Copa Artist Hour: Buster Williams & Dave Glasser at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music

Join us for our weekly CoPA Artist Hour, featuring a performance with members of the College of Performing Arts Music community.

One of jazz's most valuable and enduring sidemen, bassist and composer Buster Williams has flourished through many periods of changing fashions in jazz due to his fat, authoritative, dark tone and highly refined technique on the acoustic bass. Though he began his recording career in the early 1960s with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, Sarah Vaughan, Jack Wilson, and the Jazz Crusaders, his earliest celebrity was as a member of Herbie Hancock's exploratory Mwandishi Sextet from 1969 to 1973, doubling on acoustic and electric basses — sometimes attached to electronic effects devices. He began recording as a leader with a trilogy of albums on Muse Records in the mid-'70s. Of these, his leader debut, Pinnacle, is widely considered a modern jazz masterpiece. Since that time, his leader dates have been sporadic, but his career as a sideman has flourished. His notable achievements include appearances as a member of Sphere for 1982's Four in One, and later in the decade as a member of pianist Kenny Barron's trio. In the 21st century, Williams in addition to working in Denny Zeitlin's and Lenny White's groups, the bassist released the celebrated Griot Liberte in 2004 with White on drums and Stefon Harris on piano and marimba. After a six-year break from recording (2009-2017) while he focused on working as an instructor and touring musician, he returned to tape as a member of Cyrus Chestnut's studio band on There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit before resuming his own career as a leader with Audacity the following year....

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Join us for our weekly CoPA Artist Hour, featuring a performance with members of the College of Performing Arts Music community.

One of jazz's most valuable and enduring sidemen, bassist and composer Buster Williams has flourished through many periods of changing fashions in jazz due to his fat, authoritative, dark tone and highly refined technique on the acoustic bass. Though he began his recording career in the early 1960s with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt, Sarah Vaughan, Jack Wilson, and the Jazz Crusaders, his earliest celebrity was as a member of Herbie Hancock's exploratory Mwandishi Sextet from 1969 to 1973, doubling on acoustic and electric basses — sometimes attached to electronic effects devices. He began recording as a leader with a trilogy of albums on Muse Records in the mid-'70s. Of these, his leader debut, Pinnacle, is widely considered a modern jazz masterpiece. Since that time, his leader dates have been sporadic, but his career as a sideman has flourished. His notable achievements include appearances as a member of Sphere for 1982's Four in One, and later in the decade as a member of pianist Kenny Barron's trio. In the 21st century, Williams in addition to working in Denny Zeitlin's and Lenny White's groups, the bassist released the celebrated Griot Liberte in 2004 with White on drums and Stefon Harris on piano and marimba. After a six-year break from recording (2009-2017) while he focused on working as an instructor and touring musician, he returned to tape as a member of Cyrus Chestnut's studio band on There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit before resuming his own career as a leader with Audacity the following year.

Native New Yorker Dave Glasser encompasses a uniquely personal sound rooted in rich tradition. As the current lead altoist for the Count Basie Orchestra and a veteran of the Clark Terry quintet, the Count Basie Orchestra, Dave's music transcends genre and covers a
wide range of expression while remaining connected to the roots of Jazz. A faculty member at the New School for over 24 years, he is proud to have helped develop many of today’s younger jazz musicians. In gratitude to wisdom bestowed from elder musicians, he tirelessly mentors future musicians by remaining actively involved in
sharing knowledge through the aural tradition.
Dave Glasser, received his Bachelors (84) and Masters (86) degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, is a proud alumni of the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts in NYC, and received extensive instruction from Lee Konitz, Frank Perowsky, Barry Harris, and Bill Dobbins.

Presented by College of Performing Arts.

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