with his Mythos Sextet. The group, which features frequent collaborators Dave Ballou (trumpet), Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone), Philippe Crettien (tenor saxophone), Craig Taborn (piano) and Gerald Cleaver (drums), will debut brand new music as well as celebrate the 10th anniversary of his 2002 Playscape Recordings release, Mythos.

In its critic’s pick for his July performance at Cornelia Street, Time Out New York declared, “The work of Mario Pavone bridges the dissonant, structurally open world of the avant-garde and the pulsing, swinging accessibility of the jazz tradition.” His music has also been described as “invariably exhilarating” (Steve Futterman, Jazziz), “filled with passion and the sound of surprise” (Owen McNally, Hartford Courant) and “at once intellectual and swinging, investigative and declarative” (Josef Woodard, DownBeat).

A 45-year veteran of the creative music scene, Pavone has earned his reputation as “a bassist-composer of experience and vision” (Nate Chinen, New York Times), first as a sideman to such legendary figures as Paul Bley, Thomas Chapin and Bill Dixon, and most recently under his own name as ”one of the very best—and when on his game, by far the best—small-group composer/leaders working on the East Coast” (Brian Morton, Point of Departure).

In 2010, he celebrated his 70th birthday by releasing Arc Suite T/Pi T/Po, his 20th recording as a leader/co-leader, featuring original music commissioned by Chamber Music America’s 2009 New Jazz Works: Commissioning and Ensemble Development program. His performance of that material at the 2010 Litchfield Jazz Festival was featured on NPR’s JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater earlier this month. Learn more about Mario Pavone at http://mariopavone.com