Jazz at Atlas Kicks Off New Season on March 30; Tickets Available Now!

Jazz at Atlas (J@A) will kick off its 2019 season with a concert by the acclaimed and innovative trio Thumbscrew. The group will perform on Saturday, March 30 at 8 PM at 11 Spring St., just off Liberty Street in downtown Newburgh. There is ample onsite parking. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door — tickets are available now at https://thumbscrew.brownpapertickets.com.

Thumbscrew features three gifted musicians and composers — guitarist Mary Halvorson, bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/percussionist Tomas Fujiwara — performing their own compositions and selected standards with an exacting prowess wedded to a liberated swing. 

Guitarist and composer Mary Halvorson has been described as "NYC's least-predictable improviser" (Howard Mandel, City Arts), "one of the most exciting and original guitarists in jazz—or otherwise" (Steve Dollar, Wall Street Journal), and "one of today’s most formidable bandleaders" (Francis Davis, Village Voice). In recent Downbeat Critics Polls she has been celebrated as guitarist, rising star jazz artist, and rising star composer of the year. One of New York City's most in-demand guitarists, Halvorson is also part of several collaborative projects, most notably Thumbscrew.

One mark of bassist Michael Formanek's versatility is the wide range of distinguished musicians he's worked with. While still a teenager in the 1970s, he toured with drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Joe Henderson; starting in the '80s he played long stints with Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Fred Hersch and Freddie Hubbard. Formanek is also a composer and leader of various bands. His occasional groups include the 18-piece all-star Ensemble Kolossus, which recorded their first CD of all-Formanek originals for the prestigious ECM label. The CD, The Distance, was released in 2016 and in addition to numerous other accolades, earned a five-star review in Downbeat. Formanek also teaches bass, composition, and improvisation in a wide range of locations in the US as well as internationally.

Tomas Fujiwara has been described as "an artist whose urbane writing is equal to his impressively nuanced drumming" (Troy Collins, Point of Departure). He’s an active player in some of today’s most exciting music. In The New York Times, Nate Chinen says Fujiwara “works with rhythm as a pliable substance, solid but ever shifting. He has a way of spreading out the center of a pulse while setting up a rigorous scaffolding of restraint ... A conception of the drum set as a full-canvas instrument, almost orchestral in its scope." Fujiwara also has many experiences outside the jazz realm, including a five-year run with the Off-Broadway show Stomp and performances with the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Fela!, featuring Patti Labelle.

Jazz at Atlas is a cooperative project of musician, writer and multimedia artist James Keepnews, and music researcher, radio host and Triple Point Records owner/producer Ben Young. Along with presenting performances by world-renowned creative musicians, J@A also offers listening sessions, dialogues with artists and classes covering the entire spectrum of creative music.

Upcoming concerts in J@A's 2019 season include:
4/20: Sun of Goldfinger — Returning to the Hudson Valley after their memorable closing set for the 2015 Beacon Jazz Festival, alto saxophonist Tim Berne, electric guitarist David Torn and drummer Ches Smith will be touring in support of their debut recording for ECM Records.

6/22: Ticonderoga — Four phenomenal musicians — Joe McPhee, Jamie Saft, Joe Morris and Charles Downs — invoke the spirit of the late John Coltrane and their own unique musical paths to forge a stirring, passionate fire sermon of a quartet.

7/27: Darius Jones' Shades of Black — Called "the most visceral and distinctive alto saxophonist of this era" by The New York Times, composer/altoist Jones convenes a quartet of outstanding talents featuring Sam Newsome on soprano saxophone, Cooper-Moore on organ and Michael Wimberly on drums.

10/5: Karen Borca Quartet — Borca, an innovative, under-recognized bassoonist, with decades of experience in the ensembles of such major artists as Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, William Parker and others, leads this thrilling quartet of veteran creative musicians including Warren Smith on vibes, Hilliard Greene on bass and Jackson Krall on drums.

Thumbscrew, one of the most innovative and talented jazz trios in the nation, will be playing at Newburgh’s Jazz at Atlas on March 30.