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Sam Chess

A deep passion for the power of music struck a six year old Sam Chess during his first piano lesson in Tucson, Arizona. Now, at 21, Sam is a pioneering trombonist and composer who plays in New York City and has traveled the world recording with jazz legends such as the Wynton Marsalis Septet and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, among others. Sam has just released his first project as a band leader—an album of original arrangements and songs tiled “Hot Cereal”.

Sam is a graduate of the prestigious jazz studies program at the Juilliard School, where he studied closely with Elliot Mason, Steve Turre, Wynton Marsalis, James Burton, Dan Nimmer and Ben Wolfe. In this fertile atmosphere filled with inspiring musicians and thinkers alike, Sam has had the platform to pursue his mission—to help revive an important, forgotten piece of American culture in a society which has nearly forgotten it. Through a deep personal study of the historical and technical aspects of jazz, along with actively performing in clubs across New York, Sam is making strides to achieve his goal.

He has also been blessed with opportunities to bring his musical voice to some of the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals, including twice at the Marciac Jazz Festival in France with the Wynton Marsalis Septet and Wynton Marsalis Young Stars of Jazz. Other festivals Sam has played at include the Monterey, Montreux, Vienne, Umbria, La Spezia, and Montreal jazz festivals, as well as the Generations in Jazz festival in Mt. Gambier, Australia., In December of 2017, Sam toured the southern United States with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra in addition to being the regular trombone substitute in the band.

Before Sam moved to New York to attend Juilliard, he grew up in Tucson, AZ. In this barren landscape, both in terms of water and jazz, Sam stayed musically nourished through his involvement with the Tucson Jazz Institute. Here he learned how to play jazz from the 1910’s to the 2010’s. In addition, Sam grew up with an extensive blues and jazz record collection from the legendary label, Chess Records, a label started by his grandfather, Phil Chess, and Phil’s brother Leonard. Growing up, Sam listened to many Chess records, both popular and obscure, and is honored to have included one on his debut album.

Sam Chess continues to teach, write, and play music all around the New York area.

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Album Review

Hannah Gill: Everybody Loves a Lover

Read "Everybody Loves a Lover" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Hannah Gill has a passion for jazz and draws her inspiration from the likes of Blossom Dearie, Anita O'Day and Ella Fitzgerald. On this debut release Everybody Loves a Lover, Gill takes on eleven swing-era standards, and while staying true to the original music, she infuses them with her style, which is inflected with blues and soul. Supporting her on this album is a septet of talented musicians who share her enthusiasm for danceable rhythms and melodic riffs. They are ...

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Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project: Kites and Strings

Read "Kites and Strings" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Si parte con un episodio che potremmo definire post-bop, “Cedar Place," uno dei sette a firma di Ben Rosenblum, integrati da “Somewhere" di Leonard Bernstein, “Philadelphia" di Neil Young e un tradizionale bulgaro, ma in fondo è una falsa rivelazione, perché a seguire questa che è l'opera prima del giovane pianista e fisarmonicista newyorchese si sdipana su toni decisamente variegati, in cui il grande ceppo jazzistico è certo perfettamente avvertibile, ma i vari episodi sono più compositi, qua e là ...

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Album Review

Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project: Kites and Strings

Read "Kites and Strings" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Ben Rosenblum uses a lot of different instrumental elements on this release. For starters, he himself plays both piano and accordion, and his sextet also features trumpet, reeds and guitar. In addition, vibraphone and trombone show up on some tracks. That creates a blend of various textures and sounds which bring variety to this program of bright jazz compositions. Rosenblum's accordion flows together nicely with the sounds of Wayne Tucker's trumpet, and Jasper Dutz's bass clarinet on the ...

3
Album Review

Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project: Kites and Strings

Read "Kites and Strings" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Expectations are necessarily guarded when preparing to appraise a recording by the Nebula Project whose leader plays accordion. Be that as it may, any such uneasiness is quickly erased by Ben Rosenblum and his doughty ensemble whose music is decidedly colorful, melodic and accessible—which is not meant to undervalue diversity, another of its discernible points. Rosenblum, who wrote seven of the album's ten numbers, draws on influences as varied as klezmer jazz, Bulgarian folk music and even Johannes Brahms to ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Everybody Loves a...

Turtle Bay Records
2023

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My Window Faces the...

Turtle Bay Records
2022

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Santa Baby

Turtle Bay Records
2022

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Kites and Strings

One Trick Dog Records
2020

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Izpoved

From: Kites and Strings
By Sam Chess

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