BRATTLEBORO — The Vermont Jazz Center kicks off its 2013-2014 season on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. with a performance by two of jazz's most highly esteemed musicians.
Along with their myriad other projects, saxophonist Steve Wilson and drummer Lewis Nash have been performing together as a duo since 2001. At the VJC, they will be joined by bassist Nat Reeves.
Duo performances, Wilson and Nash say, give them the chance to display their shared dedication to melody while exploring the freedom of unfettered interaction and creativity. They have assembled a program built around song and melody - far from the edgy sound that a sax-drum duo might suggest.
Their concept focuses on jazz standards and material from the Great American Songbook complemented by originals built on structured melodies.
As a duo, Wilson and Lewis debuted at the Jazz Salon at New York's Loft at Quilty's in November 2001. They have performed in Woodstock, N.Y.; at the Colony Café; the Kaplan Playhouse in Lincoln Center; as part of the Sugar Loaf Music Series in Warwick, N.Y.; at the Manchester Craftmen's Guild in Pittsburgh; and most recently at Sweet Rhythm in New York City.
In 1994, Reeves began a deep musical relationship with Kenny Garrett that continues to this day. In 2001, he decided to focus full-time on his teaching career at the jazz studies program at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz, formerly The Hartt School, in West Hartford, Conn.