"Nostalgia In Times Square" - Adam Czerepinski Sextet: Adam Czerepinski (Trumpet), Kurt Bacher (Alto Saxophone), Jake Saslow (Tenor Saxophone), Soren Moller (Piano), Dave Hertzberg (Bass), Justin Walke (Drums)
"Joyful Noise" - Bob Albanese Group: Kurt Bacher (Soprano Saxophone), Bob Albanese (Piano), John Benitez (Bass), Obed Calvaire (Drums), various other ens. players
"Duet (Part II and III)" - Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra: Kurt Bacher (Composer, Arranger, and Conductor)
"Soul Eyes" - Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic: Kurt Bacher (Alto Saxophone, Arranger/Orchestrator)
Bacher's Eleven (11-Piece Jazz Orchestra):
Kurt Bacher (Alto Saxophone, Woodwinds, Composer, Arranger, Leader), Dominick Lalli (Tenor Saxophone, Clarinet), Walter Blanding, Jr. (Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet), Felipe Salles (Baritone Saxophone, Woodwinds), Michael Rodriguez (Trumpet, Flugelhorn), Marcus Printup (Trumpet, Flugelhorn), Vincent Gardner (Trombone), Max Siegel (Bass Trombone, Tuba), Harold O'Neal (Piano), Steve Kirby (Bass), Obed Calvaire (Drums)
Influences
John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Gil Evans, Ted Nash, Yusef Lateef, Branford Marsalis, Billy Strayhorn, Julian Adderley, Manny Albam, Michael Abene, Pamela Watson, Slide Hampton, Maurice Ravel, Lucky Thompson, Oliver Nelson, Wynton Marsalis, Ahmad Jamal, Mark Gross, Dayna Stephens, Bobby Watson, Greg Tardy, Andy Farber, Sherisse Rogers, Ben Allison, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Sonny Rollins, Hank Mobley, Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Stefon Harris, Oliver Nelson, Freddie Hubbard, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Dexter Gordon, Joe Chambers, Slide Hampton, Joe Henderson, Bob Freedman, Charles Pillow, Liang Wang, Hubert Laws, Julius Baker, Harold Wright, Dave Holland, Terence Blanchard, Rich Perry, Dave Pietro, Ben Kono, Vincent Herring, Eric Reed, Frank Kimbrough, Cyrus Chestnut, Jason Moran, Garnett Brown, Maria Schneider, Kurt Weill, Ravel, Brahms, Paul Creston, Stravinsky, Bartok, Schönberg, Sade, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Cassandra Wilson, Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, Johnny Hartman, Eryka Badu, Kurt Elling, Sarah Vaugn, Nancy Wilson
Kurt Bacher, saxophonist, multi-woodwind player, composer and arranger, is a
native of Foxboro, Massachusetts. Born in 1981, he started studying piano at the age
of six and saxophone at age eleven. During his high school years, he received
Outstanding Soloist awards for alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, and clarinet at
the national "Essentially Ellington" Festival at Lincoln Center while performing with
the renowned, award-winning Foxboro High School Jazz Ensemble directed by
Stephen C Massey, and was selected for the 2000 Grammy Foundation's National
High School Jazz Ensemble. After high school, Mr. Bacher enrolled at the Manhattan
School of Music where he studied composition with Manny Albam and Michael Abene,
and reeds with Joe Temperley. While at the Manhattan School of Music, he was the
recipient of the Fran Morgenstern Scholarship from ASCAP, as well as the "Manny
Albam Prize," both awards in recognition of his promise as a jazz composition
student. He studied privately with Ted Nash, while also receiving encouragement and
mentorship in composition from Wynton Marsalis. Some of Mr. Bacher's other
mentors have included Ed Green, Yusef Lateef, David Liebman, Michael Patterson,
Hal Crook, Kenny Reid, George Murphy, Steve Slagle, Dave Pietro, Mark Vinci, Mark
Gross, Charles Russo, Mark Miller and Charles Pillow.
In 2000, Mr. Bacher composed an original extended piece for jazz orchestra, which
had been commissioned by New York City’s Commission Project. His jazz ballet,
"Four Point Three", premiered on April 4, 2001, at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall,
where the work was performed in concert by the New York All-City High School Jazz
Ensemble directed by Justin DiCioccio. The ballet was then performed with original
choreography by Elisa King performed by the LaGuardia High School Senior Dance
Class accompanied by the NY All-City HSJE in June of 2001 at the LaGuardia HS for
the performing Arts. Mr. Bacher leads his own eleven-piece jazz orchestra, which
recorded a two-CD album in 2003, featuring nine of his original compositions and
arrangements. Most recently, Mr. Bacher was commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln
Center to compose an original work for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra to be
featured on a concert series in the spring of 2008, along with original works from
legendary saxophonist Frank Foster. The resulting work, “Duet” was
premiered at Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center on March 13, 14, and 15 of 2008
during the “Songs of Romance” concert series.
Mr. Bacher lives in New York City and has performed and/or recorded with Wynton
Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Steve Kirby, Eric Lewis, Cyrus Chestnut, Edy Martinez,
John Benitez, Luis Bonilla, Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, Marcus Printup, Aaron Diehl, Cody Moffett, Milt Grayson, Jon Hendricks, Aria Hendricks, Judi Silvano, Valery Ponomarev, Clark Terry, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Wynton Marsalis Septet, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, JoJo, Johnny Mathis, Frankie Valli, The Impressions, Joe Piscopo, David
Cassidy, Alexander K, Boz Scaggs, Bobby Short, David Berger, Vince Giordano, Andy
Farber, Lavay Smith, Sherisse Rogers' Project Uprising, the Russ Kassoff Big Band, David Angel, Chuck Flory, John Allmark,
the Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Gene Krupa Orchestra, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra,
the Stan Rubin Orchestra, the Howard Williams Jazz Orchestra, JC Hopkins, Mike
Fahie, Ron Sunshine, the Pratt Brothers Big Band, The Boy from Oz starring Hugh
Jackman on Broadway, The Dancers Life starring Chita Rivera, Hot Feet, Jersey Boys, In The Heights, Gypsy starring Patti LuPone, and many others. His saxophone and various woodwinds can be heard on television commercials, jingles, and as samples on many pop and R&B recordings. An accomplished reed doubler, Mr. Bacher is proficient on all the saxophones, flutes, clarinets, and the oboe and english horn.
Mr. Bacher received his B.M. in composition from the Manhattan School of Music, and
is currently pursuing his M.M. there. Also a committed music educator, Mr. Bacher
has taught saxophone, flute and clarinet privately for ten years, and has been on the
faculty of the Foxboro Music Program's Summer Improvisation Workshop for seven years. He has also taught woodwind instruments in the New York City public schools through the New York Pops Education Program. As a guest artist, Mr. Bacher has performed and given masterclasses/clinics on the topics of jazz improvisation and saxophone playing throughout New England and the greater New York City area. He was the conductor for the 2005-2006
Massachussetts SE Jr. District Jazz Ensemble, which performed in concert on March
11th, 2006.
Mr. Bacher has performed in such diverse venues as the Village Vanguard, Dizzy's
Club Coca-Cola, Birdland, Jazz Standard, Upover Jazz Cafe, Lenox Lounge,
Cleopatra's Needle, Fat Cat, Smoke, Makor, Triad, Jazz Gallery, Bowery Poetry Club,
Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Brooklyn Academy
of Music, Symphony Hall in Boston, the Kennedy Center, the Verizon-Kimmel Center
in Philadelphia and the Staples Center. Mr. Bacher toured the U.S. with the Lincoln
Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for its "Out Here To Swing" tour in 2003.
He also played with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for their Art Blakey tribute
concert, "The Big Beat - The Music of Art Blakey" in 2002, and the JVC Newport Jazz
Festival Summer 2004. Mr. Bacher can be seen in the PBS documentary
commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, as well as on
"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" performing with the "Jersey Boys" Band. He
maintains a very active performance schedule in the greater New York City area and
beyond.
