Music Style: Jazz
This trio of recent Juilliard graduates taking the jazz world by storm venerates the rich lineage of jazz while pushing on post-modern sensibilities. An evening of classic jazz with a hot contemporary edge.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
“New Jazz Underground” is a trio composed of three Juilliard School Alumni in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s inner circle of young artists who have worked closely with jazz masters ranging from Wynton Marsalis, Victor Lewis and ELEW.
The trio featuring Abdias Armenteros saxophone 23, Sebastian Rios bass 26, and TJ Reddick drums 23, met while they were students at the prestigious Juilliard School. However, it wasn’t until the Summer of 2020 when they started playing as a group regularly.
Forced out of live music venues during the pandemic lockdown the group would meet on a weekly basis in the parks and streets of NYC to perform. Still without a live audience,
in January of 2021 the band started their YouTube channel and have since built a worldwide audience of over 2 million viewers and 65k+ subscribers as of April 2023 through their viral video performances.
The band’s artistic ethos is steeped in veneration of the rich lineage of jazz while demonstrating an acute awareness and presence in contemporary postmodernist sensibilities. Their online output reflects this characteristic balance, performing music created in solemn focus on swing, the blues, and improvisation, yet their approach in the modern art and media landscape comes with a measured irony.
Abdias Armenteros–Saxophone
Abdias Armenteros is a native of Miami, Florida, where he attended New World School of the Arts High School. He began to play the saxophone at the age of 8, and began to play jazz in the 9th grade. After getting into New World, he was able to travel to places like New York City to compete in events like Essentially Ellington with the jazz band (which the school won in 2016), and Kagoshima, Japan, representing the city of Miami and also the United States by being the only non-Asian group to perform in the Kagoshima Asian Arts Youth Festival. He has also done various summer programs such as the Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony and the Summer Jazz Academy with Jazz at Lincoln Center.
Abdias is currently in his 1st year of his Master’s degree at Juilliard as a Jazz Studies Major after completing his undergraduate degree at the prestigious school. Since being in New York, he has shared the bandstand with world-renowned artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ben Vereen, Aloe Blacc, Victor Lewis, Arlo Parks, and also performs regularly at different clubs and venues in the city with other well-known musicians in the city while continuing his studies at school. Abdias is a firm believer that music is healing, and we’re living in a time where we need healing the most.
Sebastian Rios–Bass
Hailing from Miami Beach, Florida, Sebastian Rios has been lauded as one of the most promising rising stars on the bass in the NYC jazz scene. He began to play double bass at the age of 13 after a chance encounter with a passionate jazz educator and within a few months time Sebastian won a local competition to attend jazz camp and was later accepted into the famed New World School of the Arts in Miami. While in high school Sebastian participated in the Essentially Ellington competition in New York City and won “Outstanding Bass” honors from Wynton Marsalis. As a senior he was named a National Merit Winner by the YoungArts Foundation and was accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School on full scholarship.
Since moving to NYC in 2015 to attend The Juilliard School, he has played and studied closely with jazz legends such as Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Charlap, Johnny O’Neal, and Stacy Dillard among many others and has been featured as a performer in some of the city’s most legendary jazz clubs such as Smalls Jazz Club, Blue Note Jazz Club, and Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola regularly. While at The Juilliard School, he participated as a composer and performer in the historic first ever collaboration between the Jazz and Dance divisions in the 2018 “New Dances”. In 2019 Sebastian, in association with world renowned photographer Peter Lueders, created the monthly “New Jazz Underground” concert series at 16 Beaver Studio which aims to break the mold of typical classist homogenized concert going jazz audiences and bring people of all walks of life into the unifying power of Jazz by creating an accessible and safe space for the music to be enjoyed easily by anyone!
TJ Reddick–Drums
TJ Reddick is an American jazz musician, drummer, and educator, as well as graduate from The Juilliard School. He currently resides in New York City, which has led to collaborations with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chick Corea, Jon Batiste, Nicholas Payton, Alicia Olatuja, Will Downing, Mwenso and the Shakes, and many more. He has as well performed at many venues including Radio City Hall, Rose Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Harvard, Balboa Theatre, Adrienne Arsht Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Blue Note Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Dizzys, Marciac Jazz Festival, Belize Jazz Festival, Jacksonville Jazz festival, Jacksonville Bethel Baptist Church, Greater Refuge Temple, Mattox Revival Center, and City Tabernacle.
SNEAK PEEK
