Thursday August 28 * 7pm * $25-30 * TICKETS
Transparent Productions and the DC Jazz Festival presents Marty Ehrlich Trio Exaltation with Marty Ehrlich (reeds), John Hebert (bass), and Nasheet Waits (drums)
Thursday August 28th at 7PM. Admission $25-$30, sliding scale. This concert is being presented as part of the 2025 DC Jazz Festival.
Please join us at Rhizome DC for a night of incredible music from this trio. Their new recording is “This Time” on Sunnyside Records.
https://sunnysiderecords.bandcamp.com/album/this-time
In Marty’s words:
“My new recording by Trio Exaltation extends my decade long meetings with bassist John Hebert and drummer Nasheet Waits into a new chapter. The trio context is a place where much has started in my music, and a place to which I return. My first recording, The Welcome (1984) was with bassist Anthony Cox and drummer Pheeroan akLaff. In 1978 I recorded Relativity with Michael Formanek and Peter Erskine, and C/D/E in 2000 with Mark Dresser and Andrew Cyrille, both collective ensembles.
John, Nasheet, and I first played together in the Andrew Hill Sextet for a good number of years. John’s hornlike conception on the bass, and Nasheet’s open- ended drum choir rhythms inspired me nightly, within the nexus of Andrew’s compositions. A few years later, I wanted to return to the immediacy of the trio and thought right away of John and Nasheet. Our first recording Trio Exaltation came out in 2018. THIS TIME (2025) on Sunny Side Records is the next stop in this search.
I have brought in a wide range of my compositions to play with Trio Exaltation, in the pan stylistic approach I hold dear. However, the central sound of this trio starts with the landmark composition of Andrew Hill’s entitled Dusk, which we perform again on this recording, in a new and shifting way. Dusk, in its complex simplicity goes on and on. I like the idea of one piece you play throughout a long period of time, finding yet more light in the transitions.
I think a lot about the role of the audience in music making with collective improvisation at its core. We each enter the dialog when listening to recordings. But in an ever more crucial way, the space shared with the audience plays a real role I believe in the resonance of the musical creation. I hope this recording brings this to bear as you listen, and I hope to see you at a concert, and have your ear be part of the space we are constructing in open air with Trio Exaltation.”
Saxophonist, clarinetist, and flutist Marty Ehrlich (b. 1955) began his musical career in St. Louis, Missouri, performing and recording with the Human Arts Ensemble. He appears on their 1973 recording “Under the Sun” with Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake, Jim Marshall, J.D. Parran, and others. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where his teachers were George Russell, Jaki Byard, Gunther Schuller, Joseph Allard, Ran Blake, and Joe Maneri. In 1977, Ehrlich receives the Conservatories' Chadwick Medal for outstanding academic and artistic achievement at graduation.
Moving to New York City in 1978, Ehrlich performs in the ensembles of George Russell, Chico Hamilton, Anthony Braxton, Charles "Bobo" Shaw The Human Arts Ensemble, and Julius Hemphill. He continues to work in America and Europe with the artists of BAG and the AACM, in the ensembles of Muhal Richard Abrams, Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, and Baikida Carroll. He performs for numerous years in the John Carter Octet, the Don Grolnick Octet, Andrew Hill Point of Departure Sextet, and Anthony Davis Episteme Ensemble. Ehrlich was involved in Davis' opera "X: The Live and Times of Malcolm X," from its earliest stages to its world premiere in 1986. He reprised his role as saxophone soloist in “X” at the Metropolitan Opera in 2023.
Other long-term associations have been with Robin Holcomb, Wayne Horvitz, and Bobby Previte, centered around the New York Composer's Orchestra and Previte's' "Bump" quintet. He has performed in Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, Jerome Harris Ensembles, Mario Pavone Ensemble, and in diverse projects of John Zorn. Ehrlich appears on over a hundred recordings with these and other artists.
Ehrlich has composed a distinctive body of music for his improvising ensembles of the last four decades, including his Dark Woods Ensemble, featuring his clarinet with cello and bass, and his two- saxophone group, The Traveler's Tales Quartet. His other ensembles include Trio Exaltation, The Rites Quartet, Philosophy of a Groove, and the Marty Ehrlich Large Ensemble. Ehrlich has made duo recordings with pianists Muhal Richard Abrams, Myra Melford, and Mike Nock, and bassists Anthony Cox and John Lindberg. He has made two recordings, Sojourn and Fables, that explore his roots in Jewish liturgical music. He has sustained three collective groups, C/D/E with Andrew Cyrille and Mark Dresser, Relativity with Peter Erskine and Michael Formanek, and the Ray Anderson/Marty Ehrlich Quartet. His recordings for Jazz Orchestra include The Long View (2002) and A Trumpet in the Morning (2013). His compositions are represented on 30 recordings with these ensembles, on the Enja, New World, Muse, OmniTone, Palmetto, Tzadik, and Clean Feed labels.
2025 will see the release of his Trio Exaltation recording This Time on Sunnyside Records. Ehrlich is also performing with the Air Legacy Trio plays the music of Henry Threadgill during this concert season.
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John Hébert was born in New Orleans, Louisiana where he first began to study double bass with Bill Huntington. John attended Loyola University of New Orleans where he received a full scholarship. After two years of performing with many of New Orleans greatest musicians and performing at various clubs including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival he moved to the New York tri-state area to attend William Paterson University where he continued his studies under bassist, Rufus Reid and received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance.
BIO
Since graduating in 1995, John has lived in the New York City area and established himself as a highly sought after bassist. He has worked along side world famous artists such as Andrew Hill, Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Motian, Joe Maneri, Mary Havorson, Tomasz Stanko, David Liebman, Uri Caine, Greg Osby, Bill Stewart, Marc Copland, Fred Hersch, Toots Thielemans, Maria Schneider, and many others.
In recent years, he has taken on the role of bandleader of various projects. His group Byzantine Monkey, released their first CD in June 2009 on the Firehouse 12 label. It was reviewed in Downbeat and received 4 stars. “On his first album as a leader he displays a sonic vision that’s all his own,” says Peter Margarsak. In 2010, John Hébert Trio released Spiritual Lover on the Clean Feed label to very positive reviews. According to Stuart Broomer, “it’s a trio of genuinely equal parts and plays music of great melodic strength.” In 2011, John formed his Rambling Confessions quartet which has performed at well known clubs such as The Stone and Jazz Gallery.
He is also named in Downbeat’s 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 Critics Poll as a “Rising Star Acoustic Bassist.” Most recently in 2011, John won the poll as “Rising Star Acoustic Bassist.” From 2001 until Andrew Hill’s passing in 2007, John worked with Mr. Hill in various ensembles. John is also featured on Andrew Hill’s last Blue Note release, “Time Lines” which was awarded “Record of the Year” by Downbeat’s Jazz Critics Poll in 2006. John has also performed around the world at festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival, Tampere Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, Moers Jazz Festival, Ear Shot Jazz Festival and San Francisco Jazz Festival. He can also be heard in some of New York City’s most renowned venues such as The Village Vanguard, Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Birdland and Iridium.
In 2011 John was awarded the French American Jazz Exchange Grant from the French Cultural Institute and Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation for his work with Parisian pianist Benoit Delbecq and New York drummer Gerald Cleaver. The follow up to the trio’s first recording was released in January of 2014. The album entitled Floodstage on Clean Feed records has already gained much attention since its release.
2015 saw the latest release by John on the Sunnyside record label entitled “Rambling Confessions”. It features vocalist Jen Shyu, pianist Andy Milne and drummer Billy Drummond. The record has received much praise including 4.5 stars in Downbeat.
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Nasheet Waits, drummer and music educator, is a New York native. His interest in playing the drums was encouraged by his father, legendary percussionist, Frederick Waits. Over the course of his career, Freddie Waits played with such legendary artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Sonny Rollins, Lee Morgan, Max Roach, Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, and countless others.
While attending Long Island University, Waits studied privately with renowned percussionist, Michael Carvin. Carvin’s tutelage provided a vast foundation upon which Waits added influences from his father, as well as mentor Max Roach and percussionist Fred King. It was Max that first gave Nasheet’s formidable talent international spotlight, hiring him as a member of the famed percussion ensemble M’BOOM. One highlight of Nasheet’s tenure with M’BOOM was the live concert performance of M’BOOM with special guests Tony Williams and Ginger Baker.
Nasheet’s talent came to the attention of reedman Antonio Hart, who asked Waits to originate the percussion chair of his first quintet. Waits remained a standing member of Antonio’s various ensembles, recording three albums and touring nationally and internationally in noted venues, jazz festivals, as well as live television and radio performances. Nasheet remained a member of Antonio’s group through 1998.
1999 proved to be an auspicious year for Nasheet. After his tenure with Antonio Hart had concluded, Waits joined the bands of Andrew Hill and Fred Hersch. A myriad of performances and recordings resulted from these 2 opportunities. Nasheet stayed with Andrew through 2005 and Fred for 10 years. He also toured and recorded with New Directions, a band of young Blue Note recording artists. The band featured Jason Moran, Greg Osby, Stefon Harris, Mark Shim, Tarus Mateen, and Waits. This situation proved to be fruitful as Waits went on to work with Jason and Tarus in Stefon and Greg in their units. Most notably Jason Moran and the Bandwagon was spawned out of New Directions experience. Jason Moran’s Bandwagon, Jason, bassist Tarus Mateen, and Nasheet have been deemed, “ the most exciting rhythm section in jazz” by JazzTimes magazine. Most recently Waits has found himself assuming the title of leader, as well as joining forces to form two other cooperative bands. Nasheet Waits Equality had its auspicious origin with a tour in Italy the spring of 2007. The quartet featured Logan Richardson on alto and soprano saxophones, and Jason Moran and Tarus Mateen, Waits’ colleagues in Moran’s Bandwagon. Equality went on to record its first offering, “Alive At MPI” in 2009 for Fresh Sound Records. Equality also has featured virtuoso pianists Stanley Cowell, and James Hurt during several tours of Europe from 2007-2013. Waits is also at the core of Tarbaby a cooperative band he leads with bassist Eric Revis and pianist Orrin Evans. Tarbaby has released 4 offerings, the first an eponymous effort in 2008, the 2nd “The End Of Fear” in 2010 on Positone records. “The End Of Fear”, which features Oliver Lake, Nicholas Payton, and JD Allen was placed in several top 10 records for 2010. The 3rd release for Tarbaby, “The Ballad of Sam Langford” has been released in the spring of 2013 on Hipnotic Records. This offering features Ambrose Akinmusire and Oliver Lake. The most recent release, “Fanon”, was inspired by the work of philosopher, revolutionary, psychiartrist, and author, Frantz Fanon. This recording features Marc Ducret and Oliver Lake. Another project Waits’ co-leads, 3rd EYE (Aethereal Bace) is an unconventional trio comprised of Abraham Burton tenor saxophone, Eric Mcpherson, drummer and Waits. These 3 New York natives have a connection that transcends the bandstand. Most recently Waits has taken part In another co-led band featuring Bennie Maupin, (an alum of Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, etc) and Eric Revis to form a trio, “Options”. Waits has also produced the soundtrack for contemporary artist Alyson Shotz for her exhibition, Forces of Nature. He is also the MD for her new interdisciplinary work revolving around the concept of time that will be premiered at Grace Farms.
Waits has recorded and toured extensively in Africa, Europe, Japan, Canada, South America and the United States. Amidst his performing, recording and touring activity, Nasheet teaches private lessons, stressing a personal approach to the drums and music. True to his personal philosophy of the necessity to balance Tradition and Modernism, Waits collaborates and performs regularly with musical cohorts, contemporaries, and masters. Nasheet is dedicated to exploring his role and creative path in music.