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Buffalo Jazz Octet

The Buffalo Jazz Octet has performed since 2011, combining the power and compositional intricacy of a large ensemble with the flexibility and dynamism of a small improvising combo. The octet collaborated with saxophone legend Joe Ford (of various McCoy Tyner bands) in 2015, and the band's members have worked individually with internationally noted musicians ranging from Buddy Morrow and Don Menza to Wadada Leo Smith and William Parker. The group's debut album, recorded live at Pausa Art House in May 2016, comes out April 20, 2017 on Cadence Jazz Records. The octet has appeared at the 2014 and 2015 Queen City Jazz Festivals, Villa Maria College, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, and Pausa Art House.

Buffalo Jazz Octet: PausaLive

Read "PausaLive" reviewed by Patrick Keyes

by Patrick Keyes
April 27, 2017

The Buffalo Jazz Octet, a group of veteran musicians culled from the strong jazz community in jny: Buffalo, NY, offers a boldly realized collective voice that sings of a wide-open future on PausaLive. PausaLive both reinforces and obliterates notions of jazz as a convenient label. The writing is beguiling, the musicians contribute top-notch inside and outside playing amid an assertive group mindset, and the listener is pulled into an aural adventure of striking dynamic variances. This is an ...

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Tonight: "Phantom Of The Opera" & Members Of The New Buffalo Jazz Octet

Source: Michael McNeill
October 26, 2012

A little over a year ago saxophonist Kelly Bucheger and I talked about starting an octet to play some of our original jazz music. The musicians we gathered into the New Buffalo Jazz Octet were: tenor/soprano saxophonist Nelson Rivera, baritone saxophonist Steve Baczkowksi, trumpeter Tim Clarke, trombonist Phil Sims, bassist Dave Arenius, and drummer John Bacon. We also brought on board conductor Brendan Fitzgerald to help steer the band through the new material. Looking at this list of improvisers from ...
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"…a veritable who’s who list of killer regional jazz players…" (Jeff Miers, The Buffalo News)