Alan Braufman Quintet

Join us for a live taping and listening-room concert for the Alan Braufman Quintet!

Alan Braufman - Alto Saxophone and Flute

Chase Baird - Tenor Saxophone

Stefan Gonzalez - Vibraphone

Mathew Frerck - Bass

Joshua Canate - Drums

For decades, alto saxophonist and flutist Alan Braufman was a cult musician whose

then-lone LP as a bandleader, 1975’s Valley of Search, offered rich, evocative, and

forthright sonic documentation of a lower Manhattan jazz scene slightly afield from the

SoHo and Lower East Side hubbub. Following the enthusiastically-received reissue of

that record forty-three years later, Braufman, who never stopped playing or writing

music, has marked several years of greater visibility with a string of consistently warm

and intense small-group recordings (and a few previously-unissued archival discs) that

feature a mix of peers and younger firebrands from the contemporary American

improvisation scene.

A necessity for this time period, the aptly-titled Anthem for Peace sees Braufman in a

quartet setting, joining forces with vibraphonist Patricia Brennan and

drummer/percussionist Chad Taylor, both of whom are returning from 2024’s Infinite

Love Infinite Tears, and bassist Luke Stewart, a familiar player marking his first

collaboration with the saxophonist. One cut, the lilting and funky “Snow in Central Park,”

is a holdover from that prior date and includes Michael Wimberly on congas and bassist

Ken Filiano. Though this record’s seven tracks are concise and clearly delineated,

programmatically they hang together, a quality recognizable throughout Braufman’s

leader discography (his debut consists of two sidelong suites), not least because his

compositions are hooky and inviting.

The opening piece, “Angels,” is anthemic, gospel-tinged, and with a martial B-section,

recalls Albert Ayler though with Braufman’s more velvety flywheel as an underpinning.

The leader’s alto can certainly peel paint, but these salvos are delivered with a patient

brightness and loquacious urgency. “In Motion” is a post-bop number in which the tart

push of Jackie McLean is audible, but contextually updated with the warped cascades of

Brennan’s electronically-augmented vibraphone, a voice that is both foregrounded and

glassily atmospheric, and the supplely driving gradient of bass and drums. Stewart and

Taylor are a telepathic pairing throughout, rock solid on the groovier numbers (dig

Taylor’s metronomic backbeat, tight enough to almost sound looped) and shimmering in

freer rubato space.

Though Braufman is the only horn (tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has been a

frequent front-line partner), occasional and elegantly-done overdubs create interweaving

lines. On the title tune, its appealing melodic bounce is accentuated by doubling

octaves, and there’s the bamboo-like birdsong of the closing “Reflections on a Rainy

Day” with its shakuhachi-like clamber. Through the subtle linkages between songs,

improvisations, and four individual personalities, Anthem for Peace creates a highly

simpatico and positive sonic worldview that we can all get behind.

Please Note: MONKS JAZZ IS NOW A FULL SERVICE BAR. As part of this transition, Monks Jazz is no longer a BYOB venue. We invite you to enjoy our thoughtfully curated beverage menu and roll with us through the changes! As always, this is a live-taping, so we'll be enforcing a whisper-policy! Free parking is available in the area. Doors at 7:00 PM, Show at 7:30 PM.