Photo: Jonathan Doster
On Friday, March 30th, veteran guitarist/composer Michael Musillami will celebrate his new release, Mettle (Playscape Recordings), with a two-set performance at Firehouse 12 in New Haven. This will be his third appearance at the venue with his flagship trio featuring bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, which marks its 10th anniversary as a working unit in 2012. For this event, as on Mettle, the group will be joined by special guests Russ Johnson (trumpet), Ned Rothenberg (alto saxophone and clarinet), Jeff Lederer (tenor saxophone and clarinet) and Matt Moran (vibraphone).
“Musillami’s trio, his alliance with his longtime friends and collaborators, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, is a superb, finely tuned unit, empathetic, swinging and dramatically expressive of emotions sweeping from joy to sadness,” explains the Hartford Courant‘s Owen McNally in his recent feature article. “More impressive than longevity, however, is the trio’s remarkably tight, cohesive unity. Nurtured by Musillami’s celebratory music, the band functions as a musical family, a democratic clan in which everyone expresses himself.”
Critics have called the group’s music “truly original” (Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic.com), “challenging and adventurous” (Bill Beuttler, Boston Globe), “scintillating and provocative” (Bill Milkowski, The Absolute Sound) and “honest, frequently surprising and consistently exciting” (Ron Wynn, JazzTimes). “Working on an almost telepathic level,” adds Cadence reviewer Troy Collins, “they have developed an innate familiarity with each other that enables them to second guess abrupt tempo changes and harmonic detours with split second timing. Although the trio certainly doesn’t need any help navigating Musillami’s compelling tunes, they are occasionally joined by a few guest soloists, always to remarkable effect.”
Musillami’s career spans more than 25 years and includes extensive work as a performer, bandleader/composer and educator. In addition to his trio, which has performed across Europe and North America and released five other recordings since 2002, he has earned international acclaim as the leader of groups ranging from duo to octet. When not working as a musician, he also directs the student jazz ensemble Right Brain Logic at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, and manages Playscape Recordings, the highly regarded independent label he founded in 1999.
Learn more at http://michaelmusillami.com and http://playscape-recordings.com