You are invited to Joe’s Outdoor Performance Series on July 10th at 7:00 pm
featuring jazz guitarist Alex Martin!
Jazz guitarist and composer Alex Martin brings his quintet to Joe’s On Stage series for an outdoor show to celebrate the release of his third album, Folk Songs, Jazz Journeys. Alex’s “New World jazz” brings jazz into conversation with music from various traditions that have influenced him, including those of Brazil, his native Brittany (the Celtic province of western France), and the US South (where he was mostly raised). In his post-COVID performances, he is particularly interested in exploring convergences between jazz, West African music, and the forró and baião of Northeast Brazil (that country’s most African region).
For the Joe’s concert, Alex’s quintet will feature performers from Folk Songs, including vocalist Elin Melgarejo, drummer Keith Butler Jr., acoustic bassist Ethan Foote, and Uasuf Gueye on African percussion and balafon (West African marimba), as well as other guest musicians from the CD. For more about Alex, his fellow musicians, and his recordings, visit https://www.alexmartinmusic.com.
Experience this special event in person, at a socially safe distance! Masks are required.
About Alex Martin
Born in Brittany, the Celtic region of western France, raised mostly in rural North Carolina, and a traveler through Latin America now living in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Alex seeks to create music that expresses his unique confluence of world cultures, a personal crossroads of the “exotic” and the familiar that he calls “New World jazz.” He is a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas at Austin who now views his music as his primary medium of storytelling. He has just released his third CD, Folk Songs, Jazz Journeys, an exploration of musical traditions that have shaped him. He is accompanied on this pilgrimage by 12 musical collaborators, including three vocalists and master instrumentalists on balafon, tabla, cello, Northeastern Brazilian triangle, and trumpet. He has released two previous albums: Nostalgia for Terra Incognita (2007), recorded in Washington, DC, with a Brazilian rhythm section and vocalist Lena Seikaly, and the more intimate trio recording Second Life (2010), recorded in North Carolina and made possible in part by a grant from the Prince George’s Arts Council. Nostalgia and Second Life foreground Alex’s compositions but also include pieces written or made famous by Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Caetano Veloso, Wayne Shorter, Édith Piaf, and Breton harper Alan Stivell, all important influences on Alex’s music. Alex has performed at venues around the DC area, from Blues Alley, Twins Jazz, Bethesda Blues & Jazz, and the National Gallery of Art’s Jazz in the Garden series to the Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland.
