Jazz Small Groups A and Z

Henry Freligh ’25, Alto Sax
Elle Lazarski ’26, Alto Sax
John Cureton ’26, Trumpet
Isadora Knutsen ’25, Guitar
Jarod Wille ’24, Piano
Nikhil De ’23, Bass
Noah Daniel ’23, Drums

Small Group Z Director Ted Chubb:  Over the past two decades, Ted Chubb has developed into both a deeply expressive trumpeter and an inventive composer. He is both an accomplished bandleader and has served as sideman to an impressive list of NYC’s top musicians, including Winard Harper, Christian McBride, Wallace Roney, Antonio Hart, Houston Person, Charenee Wade, Norman Simmons, Don Braden, Vince Ector, Melissa Walker, Bruce Williams, Billy Hart,  and Cecil Brooks III.  He has performed at venues from NYC jazz clubs Smalls; Fat Cat, The Jazz Standard, and Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center, to Jazz Festivals across North America, South America and Europe. Ted received his MM from Rutgers University and studied with master trumpet teacher, William Fielder. From 2006-2011, he toured with the Tony Award-winning show, Jersey Boys. Ted is a passionate jazz educator and served as Jazz House Kids, Director of Music from 2012-2015.  He is currently Adjunct Professor of Jazz Trumpet at Princeton University, Jazz at Lincoln Center Middle School Jazz Academy Band Director, and continues to serve as Jazz House Kids, Vice President of Jazz Education + Associate Producer. He is also a member of the artistic leadership and production team responsible for curating all events for the Montclair Jazz Festival. He has led tours, master classes and cultural exchange programs across the US as well as the globe from Peru to most recently Bahrain. Along with his wife, Rachel Ryll, Ted is co-owner, President & Artistic Director of “The Statuary” an active artist live/work/present space that serves as a hub for the Jersey City jazz community and presents world class jazz to the people of Jersey City. His solo release, “Gratified Never Satisfied,” Chubb demonstrates an innate ability to adapt his knowledge, talent and worldliness to every aspect of his art and work.

Milan Sastry ’26, Alto Saxophone
Isaac Yi ’24, Tenor Saxophone
Pranav Vadapalli ’25, Trombone
Rohit Oomman ’24, Guitar
Shlok Shah ’26, Piano
Patrick Jaojoco GS, Bass
Ryder Walsh ’26, Drums

Small Group A Director Rudresh Mahanthappa

Hailed by Pitchfork as “jaw-dropping… one of the finest saxophonists going,” alto saxophonist, composer and educator Rudresh Mahanthappa is widely known as one of the premier voices in jazz of the 21st century. He has over a dozen albums to his credit, including the acclaimed Bird Calls, which topped many critics’ best-of-year lists for 2015 and was hailed by PopMatters as “complex, rhythmically vital, free in spirit while still criss-crossed with mutating structures.” His most recent release, Hero Trio, was considered to be one of the best jazz albums of 2020 by critics and fans alike.  Rudresh has been named alto saxophonist of the year for nine of the last eleven years running in Downbeat Magazine’s International Critics’ Polls (2011-2013, 2015-2018, 2020-1), and for five consecutive years by the Jazz Journalists’ Association (2009-2013) and again in 2016. He won alto saxophonist of the year in the 2015-2018 & 2020 JazzTimes Magazine Critics’ Polls and was named the Village Voice’s “Best Jazz Artist” in 2015.  He has also received the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, among other honors, and is currently the Anthony H. P. Lee ’79 Director of Jazz at Princeton University.

Born in Trieste, Italy to Indian émigrés in 1971, Mahanthappa was brought up in Boulder, Colorado and gained proficiency playing everything from current pop to Dixieland. He went on to studies at North Texas, Berklee and DePaul University (as well as the Stanford Jazz Workshop) and came to settle in Chicago. Soon after moving to New York in 1997 he formed his own quartet featuring pianist Vijay Iyer. The band recorded an enduring sequence of albums, Black Water, Mother Tongue and Codebook, each highlighting Mahanthappa’s inventive methodologies and deeply personal approach to composition. He and Iyer also formed the duo Raw Materials.

Coming deeper into contact with the Carnatic music of his parents’ native southern India, Mahanthappa partnered in 2008 with fellow altoist Kadri Gopalnath and the Dakshina Ensemble for Kinsmen, garnering wide acclaim. Apti, the first outing by Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition (with Pakistani-born Rez Abbasi on guitar and Dan Weiss on tabla), saw release the same year; Agrima followed nine years later and considerably expanded the trio’s sonic ambitions.  In 2020, Rudresh released Hero Trio, an album of “covers” paying tribute to his musical heroes followed by the digital EP Animal Crossing in 2022 with the same trio.  He also co-led a project celebrating the centenary of Charlie Parker with the blessing of the Parker estate.

Mahanthappa has also worked with Jack DeJohnette, Mark Dresser, Danilo Pérez, Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, the collaborative trios MSG and Mauger, the co-led quintet Dual Identity with fellow altoist Steve Lehman, and another co-led quintet with fellow altoist and Chicago stalwart Bunky Green (Apex). His exploratory guitar-driven quartets on Samdhi and Gamak featured David Gilmore and Dave “Fuze” Fiuczynski, respectively. In 2015 he was commissioned by Ragamala Dance to create Song of the Jasmine for dancers and a hybrid jazz/South Indian ensemble. He was also commissioned by the PRISM Saxophone Quartet to compose a chamber piece, “I Will Not Apologize for My Tone Tonight,” which can be heard on the quartet’s 2015 double-disc release Heritage/Evolution, Volume 1.   He was recently commissioned by the AACM’s Great Black Music Ensemble to compose “Finding Our Voice” which premiered in 2021.

Mahanthappa is a Yamaha artist and uses Vandoren reeds exclusively.

JAZZ AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY serves to promote this uniquely American music as a contemporary and relevant art form. Its goals are to convey the vast musical and social history of jazz, establish a strong theoretical and stylistic foundation with regard to improvisation and composition, and emphasize the development of individual expression and creativity. Offerings of this program include academic course work, performing ensembles, master classes, private study, and independent projects. Jazz at Princeton University thanks you for joining them on this evening’s journey of beauty, exploration, discovery, and hope.