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 (115)

Sunday, April 26, 2026

Adam Kolker (saxophones),
Marc Copland (piano),
John Hébert (bass),
Billy Mintz (drums)

                 On Sunday, April 26th at 4 pm JazzNights will present this great quartet. 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 $60 per person. As always, we offer about two hours of great music, good snacks, and an open bar. You can email your reservation to mjjr@princeton.edu. You can either send me a check at the address above or pay at the door. 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 list.

  Three of these these artists have graced JazzNights before (Copland 20, 49, 97, and 105, Hébert 38, 67, 105, 111), Kolker (109). This performance is a great chance to hear some very talented artists doing some serious thinking.

             The leader of this group, Adam Kolker, is not your standard tenor player. To quote Peter Watrous and Ben Ratliff, both very savvy jazz critics: 

 “ Most tenor saxophonists play some version of density. Kolker is different. He is about minimalism and subtlety and oblique understatement. He possesses an unerring instinct for fresh melodic form, yet the allure of his gentle sound, the way his notes liquefy, renders his free concepts accessible …, the poignancy is piercing.”

PW

[Adam Kolker is] “a real improvisor”

BR

 He was born in Manhattan, grew up in Philadelphia, and earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Miami. After earning a master’s from New England Conservatory, he began working in Broadway shows. He spent several years on the road with shows that were touring the United States and Europe. He moved to New York in 1989 and “did what freelance jazz musicians do: a lot of jam sessions, a lot of subbing. I developed associations with like-minded musicians in New York and played with them as much as possible. This quartet features three of those “like -minded musicians.” Their longtime connections are clear in their playing together.

 Marc Copland began as a saxophonist, but ultimately traded that instrument for the piano, on which chords just “seemed to make more sense.” It might be noted, however, that he was no slouch as an alto player; his early CD “Friends” with John Abercrombie and others got one of Downbeat’s very rare 5-star reviews. He left for Washington where he reinvented himself as a pianist, returning to New York in the ‘80s where he began recording prolifically for domestic and European labels. There are excellent recordings with the likes of Greg Osby, Michael and Randy Brecker, and long-time associate John Abercrombie. Most important, I think, was the emergence of a simply astonishing series of beautifully minimalist trio, duo, and solo recordings. In 2006 the first of three disks appeared featuring Mr. Copland with his New York Trio (NYT), drawn from drummers Bill Stewart and the late Paul Motian, and bassists Drew Gress and Gary Peacock. Rarely has a connected body of work such as this one had such impact.

 These three NYT CDs are filled with treasures. Copland seems to like repeating tunes within a disk, with the different takes scattered throughout the playlist. On Haunted Heart, a precursor trio of the NYT, he does three versions of “My Favorite Things” and on the NYT Volume 3, he plays “Emily” three times. This technique allows for the later versions to “talk” to the different tunes surrounding them, as well as to the previous version. Volume 3 of the NYT also has one of my very favorite tunes of his, “Night Whispers,” a rollicking tour-de-force that also appears on his recent solo CD, “Alone.”

 “Nobody has consistently worked with such finesse and success, with such a deft subtlety of touch and harmonic depth, and created such stunning beauty.”

  Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz

 Born in New Orleans, John Hébert studied with Bill Huntington and then with Rufus Reid at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He’s an “indespensible presence” on the New York scene, and has played with such notables as Andrew Hill, Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, Fred Hersch, and Marc Copland, to name just a few. He’s been a Downbeat “Rising Star” many times. His work with Andrew Hill includes an appearance on Downbeat’s 2006 Record of the Year , “Time Lines.”

 “John Hebert … [is] as agile and off-kilter as Hill needs the engine room to be. Hebert’s fractured ostinatos are a thing of wonder throughout the album.”

All About Jazz

Billy Mintz is very much his own, multi-faceted person. He’s comfortable in both straight ahead (Bill Mays for example) and avant guarde jazz (many collaborations with Roberta Piket). His independence is nicely illustrated by this lovely Mintz quotation:

“Finally the engineer said, ‘Billy, can you give me a little more hi-hat on 2 and 4?’ Anybody who knows me well knows not to say anything to me because I go psychotic. I kept my psychosis inward, but that was it. I still get royalty checks.”

 And here’s another:

              [Mintz's solo performances are] a form of holy worship for many musicians and drummers. Forget what you know about the drums and solo drums. This is no boom-chakka-lakka affair. Mintz is painterly and understated in his singular approach to music.

                                                                                  Willamette Week, Portland OR
                                                                       

So, find your way to our barn in Hopewell this April – you’ll be happy you did.