Eddie Daniels Quintet

The New Mexico Jazz Festival is proud to reserve a spot in the festival each year to feature one of the world renowned jazz luminaries who choose to make New Mexico their home. Eddie Daniels is one such highly respected artist. A renaissance musician— virtuosic in both jazz and classical music— Eddie Daniels is the recipient of accolades from his peers, critics, and the public alike, has won numerous Grammy awards and nominations, and has revolutionized the blend of jazz and classical musics. Of Daniels’ clarinet playing, jazz critic Leonard Feather said, “It is a rare event in jazz when one man can all but reinvent an instrument, bringing it to a new stage of its evolution”. He first came to the attention of the jazz audience as a tenor saxophonist with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. When they organized their band in 1966 to play Monday nights at the Village Vanguard in New York, Daniels was one of the first musicians they called. Later that year he won first prize in the International Competition for Modern Jazz, a contest organized by the pianist Fredrich Gulda and sponsored by the city of Vienna. In his own words, his overriding ambition as a musician is to reach as many people as possible with his music, to enlarge the audience for both jazz and classical music while simultaneously tearing down the walls which separate them— making the music of Mozart as engaging as that of Charlie Parker and vice versa. Very appropriately, as Eddie Daniels plays a rare concert in his hometown with his all-star, internationally touring quintet, he has dubbed the concert, as well as his upcoming CD, Homecoming. Vibraphonist Joe Locke is regarded by many to be the most gifted vibraphonist of his generation. In addition to his strengths as an instrumentalist, recent recordings and live performances offer evidence of his ever-growing stature as a band leader, composer and conceptualist. Bassist David Finck has become one of the most sought-after musicians in Manhattan, equally revered for his work in jazz, popular, Brazilian and classical music. Drummer Lewis Nash is no stranger to the Southwest, having grown up in Phoenix, AZ. By the time he was 21, Nash had become the city’s “first call” jazz drummer. In 1981 he moved to New York to join Betty Carter’s Trio, followed by a stint with the great Ron Carter, then joining the Branford Marsalis Quartet in 1986. Rounding out the Eddie Daniels Quintet is the internationally renowned pianist Tom Ranier (who also is an accomplished saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger). His extraordinary technical ability is reminiscent of Oscar Peterson.

$55/$40/$30/$20. $5 Discount for Outpost Members available in person only with valid Outpost Member Card. No Member passes. Tickets available at Lensic Box Office in person or by phone (505)988-1234; online at ticketssantafe.com; or at The Outpost Performance Space in person 10am-2pm, M-F; or by phone 268-0044