I’m also happy to report that due to the really positive response from the album release show at Cornelia St. Cafe, we’ve been asked to do a follow up show on Friday, September 2nd. Hope to see you there!
My new CD, "Outside the Line'" will be released on Positone records on April 15th.
The CD features Rich Perry on tenor, Peter Evans on trumpet and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums. It contains nine new original compostions plus three covers. We'll be
doing a CD release concert at Cornelia Street Cafe on April 15th, which also happens to be my birthday! Please stop by if you're free.
My duo album , "The Angle Below", with guitar legend John Abercrombie will be released later this week on Steeplechase Records. The album features 10 original compositions (7 of mine as well as 3 of John's) as well as the Gordon Jenkins standard "Goodbye". This has been a long time coming, and I'm thrilled that the CD is coming out. You can find links to purchase the CD here. It's also available on iTunes as well as any brick and mortar record shops that are still standing.
We'll be doing a CD release show at the "Carengie Room" in Nyack on Friday, September 27th.
Thanks for reading!
I'm really looking forward to premiering a bunch of new music with my quartet this Tuesday, Noveber 27th at the Cornelia Street Cafe. Hope to see you there!
Bassist Peter Brendler grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. He began his musical studies on electric bass, but soon gravitated towards the upright bass. In addition to playing upright and electric bass, Peter also plays guitar and piano. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in 2001 from Berklee College of Music where he graduated Magna Cum Laude. While at Berklee, Peter was selected by the bass faculty to receive the John Neves Scholarship: a merit based scholarship awarded to an upright bassist who shows outstanding promise and commitment. During his time at Berklee, Peter performed extensively throughout the Boston area, and studied with such greats as Hal Crook, John Lockwood, and Bruno Raberg. After completing his studies in Boston, Peter relocated to New York.
Peter returned to school from 2002-2004 and earned his Masters in Music from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. While at the Manhattan School of Music, Peter studied with famed bassist, Jay Anderson, as well as other musical luminaries such as Dave Liebman, Garry Dial, and Phil Markowitz. Peter balanced his academic work with an increasingly demanding performing and recording schedule. In the fifteen years that Peter has been in New York, he has made numerous sideman appearances on various recordings of all styles. He has also performed at several world famous venues in New York, and throughout the country including The Blue Note, Birdland, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Standard, Sweet Rhythm, The Kennedy Center and the 55 Bar. Peter has also performed throughout Europe and in Russia. He has performed and/or recorded with artists such as John Abercrombie, Rich Perry, Victor Lewis, Barry Altschul, Darren Barrett, Jeff Hirshfield, Frank Kimbrough and Jon Irabagon. Peter also maintains an active career performing and recording on electric bass. In addition to his sideman credits, Peter has also recorded three albums as a leader/co-leader: "The Angle Below" (Steeplechase), "Outside the Line" (Posi-Tone), and this most recent release "Message in Motion" (Posi-Tone).
Peter returned to school from 2002-2004 and earned his Masters in Music from the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. While at the Manhattan School of Music, Peter studied with famed bassist, Jay Anderson, as well as other musical luminaries such as Dave Liebman, Garry Dial, and Phil Markowitz. Peter balanced his academic work with an increasingly demanding performing and recording schedule. In the fifteen years that Peter has been in New York, he has made numerous sideman appearances on various recordings of all styles. He has also performed at several world famous venues in New York, and throughout the country including The Blue Note, Birdland, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Standard, Sweet Rhythm, The Kennedy Center and the 55 Bar. Peter has also performed throughout Europe and in Russia. He has performed and/or recorded with artists such as John Abercrombie, Rich Perry, Victor Lewis, Barry Altschul, Darren Barrett, Jeff Hirshfield, Frank Kimbrough and Jon Irabagon. Peter also maintains an active career performing and recording on electric bass. In addition to his sideman credits, Peter has also recorded three albums as a leader/co-leader: "The Angle Below" (Steeplechase), "Outside the Line" (Posi-Tone), and this most recent release "Message in Motion" (Posi-Tone).
Come to "Message In Motion" with open ears and open mind; you will not be disappointed. The music that Peter Brendler creates with Rich Perry, Peter Evans, Vinnie Sperrazza, and Ben Monder is lively, thoughtful, playful, exciting, and smart. This fine album makes one wish to see and hear this group live.Richard B. Kamins Step Tempest
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On his excellent debut outing for Positone, bassist Peter Brendler got arguably upstaged by the intrigue inherent to the frontline pairing of tenorist Rich Perry and trumpeter Peter Evans. With Message in Motion much of the novelty has worn off, replaced by a full embrace of the confidence that comes from two players who share an encyclopedic command of their respective instruments. Vinnie Sperrazza returns on drums and Brendler also taps guitarist Ben Monder to bolster the band to quintet size. Brendler leads with his usual blend of instrumental prowess and careful consideration toward crafting collaborative surroundings that stress his colleagues’ strengths.Derek Taylor Dusted Magazine
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New York bassist Peter Brendler has been a rising figure in the city's jazz mainstream for the past decade or so. He recently released Message in Motion (Posi-Tone), his second album as a leader (not counting a 2013 duo recording with guitarist John Abercrombie, The Angle Below). It's another knockout, working solidly within postbop orthodoxy while pushing against its strictures, thanks largely to the strong players with whom the bassist surrounds himself— and none contribute more powerfully than trumpeter Peter Evans. In fact, it's Evans who pretty much transforms the album from a strong postbop session into a recording that's stunned me—when I listen to it, I alternate between laughing at the trumpeter's nonchalant audacity and falling speechless at his ability to work inside the tradition, leaving it a sere husk in his wake.Peter Margasak Chicago Reader
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By at once going inside and outside, as well as respecting tradition and racing toward the frontier, Peter Brendler makes his long overdue first album well worth waiting for.S. Victor Aaron Something Else Reviews
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One of the most impressive features of The Angle Below is the way in which the interplay between Brendler and Abercrombie develops within each tune. There are unison passages but for the most part the two musicians work as a lead and rhythm duo. While that might suggest a traditional partnership with the guitar taking on the melody and the bass establishing a rhythmic foundation this collaboration finds both men moving between the two. Abercrombie's "Jazz Folk" is an especially fine example of this interplay, but it's a common motif across the album. The switches between roles are achieved so smoothly that it takes a few seconds to realize that they've happened, a testament to the relationship that the players have on this beautifully-recorded and rewarding album.Bruce Lindsay All About Jazz
...But leadership skills are not a function of age or, frankly, experience; instead a musician either has that balanced mix of assertiveness and trust or they don’t. A bit of outside-the-box thinking doesn’t hurt either. For the quartet he presented at Cornelia Street Café (Mar. 7th), bassist Peter Brendler’s masterstroke was his choice of frontline: trumpeter Peter Evans and saxophonist Rich Perry are both hot stuff in their respective ‘worlds’ but also versatile and responsive, the former a piquant foil to the latter’s creamier playing. But it’s not enough to bring people together. Brendler also wrote all the tunes, a heady mix of bop, whether the be-, post- or free varieties, delivered with a looseness resulting from a nice hookup with drummer Vinnie Sperrazza.Andrey Henkin New York City Jazz Record
Bassist Peter Brendler is the album's unsung hero; without his subtly shifting bass lines anchoring the sound, and navigating the changes in tempo and rhythm, the performance would never scale the heights it does. It's Brendler, in particular, who makes "Unorthodoxy" swing.Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz
Peter Brendler’s recent projects include an austere collection of duets with guitarist John Abercrombie and a couple of wild and wooly albums with intrepid saxophonist Jon Irabagon. That broad spectrum made it difficult to guess how the young bassist would shape his debut as a bandleader. Outside the Line answers the question with a two-horn quartet sans piano or guitar.
Normally it’s bad news for a leader-composer when the covers are all better than the originals. But here it is less a problem with the new material and more the virtue of Brendler’s shrewd choices and the quartet’s inspired renditions. Chet Baker’s “Freeway,” most notably performed with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, was one of the more frenetic songs in the cool-jazz school, and Brendler’s similarly instrumented group embarks on a spirited ride with tenor saxophonist Rich Perry and trumpeter Peter Evans pushing the pace both solo and in tandem. The moment you hear Brendler plunk out the iconic bassline of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” against the brushed shuffle-beats from drummer Vinnie Sperrazza, you wonder why the piece isn’t a jazz standard by now. Evans and Perry both take pleasant rubato turns with the melody and refrain. Last but never least is the foursquare boldness of Ornette Coleman’s “Una Muy Bonita,” with the strutting horns and strumming rhythm section at high alert on parallel planes.
Brendler’s nine originals provide a fair bit of variety against the challenge of writing for a chordless ensemble. They range from the vintage, Bird-esque bebop of “Pharmacology” to the splayed semi-free improvisations comprising “Openhanded.” In the end, Outside the Line may not be as daring as its title implies, but there is a hunger and diligence that keeps the music taut.Britt Robson JazzTimes
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Normally it’s bad news for a leader-composer when the covers are all better than the originals. But here it is less a problem with the new material and more the virtue of Brendler’s shrewd choices and the quartet’s inspired renditions. Chet Baker’s “Freeway,” most notably performed with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet, was one of the more frenetic songs in the cool-jazz school, and Brendler’s similarly instrumented group embarks on a spirited ride with tenor saxophonist Rich Perry and trumpeter Peter Evans pushing the pace both solo and in tandem. The moment you hear Brendler plunk out the iconic bassline of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” against the brushed shuffle-beats from drummer Vinnie Sperrazza, you wonder why the piece isn’t a jazz standard by now. Evans and Perry both take pleasant rubato turns with the melody and refrain. Last but never least is the foursquare boldness of Ornette Coleman’s “Una Muy Bonita,” with the strutting horns and strumming rhythm section at high alert on parallel planes.
Brendler’s nine originals provide a fair bit of variety against the challenge of writing for a chordless ensemble. They range from the vintage, Bird-esque bebop of “Pharmacology” to the splayed semi-free improvisations comprising “Openhanded.” In the end, Outside the Line may not be as daring as its title implies, but there is a hunger and diligence that keeps the music taut.
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Past Performances
Zach Lapidus-Piano
Billy Drummond-Drums
Jon Irabagon-sax
Zach Lapidus-piano
Kush Abadey-drums
Walt Weiskoph-saxophones
Zach Lapidus-piano
Billy Drummond-drums
RIch Perry-Tenor
Ben Monder-Guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza-Drums
RIch Perry-Tenor
Ben Monder-Guitar
Vinnie Sperrazza-Drums
Rich Perry-tenor
Vinnie Sperrazza-drums
www.keswicktheatre.com
Other Links
Peter Brendler - Drop The Mittens (Live at Cornelia Street Cafe-4/15/14) - YouTube
Peter Brendler - Lawn Darts (Live At Cornelia Street Cafe-4/15/14) - YouTube
Peter Brendler - Freeway (Live at Cornelia Street Cafe-4/15/14) - YouTube
Peter Brendler - Golden Ring (Live at Cornelia Street Cafe-4/15/14) - YouTube
Peter Brendler - Blackout Reunion (Live at Cornelia Street Cafe-4/15/14) - YouTube
As a Leader
The Peter Brendler Quartet
My regular quartet for several years. We mostly perform my original compositions . The band features Rich Perry (saxophone), Peter Evans (trumpet ) Vinnie Sperrazza (drums), and lately, Ben Monder (guitar).
The Peter Brendler/John Abercrombie Duo
Look for the new album on Steeplechase Records in September of 2013!
As a Sideman
The Jon Irabagon Group
Jon’s straight aheadish group w/a rotating cast of pianists and drummers.
The John Abercrombie Trio
John Abercrombie-guitar, Peter Brendler-acoustic bass & Bob Meyer-drums
The Tom Tallitsch Group