The Claudia Quintet - For

Since their founding in the late 1990s, The Claudia Quintet has walked a unique path in contemporary jazz. Unlike most jazz ensembles where the particular musicians [bad word] and go, [bad word] [bad word] and leader John Hollenbeck always wanted Claudia to be a 'band' with a sound not only determined by [bad word] and the [bad word]  but with the actual players who perform the music. This conception is why Claudia has had an immediately identifiable sound since its inception and why I am taking the time to name the other musicians in the group who are able to both play the [bad word] that John hands them but to also improvise within and around [bad word] and give them life. Drew Gress-acoustic bass, Matt Moran-vibes, Ted Reichman-accordion and Chris Speed-clarinet and tenor sax all make Claudia the fantastic band that it is. Since Cuneiform started working with Claudia on their second album in 2004, the band has met with tremendous and growing acclaim and success, both for their records and their live shows, which has pleased me immensely, as they are pursuing [bad word] singular path in 'jazz' music and while [bad word] deserve to have an audience for their singular music, it was by no means assured. An astonishing band with a huge range of emotional depth and with appeal far beyond strictly 'jazz' listeners. For this, their fourth album, they've released an album of dedications.

JOHN HOLLENBECK, batterie
DREW GRESS, contrebasse
MATT MORAN, vibraphone
TED REICHMAN, accordeon
CHRIS SPEED, saxophone tenor, clarinette