Greetings All!
I hope this holiday season finds you well, and you have a chance to share some time with friends and family!
It's been a busy fall semester, but certainly fruitful! Joe McDonough and I debuted our quintet inspired by the work of JJ Johnson and Kai Winding on December 5th (some recordings available on my soundcloud link at the bottom of the website, and check out the projects page for a link to a page about our new group), which was really great, and we are looking for some performance opportunities around NYC and New England for the Spring and Summer.
Degree Recital! I'm excited to be preparing for my Master's Degree Recital at Juilliard this coming February 7th, 2012. It will be at 8PM and in Paul Hall at The Juilliard School. It is free and open to the public, so mark it on your calendars, I hope you all can make it if you are in New York City then. It will feature a great band: Lucas Pino on Tenor Saxophone, Alex Wintz on Guitar, Samora Pinderhughes on Piano, Dave Baron on Bass, and Jimmy Macbride on Drums. Tunes by George Gershwin, John Coltrane, Sammy Fain, Chick Corea, and a few originals thrown in there as well.
Thanks again for your support - be well!
Nick Finzer
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Happy Halloween!
Greetings!
I hope everyone is having a nice October, and has a Happy Halloween tomorrow! It's been a busy few months at school trying to keep up with homework, performance obligations, concerts, etc. Speaking of concerts, we just finished a performance last week with vocalist Jane Monheit, which was a pleasure. Next up for me is a concert of Horace Silver music this Tuesday, debuting a new arrangement I did on Horace's tune "Break City".
If you are interested I just posted a transcription of Slide Hampton, on "Confirmation". 5 choruses of Slide! It's definitely a challenge!
Some other exciting news to announce! My great friend a colleague at school; Joe McDonough and I are starting a two trombone quintet to do some of the music of JJ Johnson and Kai Winding (with some other things thrown in there too!). We have started rehearsing the band, and are looking into getting some performances together - stay tuned for that!
And lastly, I'd like to let you all know about a new organization that I co-founded with a great drummer friend of mine; Chris Teal. It's called the Institute for Creative Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement, education and presentation of creative music. I encourage everyone to check it out at www.ifcmusic.org ; thanks!
Thanks for visiting, hope to see you all soon!
Nick
I hope everyone is having a nice October, and has a Happy Halloween tomorrow! It's been a busy few months at school trying to keep up with homework, performance obligations, concerts, etc. Speaking of concerts, we just finished a performance last week with vocalist Jane Monheit, which was a pleasure. Next up for me is a concert of Horace Silver music this Tuesday, debuting a new arrangement I did on Horace's tune "Break City".
If you are interested I just posted a transcription of Slide Hampton, on "Confirmation". 5 choruses of Slide! It's definitely a challenge!
Some other exciting news to announce! My great friend a colleague at school; Joe McDonough and I are starting a two trombone quintet to do some of the music of JJ Johnson and Kai Winding (with some other things thrown in there too!). We have started rehearsing the band, and are looking into getting some performances together - stay tuned for that!
And lastly, I'd like to let you all know about a new organization that I co-founded with a great drummer friend of mine; Chris Teal. It's called the Institute for Creative Music, a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement, education and presentation of creative music. I encourage everyone to check it out at www.ifcmusic.org ; thanks!
Thanks for visiting, hope to see you all soon!
Nick
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Summer '11 Update
Greetings!
This summer has been quite the whirlwind of activity! After criss-crossing the country three times (and racking up a bunch of frequent flyer miles in the process), 2 weddings, one white water rafting adventure, and a jazz camp later; I am sad to say that the summer is drawing to a close for me. I'm getting ready to return to New York to start my second (and final) year of study at Juilliard. I'm excited to get back to work! Now it's time to get working on all of the summer projects I had planned that are still incomplete...
I am happy to say that the debut of my Septet this past Friday (8/12) was a resounding success! We packed Tala Vera, and the band played great! It was also great to reconnect with all of you from Rochester that came out to listen to our music. Be on the look out for more gigs for this band in the future! It's tough to book a big group like this, but I'm really enjoying writing for three horns, guitar and rhythm. Speaking of writing, I've started collaborating with a few other musicians on a new big band project that I will be contributing compositions/arrangements for - stay tuned for that!
Take a look at the Calendar on my page to keep up with the latest on my upcoming performances and I look forward to seeing you soon!
- Nick
This summer has been quite the whirlwind of activity! After criss-crossing the country three times (and racking up a bunch of frequent flyer miles in the process), 2 weddings, one white water rafting adventure, and a jazz camp later; I am sad to say that the summer is drawing to a close for me. I'm getting ready to return to New York to start my second (and final) year of study at Juilliard. I'm excited to get back to work! Now it's time to get working on all of the summer projects I had planned that are still incomplete...
I am happy to say that the debut of my Septet this past Friday (8/12) was a resounding success! We packed Tala Vera, and the band played great! It was also great to reconnect with all of you from Rochester that came out to listen to our music. Be on the look out for more gigs for this band in the future! It's tough to book a big group like this, but I'm really enjoying writing for three horns, guitar and rhythm. Speaking of writing, I've started collaborating with a few other musicians on a new big band project that I will be contributing compositions/arrangements for - stay tuned for that!
Take a look at the Calendar on my page to keep up with the latest on my upcoming performances and I look forward to seeing you soon!
- Nick
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Summer's Here
Time for a beginning of the summer web update! My first year at Juilliard is officially behind me, and it's coming up on one year since having left Rochester and moved to New York! I'm happy to say that things have been picking up nicely lately. I've had the opportunity to play with a lot of groups around town, and it's been a ton of fun, hopefully opportunities will continue to present themselves! With school out of the way, it's time to get to work on all of the things that had to be put on the back burner during the last two semesters, really looking forward to reaching back and checking all of that stuff out.
A bunch of things are coming up that I am very excited for:
This weekend:
Friday 6/10 I am leading a trio at Thalia Cafe (Symphony Space) featuring Jeremy Siskind on Piano and Kevin Hsieh on Bass!
Saturday 6/11 I will be playing at the New Jersey Jazz Society Jazz Festival at St. Elizabeth College (12-1 and 130-230PM), followed by an evening hit with David White's Jazz Orchestra 11PM at the Producers Club, we'll be playing the Producers club again Sunday at 10PM.
Coming up next weekend I will be playing at Cornelia Street Cafe with Bob Stewart and his quintet, 6/18 (9 and 1030PM sets)! And Sunday, at St Peters Church with Nathan Smiths Jazz Orchestra (5PM).
Aside from gigs around the city I'll be taking some time to get out of town and do some playing, and visiting - the next month or two will be a little bit crazy! Headed to Rochester, Spokane, Montana, back to NYC, Utah, NYC, Arizona, Rochester and back again!
Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to visit the site, and read up on what has been going on, I appreciate your interest!
One last thing - if you haven't checked out Slide Hampton's "Jazz in Paris: Exodus", do yourself a favor and pick that one up (especially trombonists!) I just found out about it; and it's a killer!
Until next time,
Nick
A bunch of things are coming up that I am very excited for:
This weekend:
Friday 6/10 I am leading a trio at Thalia Cafe (Symphony Space) featuring Jeremy Siskind on Piano and Kevin Hsieh on Bass!
Saturday 6/11 I will be playing at the New Jersey Jazz Society Jazz Festival at St. Elizabeth College (12-1 and 130-230PM), followed by an evening hit with David White's Jazz Orchestra 11PM at the Producers Club, we'll be playing the Producers club again Sunday at 10PM.
Coming up next weekend I will be playing at Cornelia Street Cafe with Bob Stewart and his quintet, 6/18 (9 and 1030PM sets)! And Sunday, at St Peters Church with Nathan Smiths Jazz Orchestra (5PM).
Aside from gigs around the city I'll be taking some time to get out of town and do some playing, and visiting - the next month or two will be a little bit crazy! Headed to Rochester, Spokane, Montana, back to NYC, Utah, NYC, Arizona, Rochester and back again!
Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to visit the site, and read up on what has been going on, I appreciate your interest!
One last thing - if you haven't checked out Slide Hampton's "Jazz in Paris: Exodus", do yourself a favor and pick that one up (especially trombonists!) I just found out about it; and it's a killer!
Until next time,
Nick
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
ETW Competition Results
Hey Everyone! Just returned from a whirlwind week in Washington, DC and then straight up to Rochester, NY for the Po Boy's CD Release concert! I am happy to say that I was able to win the Jazz Competition at ETW and had the tremendous pleasure of playing on a concert with Steve Wiest, Jim Pugh, Bill Reichenbach and the US Army Blues! What a treat that was! Thank you to everyone at ETW (Sam Woodhead, Matt Niess, and everyone else!) for a great workshop!
Now it's back to school to finish up the semester! Looking forward to a few more concerts at Juilliard, including the Jazz program's 10th Anniversary Concert Celebration 3/31 with an all alumni big band! I've started working with a few new projects around nyc now also, and have a few quintet gigs coming up, be sure to check out the calendar to stay up to date on that!
Thanks for reading!
Later,
Nick
Now it's back to school to finish up the semester! Looking forward to a few more concerts at Juilliard, including the Jazz program's 10th Anniversary Concert Celebration 3/31 with an all alumni big band! I've started working with a few new projects around nyc now also, and have a few quintet gigs coming up, be sure to check out the calendar to stay up to date on that!
Thanks for reading!
Later,
Nick
Sunday, February 20, 2011
New Video, ETW, and more!
Hey Everyone!
I'm in the process of updating some video's on my youtube channel, with new live videos from the Quintet gig on 2/1/11. Stay tuned on the twitter feed, or on facebook for links to the new videos. I just uploaded "The Ramp", hope you enjoy!
Coming up this Monday, I'll be hitting the road with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, out to Snow College in Ephraim Utah, and a brief jaunt over to Las Vegas for a performance!
3/16 is the ETW Jazz Competition Finals, wish me luck! I'll be in D.C. at Blues Alley for that one!
Thanks again for keeping up with me!
Hope to see you out and about!
Nick
I'm in the process of updating some video's on my youtube channel, with new live videos from the Quintet gig on 2/1/11. Stay tuned on the twitter feed, or on facebook for links to the new videos. I just uploaded "The Ramp", hope you enjoy!
Coming up this Monday, I'll be hitting the road with the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, out to Snow College in Ephraim Utah, and a brief jaunt over to Las Vegas for a performance!
3/16 is the ETW Jazz Competition Finals, wish me luck! I'll be in D.C. at Blues Alley for that one!
Thanks again for keeping up with me!
Hope to see you out and about!
Nick
Sunday, January 23, 2011
A New Semester! ETW Jazz Competition Finals!
Hey Everyone! Thanks for checking back (or for the first time)! The semester is now two weeks old, and it's back to the grind at school. Busy, busy, busy, but that's how it should be! Some exciting things happening this semester - I am giving an informal recital at the school on 2/1 in room 340 (send an email if you want to be on the list!) at 730PM at Juilliard. It is free and open to the public, but you do need to be on the list. A new collaboration with a great organization based out of NYC - Campusounds - will be putting on a showcase at a great lounge/bar on the east side called Milliseme! My quintet will be performing on Monday 2/21/11 at Milleseme (29th and Madison) from 730-9PM, no cover, come out if you can! In addition the JJO will be performing Gil Evans' arrangements from Porgy and Bess, with special guest artist Jon Faddis! Immediately following that concert (February 25th) we will be hitting the road (the JJO that is) out to Utah, and Nevada for a week long tour over our spring break! Looking forward to all these events! And last but not least - I was selected as a finalist for this years Eastern Trombone Workshop Jazz Competition! I will be competing Wednesday March 16th in Washington D.C. at Blues Alley! Most importantly, I'm glad I will be competing alongside one of my great friends (and classmate), and an amazing trombonist - Joe McDonough. Catch you all soon!
Thanks again!
- Nick
Thanks again!
- Nick
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