Elsa Nilsson’s Pulses + Sasha Berliner
October 13, 2024 @ 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm
Doors at 8:00pm
8:30pm – Elsa Nilsson’s Pulses
Elsa Nilsson – Flutes and FX
Santiago Leibson – Piano
Marty Kenney – Bass
Rodrigo Recabarren – Drums
9:45pm – Sasha Berliner
Jonathan Pinson – drums
Logan Kane – bass
Javi Santiago – piano/keys
Sasha Berliner – vibraphone and MalletStation
“Naturally percussive, with an ever-expanding grasp of harmony and counterpoint […] vibraphonist Sasha Berliner is one of the most exciting voices in jazz today.”
– Andrew Bradbury, Stetson Stories
“[Elsa Nilsson’s Pulses} is (without question) the best spoken-word/jazz album I’ve heard in many, MANY years”“
– Dick Metcalf, editor, Contemporary Fusion Reviews and avant garde
Sasha Berliner
Described as a “young mallet master” by JazzTimes, Sasha Berliner is an award-winning vibraphonist and composer based in both the NYC and Los Angeles areas. The Downbeat Critics Poll #1 Rising Star Vibraphonist and Jazz Journalists’ Association runner-up for Vibraphonist of the Year has notably shared the stage for recent projects with Christian McBride, Tyshawn Sorey, Marcus Gilmore, Justin Brown, and Cecile McLorin Salvant. She leads her own quintet for international touring.
Berliner is also a faculty member at the University of California, Irvine, and a frequent lecturing guest at the California Institute for the Arts, both for jazz ensemble and composition courses. She recently released her award-winning sophomore album “Onyx” (2022) through JMI Recordings. Glide Magazine described it as her “vigorous, unabashedly avant-garde sophomore recording […] finding the budding, San Francisco-born vibraphonist and composer in a fiery, dense, and genre-bending posture.” The magazine urges listeners to “add Berliner to the new vanguard of contemporary artists that are reshaping jazz with unconventional compositional approaches.”
Her third studio album, an electronic-acoustic hybrid project entitled “Fantome,” is slated for release in the Spring of 2025.
https://www.sashaberlinermusic.com/
Elsa Nilsson’s Pulses
As the recipient of the 2022 CMA New Jazz Works grant, Elsa Nilsson – Band Of Pulses explores the intersection between spoken language and jazz. “Pulses” uses the voice of Maya Angelou reading “On The Pulse Of Morning” as the foundation for compositions and improvisations, highlighting the intrinsic musicality of her voice by supporting and amplifying the harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic content. In their deep dive, they found clear echoes of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane in her phrasing, the blues implicitly and explicitly expressed in her pitches, and an intense sense of groove in her rhythms. The ethos of this piece is to highlight that connection and bring the beauty of jazz as communication to the forefront.
Nilsson teaches Rhythmic Analysis and Socially Engaged Artistry at The New School, in addition to her work as a bandleader and collaborator. Paul Rauch of All About Jazz has said about her: “She is the logical choice to provide a next step for her instrument in the world of jazz and improvised music.”
Leibson is one of the most sought-after pianists in the New York contemporary jazz scene and has played multiple solo recitals at Carnegie Hall as part of the “Sophia Rossoff Presents” series. Recabarren has worked with artists such as Guillermo Klein, Brad Shepik, Melissa Aldana, Camila Meza, Claudia Acuña, and many more. He and Elsa developed this piece together. Kenney is an equally creative and sought-after bass player, and together this band weaves intricate invitations to view jazz in a fresh light.
