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Jeremy Udden

Long-time member of the Grammy nominated Either/Orchestra (Matt Wilson, John Mediski and Miguel Zenon among other alumni), Udden recorded three albums with the band and toured Europe, Africa, and around the US a number of times. Twenty records to his credit as a sideman (Accurate, CIMP, Creative Nation Music, Fresh Sound New Talent, Innova) with projects in the jazz, avante-garde, rock, pop, and world music genres, has helped give his music a "wealth of texture and invention" (Terrell Kent Holmes, All About Jazz).

A Boston native and Brooklyn resident, Udden performs his Torchsongs project frequently around New York, the Northeast, and in the past year the West Coast, China, and Scandinavia. His newer Plainville features a more folk-influenced twist, finding a niche on bills with country and folk groups as well as jazz.

Winner of the 2003 Fish-Middleton Jazz Competition in Washington, D.C. and a 2005 ASCAP Young Composer Award finalist, he recently performed at Carnegie Hall's Merkin Hall with Joe Lovano, Dave Leibman and Irene Aebi in tribute to Steve Lacy, and as a guest soloist with Gunther Schuller and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston at Harvard's Sanders Theater.

Udden also performs with Dominique Eade, the Jazz Composer's Alliance, Monika Heidamann, i am the color of dead leaves, Andy Green, Sofia Koutsovitis, Michael Winnograd's Infection, Bruno Raberg and Mulatu Estatke. Over the years, he has shared the stage or studio with Mahmoud Ahmed, Steve Lacy, The Presidents of the United States of America, Juliana Hatfield, Sam Rivers, Maria Schnieder, the Miracle Orchestra, Darcy James Argue, Charlie Kolhase, Tony Malaby, Bill McHenry, John McNeil, John Hollenbeck, to name a few and too many wonderful musicians in New York, Boston, California, Sweden, Italy, Maine, Washington, China, Portugal and Africa to name.

Originally from Plainville, Massachusetts, Udden started playing the saxophone at age 10, and began performing regularly on the Boston club scene at 15 with Big Lick, an eight-piece ska/punk band with two albums and a few US tours to its credit. In high school he was also a member of the All-American Grammy Band.

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4
Album Review

Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble: Elegy for Thelonious

Read "Elegy for Thelonious" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Frank Carlberg has been exploring the music of Thelonious Monk for some time, most specifically on his large group album, Monk Dreams, Hallucinations, and Nightmares, (Sunnyside, 2017). This new album has Carlberg returning to the large ensemble format for more Monk investigations, but this time approaching the work in a more splintered and abstract fashion. He does not simply interpret familiar Monk tunes. He writes compositions and arrangements which stitch Monk riffs and ideas into new fabrics, ...

5
Album Review

Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble: Elegy for Thelonious

Read "Elegy for Thelonious" reviewed by Mark Corroto


There was a sardonic saying circulating a few years ago that observed, “It's Frank Sinatra's world, we just live in it." While that was a backhanded compliment, tailoring it to the subject of this large ensemble recording, we would call it a commendation. Pianist, composer, and conductor Frank Carlberg is telling us, “It's Thelonious Monk's world, and (thank god) we live in it." Carlberg has been a disciple of Monk for decades, recording his music in a piano trio format ...

Album Review

Andrew D'Angelo: Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra

Read "Andrew D'Angelo & DNA Orchestra" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Dopo quasi un decennio di attività, la DNA Orchestra di Andrew D'Angelo debutta con questo vulcanico album (al momento reperibile solo su Bandcamp) che raccoglie alcuni brani scritti dal leader e presentati in passati concerti. Dopo le drammatiche notizie del 2008 sulla salute del sassofonista (due interventi chirurgici per un tumore al cervello e una lunga terapia “alternativa" scelta da lui) fa piacere vederlo tornare in attività con quella forza d'urto che l'aveva imposto sulla scena di ...

2
Album Review

Jeremy Udden: Three in Paris

Read "Three in Paris" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Il poco più che quarantenne sassofonista statunitense Jeremy Udden presenta questo lavoro registrato a Parigi nell'agosto del 2018 alla testa di un trio nel quale è accompagnato da due eccellenti musicisti: il contrabbassista francese Nicolas Moreaux, notevole tecnica e collaborazioni importanti, e lo storico batterista americano, da decenni attivo in Francia, John Betsch. Una formazione, il trio senza pianoforte, che fu tra le predilette da Steve Lacy, per un breve periodo maestro di Udden e più volte collaboratore di Betsch, ...

79
Album Review

Jeremy Udden - Nicolas Moreaux: Belleville Project

Read "Belleville Project" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


While housesitting in France, nascent American jazz saxophonist Jeremy Udden unsuspectingly connected with French bassist Nicolas Moreaux via social media, seeking musicians interested in playing a session. And while Udden has previously blended rock, folk and other genres into his repertoire, the twosome shared a joint interest in amalgamating the jazz vernacular with other idioms. Indeed, the sextet expresses good karma along with splashes of French romanticism and notable inferences toward Americana. Moreover, the program is garnished with the musicians' ...

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Interview

Jeremy Udden: Far From Plain

Read "Jeremy Udden: Far From Plain" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Jeremy Udden is one of those outstanding working musicians on the scene in Brooklyn. A saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, he is--like so many musicians of his generation--influenced by a variety of things outside what is known as jazz, and his music reflects that. He's developed a band called Plainville that offers a different sound and feel. A different tapestry on which musicians can subtly embroider their improvisations. A different mosaic. Out of the New England Conservatory, he cut ...

163
Album Review

Jeremy Udden's Plainville: If the Past Seems So Bright

Read "If the Past Seems So Bright" reviewed by Troy Collins


Named after his rural Massachusetts hometown, Plainville is Brooklyn-based saxophonist Jeremy Udden's heartfelt roots music-inspired project. In the New England Conservatory graduate's own words, “I listened to a lot of rock growing up, I continue to do so. So a lot of my music is about reconciling that...." From singer-songwriters like Neil Young to alt-rock icons The Pixies, Udden's musical influences run the gamut, much like those of his peers and fellow band mates. If the Past Seems So Bright ...

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41

Interview

Saxophonist Jeremy Udden Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Saxophonist Jeremy Udden Interviewed at All About Jazz!

Source: All About Jazz

Jeremy Udden is one of those outstanding working musicians on the scene in Brooklyn. A saxophonist, composer, and bandleader, he is—like so many musicians of his generation—influenced by a variety of things outside what is known as jazz, and his music reflects that. He's developed a band called Plainville that offers a different sound and feel. A different tapestry on which musicians can subtly embroider their improvisations. A different mosaic. Out of the New England Conservatory, he cut his teeth ...

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Performance / Tour

Jeremy Udden Quartet (Fri) Tony Malaby's Apparitions (Sat) Cameron Brown and Friends (Sun) This Weekend at Cornelia Street Cafe

Jeremy Udden Quartet (Fri) Tony Malaby's Apparitions (Sat) Cameron Brown and Friends (Sun) This Weekend at Cornelia Street Cafe

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York 212-989-9319 between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St.

Fri Dec 21, 9:00PM & 10:30PM JEREMY UDDEN QUARTET: TORCHSONGS Jeremy Udden, saxophone;Ben Monder, guitar;Matt Wilson, drums;Matt Clohesy, bass

“The Boston soprano player has earned kudos in New England, impressing Either/Orchestra fans ...

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Performance / Tour

Mark Weinstein QT (Mon) Kaiku (Tue) Kim Bock QT (Wed) Yoon Sun Choi and the E String Band (Thu) Jeremy Udden QT (Fri) This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe

Mark Weinstein QT (Mon) Kaiku (Tue) Kim Bock QT (Wed) Yoon Sun Choi and the E String Band (Thu) Jeremy Udden QT (Fri) This Week at Cornelia Street Cafe

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

CORNELIA STREET CAFE 29 Cornelia Street, NYC, New York212-989-9319 between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, V, F to West 4th St. This Week At Cornelia Street Cafe Mon Dec 17, 8:30PM MARK WEINSTEIN QUARTET Mark Weinstein, flutes;Santi Debriano, bass;Chembo Corniel, congas;Willie Martinez, drums;Misha Tsiganov, piano Tue Dec 18, 8:30PM KAIKU Jaana Kantola;Paula Jaakkola, vocals ...

"...a distinctive soprano and alto saxophonist with a gorgeous tone and a subtly personal lyricism... Udden ranges from the linear grace of Keith Jarrett-like songs, through equally melodic jazz/rock to some very focused free playing. Somehow, despite his gentle approach, his sheer musical presence imposes a kind of unity on what emerges...Udden lays down a marker as a player who deserves to be much better known." --Ray Comiskey, The Irish Times, 4 stars

"With his beautiful, round soprano tone, saxophonist Udden lends a haunting sheen to tunes spanning the soothingly melodic to the jaggedly free." --Modern Drummer

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Primary Instrument

Woodwinds

Clinic/Workshop Information

"With audiences, fellow musicians, or students, it's all the same. It's about sharing music and putting something good into the world, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do this every day." --Jeremy Udden An experienced educator, Jeremy Udden has given clinics with the Either/Orchestra at the Yared Music School (Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia), The Jazz School (Yaroslavl, Russia), University of Vermont, Keen State College, Lawrence University, University of Iowa, Cleveland State University, and Webster University

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Toine Thys
saxophone, tenor

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Elegy for Thelonious

Sunnyside Records
2024

buy

Three in Paris

Sunnyside Records
2019

buy

Belleville Project

Sunnyside Records
2015

buy

If the Past Seems So...

Sunnyside Records
2011

buy

Plainville

Fresh Sound Records
2009

buy

Bovina

From: If the Past Seems So Bright
By Jeremy Udden

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