Tickets on sale soon
$20 general admission
Students free (ticket required)
Anita Sorenson Jazz Guest Residency
The David Ambrosio Quintet performs “Civil Disobedience”
David Ambrosio Quintent
David Ambrosio, bass
Donny McCaslin, tenor/soprano saxophones
Jason Palmer, trumpet
Bruce Barth, piano
Rudy Royston, drums
With the UW Blue Note Ensemble
Civil Disobedience is a project initiated by New York bassist David Ambrosio, showcasing the works of progressive jazz composers from the late 1960s Blue Note Era. The featured composers include Bobby Hutcherson, Jackie McLean, Stanley Cowell, Harold Land, Joe Chambers, Duke Pearson, and James Spaulding. Remarkably, much of this music, created during a period of significant social change and civil unrest, remained unreleased for decades, preventing these compositions from being heard when they were originally written.
Over fifty years later, in contemporary America, there are notable parallels with the social movements of that era. This context lends a new and heightened sense of relevancy and urgency to the important music featured in Civil Disobedience. The project was conceptualized and convened as an artistic response to current socio-economic and social justice events, both on a domestic and global scale. By performing the politically conscious jazz compositions of the late 1960s Blue Note Era, Civil Disobedience seeks to bring forth the timeless messages embedded in this music and connect them with the pressing issues of today.
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For the past 30 years, David Ambrosio has been one of New York City’s finest freelance musicians and educators. His current working projects as a leader are CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Blue Note Records in the Progressive ‘60s, featuring Grammy nominated saxophonist Donny McCaslin and drumming legend Victor Lewis; and the David Ambrosio Trio, featuring saxophonist Loren Stillman.
In addition to his own ensembles, he is the co-leader of the David Ambrosio/Russ Meissner Sextet, 40Twenty, and Grupo Los Santos, as well as being a part of many other groups including George Schuller’s Circle Wide, the Matt Renzi Trio, Eri Yamamoto Trio, and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s BMI/New York Jazz Orchestra led by Ted Nash and Andy Farber. He has performed with such jazz greats as Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, George Garzone, Joseph Jarmon, and Ralph Alessi.
David’s third recording as leader, Four on the Road (Fresh Sound Records, 2018), was praised as “Swinging brilliance in the light of interactive engagement, creating music that challenges while remaining largely accessible” by Dan Bilawsky of All About Jazz.
With degrees in classical composition and jazz performance, David has a broad musical palate that has become even more intensified by his extensive travel experiences. In 2001 he had the opportunity to perform in Cuba with Grupo Los Santos, Max Pollack’s Rumbatap, as well as numerous local Afro/Cuban folkloric music and dance ensembles. Not long after, he began what has become a 14-year period of intense study of Afro/Cuban Bata drumming with master drummers Miguel Bernal, Carlos Gomez, and Carlos Aldama.
David has also frequently toured in Central and South East Asia on behalf of the US State Department as a performer and clinician. Currently he is on the faculty at Hunter College and the New York Jazz Workshop in NYC.
