JazzNights is a series of house concerts begun in 2002 by Mary Wisnovsky and Maitland Jones. Over the years, we have hosted some of the best jazz musicians in the world. We would be pleased to have you join us; just browse the website and contact us if you are interested. Reservations by email to: mjjr@princeton.edu. 

JazzNights (110)

Scott Robinson Quartet

Scott Robinson (any instrument you can name and some you cannot),

Jim Ridl (piano), Martin Wind (bass), Dennis Mackrel (drums)

This event is now sold out - we are creating a waitlist

APRIL 13, 2025

On Sunday, April 13th at 4 pm JazzNights will present this great quartet led by Scott Robinson. The event will be held in the Hockaday/Jones barn at 78 Moores Mill Mt. Rose Road, Hopewell, NJ 08525. Directions are posted on our website. We are asking for a contribution of $55 per person. As always, we offer about two hours of great music, good snacks, and an open bar. Please email your reservation to mjjr@princeton.edu. You can either send me a check at the address above or pay at the door. Please do not use my defunct NYU email address. If you reserve but can’t make it, PLEASE let me know by email so we can give away your reservation to someone on the wait lMr. Robinson is nothing short of a musical polymath. He not only can play any instrument no matter how contemporaneously obscure (he has one of only twenty contrabsss saxophones extant), but he invents new ones. I don’t know if he will bring an ophicleide, or a thundersheet, or if he can get his contrabass sarrusophone into his car, but variety will surely not be lacking. He is comfortable in any style - he not only has covered tunes by Louis Armstrong, but has worked in a self-described “post Albert Ayler” territory. Mr. Robinson describes himself in a fashion dear to my heart, and of course I love the chemistry vibe:

"I've always, deep down thought of myself as a kind of mad scientist type, so I've decided that I should let myself go more in that direction and let the mad scientist come out and do some experiments and some pouring back and forth of little beakers of musical sounds,"

Here is a comment by Rob Grossman, Principal Librarian of the Philadelphia Orchestra, in conversation with Schaen Fox at an earlier JazzNight:

 “I was blown away by Scott. I thought his playing and command of his instrument was tremendous. He stretched the range of what is normally heard. His whole approach to the tenor conveyed a technique and a range more like an alto, and the bass sax was played more like a tenor. He expanded the range of both saxes. He did go all the way down into the elements of the bass range when he wanted to, but he had such a command of the upper registers and also would use glissandos and multiphones and harmonic overtones to play really high notes out of these large instruments to get them to play like smaller saxophones. It was brilliant. I hadn’t heard someone have that kind of fluidity and control. It made me think of Eric Dolphy and some of the work you would hear out of Coltrane. It was very insightful and powerful. It was all his language; he wasn’t doing it for tricks or effects. I never felt it was derivative. He had his own voice, and I thoroughly enjoyed what he did.

 I was turned on to Jim Ridl by the always-reliable Mark Reboul, who told me that I had to catch Jim’s quartet at the Kitano. I did, and Mark was completely right – it was one of the best nights of the year. Ridl and Terell Stafford were in great form, and the rhythm section, anchored by John Benitez, was as good as they get. My notes on the evening are almost embarrassingly over the top (well, no one gets to see them). We can anticipate a great afternoon.

 "Seemingly unfettered by technical limitations, Ridl can move from an evocative sonic telling of a scene from his North Dakota childhood to a ferocious romp in an unconventional meter that would daunt all but the most adventurous of Jazz pianists.”

Cadence

 Mr. Ridl comes from that hotbed of jazz talent, North Dakota. After college at the University of Colorado, Denver, he eventually made is way East in 1990, and has been a fixture on the scene ever since, performing with the likes of James Moody, Randy Brecker, Clark Terry, and Billy Hart as well as leading his own groups. He is a pianist of great virtuosity and is completely at home in the modern idiom. At the same time, he’s not only aware of the rich history of this art form, he’s at home there, too.

 "...[Ridl is] an innovative force in jazz, a pianist of the highest caliber, a creative composer and improviser, and one of those rare musicians who stretches the art form even as he honors the established traditions."

Victor Schermer, All About Jazz

 Martin Wind first attracted attention in 1995 when he celebrated a 3rd place finish at the International Thelonious Monk Bass Competition in Washington D.C. After earning his classical diploma in Cologne, Germany, Martin Wind moved to New York in 1996 through a grant by the German Academic Exchange Service. Also, in 1996 Martin won the first Cognac Hennessy/Blue Note Jazz Search in Germany. He has appeared on more than 80 CDs and movie soundtracks with a.o. Mstislav Rostropowitsch, Guidon Kremer, Christa Ludwig, Pat Metheny, Benny Golson, Lalo Schifrin, Buddy DeFranco, Cedar Walton, Slide Hampton, Clark Terry, Mike Stern, Michael and Randy Brecker, James Moody and Hank Jones. Quite a list. He brings his own quartet (with Scott Robinson) to the Deer Head Inn March 15. If you have never been to this funk-a-delic inn at the Delaware Water Gap, give it a try – it’s only an hour plus away.

 Dennis Mackrel was a child prodigy, playing the drums from the age of two and began performing in public at 10. In 1981, he moved to New York City and became a drummer with a Broadway theater orchestra. Later on, at the personal recommendation of singer Joe Williams, Mackrel began a long term relationship with the Count Basie Orchestra, becoming its chief conductor in 2013. In 2015 he became chief conductor of the Concertgebouw Jazz Orchestra in Amsterdam.

Mackrel has received a Grant for Composition from the National Endowment for the Arts He has written pieces for McCoy Tyner (on the Grammy-winning The Turning Point and many other organizations.

            These days, we all need a bit of joy and beauty. So, join us in April for this great quartet.