Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Stein Brothers
Although well known in the Greater Newark / North Jersey Area with a growing New York presence, Asher (alto sax) and Alex (tenor sax) are still in their twenties. They started their careers playing in the late lamented Tuesday jam session at the old Peppermint Lounge in Orange, and have appeared at such venues as New Jersey PAC (Performing Arts Center- including the “Absolut Sounds of the City” Summer Festival), Kavehaz (Manhattan), the Carlyle Hotel (Manhattan), the South Orange “Giants of Jazz”, Cecil's Place (West Orange), Shanghai Jazz (Madison), the Crossroads (Garwood), Trumpet's (Montclair), Bula (Newton) and the Priory's (Newark) Friday night Jazz Series.
Both Alex and Asher graduated with majors in Jazz Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Both men were awarded Burch Fellowships to study jazz - Asher studied Latin and Caribbean Music in Cuba in 2003 and Alex studied with top musicians and grammy award winning arranger Slide Hampton during the summer of 2002.
Alex and Asher are leaders of their own quintet, are members of the Bud Powell Tribute Sextet and have appeared as members of the T.S. Monk Sextet. The Star Ledger newspaper in 2001 named Asher the youngest on its list of the 20 most promising jazz musicians in New Jersey (State) under forty, describing him as a “fearless improviser.” Alex appeared in the Star Ledger photo “A Great Day in New Jersey.”
In a November 3, 2003 review in the Newark Star Ledger, Zan Stewart, formerly the jazz critic with the Los Angeles Times, wrote of the Stein Brothers, in an article entitled “Brothers In BeBop”, as follows: “ . . . . they . . . display an impressive command of, and keen intuition for [bebop's] language [and] are capable of crafting solos and compositions packed with the kind of winsome lines and propulsive rhythms that make listeners pat their feet and nod their heads in appreciation.”
Members of the Stein Brothers Quintet also include Harlem's Mferghu on piano, Brooklyn's Doug Largent and Ruslan Khain on bass and Queens' Joe Blaxx on drums.
