2011 - Complete Schedule

Here's a complete schedule for the rest of the year's family concerts!

March 6th feat. Sebastian Cruz w/ special guests Lucia Pulido and Richie Barshay

On March 6th at 2pm, guitarist and composer Sebastian Cruz will present a program of traditional South American music, where he will introduce the audience to typical South American instruments, rhythms, melodies, and song forms in an open and engaging environment.

Joining him as special guests will be Colombian singer Lucia Pulido, one of the leading singers of traditional and avant-garde music on the international scene, and Richie Barshay, percussionist for artists as diverse as Herbie Hancock and the Klezmatics.

The concert will be at the Douglass Street Music Collective at 295 Douglass St. between 3th and 4th Ave. in Brooklyn. It will begin at 2pm and the suggested donation is $15/adults and $10 children.



Sebastian is a guitarist, songwriter, composer, arranger and educator. In his original projects he often includes musical elements from his Colombian roots rubbing against elements of urban New York City life: multi-cultural mesh, recycling, discarding, minor epiphanies, major cacophonies and modern jazz and other languages. His main personal projects are Coba (songwriting project) and The Cheap Landscape Trio (instrumental) with which he has released three acclaimed CDs. His compositions have awarded him a Van Lier Fellowship from Meet the Composer in 2010 and an ASCAP award in 2002.

Sebastian has performed at several beautiful and exciting venues, as well as sketchy and random locations throughout the U.S., Europe and Colombia. Some venues include the Mozart-Saal from Vienna’s Kozerthaus, Joe’s Pub, BAM Café, Symphony Space, Summer Stage-Central Park in New York, A-Trane in Berlin, Jazz al Parque and el Anónimo in Bogotá, among many others.

Sebastian has a Master degree in jazz guitar performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a BFA in jazz guitar from the City College of New York.

A dedicated educator, Sebastian teaches private lessons as well as classes at the Brooklyn Guitar School and teaches for LEAP, an organization that offers arts-based programs to enhance the core curriculum throughout New York City’s Public Schools. He has also teaches Colombian music performance at Columbia University.

Next Concert: Sunday February 6th 2pm, featuring the Dan Loomis Quartet

Thanks for the great attendance at the last concert with the Becca Stevens Band.

Our next Douglass Street Family Concert will be on Sunday February 6th at 2pm. It will feature the Dan Loomis Quartet. In addition to playing both original and traditional repertoire, the group will introduce children to the many different components of a jazz quartet, including rhythm, improvisation, harmony, and ways that the group interacts as they play. As always, questions and audience interaction will be encouraged!

The concert will be at:

Douglass Street Music Collective
295 Douglass St. (betw. 3th and 4th Ave.)
Brooklyn, NY
suggested donation $15/adults, $10/kids
http://295douglass.org/

Here are some videos that feature Dan and his group:









A new presence on the New York jazz scene, Dan Loomis has already become one the most in-demand bassists of his generation. Called “a forceful and creative bass player” (Cadence) “double-teaming you with style and substance” (All About Jazz), Dan has created a stir with both his powerful bass playing and his vision as a composer/bandleader. Dan has toured extensively through the US, Canada and Europe with his groups The Dan Loomis Quartet (DLQ), The Wee Trio, Spoke, and as a sideman, winning new audiences and bringing enthusiastic praise from critics.

Dan’s musical roots lie in the historic jazz town of Saint Louis, Missouri. There he had to fortune to come under the musical mentorship of the bassist Tom Kennedy and pianist Reggie Thomas. Under their guidance and through extensive gigging in the Saint Louis scene, Dan learned the fundamental importance of groove and sound and came away with the firm commitment for music-making that reaches people on a heart level. From Saint Louis Dan stopped in Rochester, NY for a period of intense study at the Eastman School of Music with Jeff Campbell. At Eastman he forged some of his most important musical relationships and found his love and commitment to the contemporary edge of music. Upon graduating with his Masters Degree he was awarded with jazz department’s highest award in performance. By then his playing was already receiving national attention; Downbeat magazine selected The Very Tall Band, made up of Dan and his Eastman compatriots, as Best Collegiate Small Ensemble. Dan hand-picked a chord-less quartet composed of two saxophones, bass and drums from that ensemble to form the DLQ, which would record his first album, Tondos.

His second album with the DLQ, I Love Paris, marked Dan’s arrival in New York, and it earned him quite a welcome, called ‘one the top new releases of 2007’ by the noted jazz historian Scott Yanow. This group toured US extensively for much of 2006 and 2007. At the same time Dan kept quite busy as a sideman in New York. In his brief stint in New York, he has already appeared on over 20 albums with styles ranging from jazz to indie-pop to eastern-European-improv music to post-punk. He has been active with a large number of projects including Benny Reid’s Findings, the Erica VonKleist Quintet, the Jay Collins Trio, the Brian VanArsdale Trio, The Ben Holmes Trio, the Rob Mosher Quartet, Tucksy, The Sultans of Swing, The Trachy/Lacy Collective, The Belly of a Drunken Piano and Lindsay Sullivan Lightbody. His work as a sideman has seen him performing in some New York’s most prestigious venues including The Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Birdland, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has also toured extensively though the Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada.

In 2007 Dan formed two collaborative groups that have showcased the scope of his performance and compositional talents. First, Spoke, with trombonist Andy Hunter, alto saxophonist Justin Wood and drummer Danny Fischer, features some of the most inspired, adventurous improvisers of the new generation of jazz coming together to create a sound that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. Their self-titled debut, Spoke, earned pre-release praise, being called ‘one of the most inventive records we’ve heard all year’ (HotHouse). Second, The Wee Trio – with vibraphonist James Westfall and Jared Schonig – created a sonic landscape all their own with their debut album, Capitol Diner, Vol. 1. The album made an immediate stir with the press, who called The Wee Trio ‘definitely a group to watch’ (Downbeat) and said ‘the trio puts forth a compelling case that they are the ambassadors of the genre’s future’ (Saratogian). As glowing as the praise from critics was, fans reacted even more enthusiastically as the trio played to rapt audiences from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Philadelphia to Chicago to New York.

Currently Dan is working on the next release for the Wee Trio, Capitol Diner, Vol. 2, Animal Style – due to be released February 1, 2010. He is also pursuing his new passion, the cello. You can catch him playing cello in a few bands around New York, Arm-Sized Legging and the Justin Wood Strings Project. Upcoming musical projects include the CD release tour of Concord artist, Benny Reid’s Firelight, and extensive tours with the Wee Trio and Spoke.

January 9th, 2011 2pm - The Becca Stevens Band

The next Douglass Street Family Concert will feature Becca Stevens, one of New York's most creative and engaging singers and musicians. Becca has appeared on two of my Words Project recordings and we'll be appearing together in March in a very special concert at Zankel Hall. This will be a great chance to catch Becca's amazing band in an intimate setting.

The concert will be at 295 Douglass Street (between 3rd and 4th Ave) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Suggested donation is $10/children and $15/adults.



Hailed by The New York Times as a “best-kept secret” with an “impressively absorbing” debut album, Becca Stevens has established herself as a singer/songwriter of enormous talent whose songs expand and blur the boundaries of folk, jazz, and pop while engaging the the listener through keen poetic observation, rich musical language, and beguiling singing.

Her musical roots are in classical guitar, the folk music of her native North Carolina, and jazz, with additional influences ranging from West African rhythms to eccentric pop. Along with being band leader and composer/arranger for the Becca Stevens Band, Becca's career takes her in many directions – from recording and touring internationally as lead singer of Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra and with jazz pianist Elan Mehler, to writing lyrics and recording on Max Jazz with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt.

Becca began her artistic career while still in diapers, singing and performing with her family band, the Tune Mammals. Her childhood was spent on stage, singing, acting, and dancing, including a year-long tour as the lead in The Secret Garden when she was ten. In 2002 she received her high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts where she studied classical guitar, and then went to The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York City where she received a BFA with high honors in vocal jazz and composition. It was at The New School that Becca met the musicians who would eventually make up the Becca Stevens Band.

The members of the Becca Stevens band are Liam Robinson on accordion, banjo, and keyboards; Chris Tordini on bass; and Jordan Perlson on percussion; with Becca playing guitar, ukulele, and charango. Put all that together with Becca's powerful songwriting and rich 4-part vocal harmonies and you get, “arrangements that are exquisitely produced and acoustic songs which boast musical textures and colors that embrace the adventurism of jazz and flirt with the more tenable spirit of the avant garde.” (Winston-Salem Journal)

Pictures from the Dec 12th Concert with the Jean Rohe Trio