$10 Cover @ the Door / Start 1pm / Doors 12:30pm / Seated Show
This will be our first concert under the new name Achilles Heal Saxophone Quartet (previously we were named the Composers Saxophone Quartet).
We play music by members of the group as well as a number of our favorite composers. AHSQ incorporates improvisation into each performance and also brings the subtlety of tone and dynamics that can happen when there are just saxophones involved. We haven't been able to play together since right before the pandemic started and we're so excited to be performing this music again for you.
We'll be premiering a new piece by Dylan Foley who I know from performing together for several years in ENSMB. His music was always my favorite part of the ENSMB repertoire and I'm so excited to be playing his new piece for sax quartet!
We're also premiering a saxophone quartet version of my tune Achilles Heal! Here's the tenor sax/piano version I recorded during the pandemic to give you just a taste before we premier the sax quartet arrangement: youtube.com/ahsq
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New music by: Dylan Foley and Kathy Olson
And music by: Danny Fratina, Rick Stone, Randy Pingrey, & Brian Friedland
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Diane Wernick - alto and soprano saxes
Rick Stone - alto sax
Sean Berry - tenor sax
Kathy Olson - bari sax
Rick Stone
Rick Stone has performed and recorded with musicians and groups including the Either/Orchestra, the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra, the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, Bob Brookmeyer, George Garzone, and John Tchicai. Rick has taught jazz improvisation, ensembles, and ear training at both the New England Conservatory of Music and New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School. Rick is currently teaching 4th-8th grade instrumental music in the Brookline public schools, while maintaining a busy performance schedule with various groups across the Northeast.
Diane Wernick
Diane Wernick teaches at Berklee College of Music in the Ensemble Department, and also has a private instruction studio at the John Payne Music Center in Brookline. She has performed and recorded around the Boston area for the last 25 years and plays in a variety of musical settings including jazz combos, jazz big bands, sax quartets, wind ensembles and musical pit orchestras. Diane has her B.A. in Jazz Ed from North Texas State University and her M.A. in Music Performance from Northern Illinois University.
Sean Berry
Sean Berry is a saxophonist, improviser, composer and educator living in Brooklyn, NY. On the path from his hometown of Pullman, Washington, he spent time in Swansea (Wales, UK), New Hampshire, and Boston, earned degrees in music from Washington State University and The New England Conservatory, and studied, performed, and recorded with a whole bunch of great musicians, including Danilo Pérez, Oliver Lake, Ricky Ford, Chico Freeman, The Makanda Project, Charlie Kohlhase’s Saxophone Support Group, and Achilles Heal Saxophone Quartet. He loves New York for the concentrated access to some of the world’s best food, coffee, music and people, and enjoys seeking those things wherever he travels.
Kathy Olson
Kathy Olson is the leader and founder of the AHSQ and an assistant professor in the Harmony Department at Berklee College of Music. On the baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax, flute, clarinet, and bass clarinet Kathy performs regularly across New England in a variety of musical settings including big bands, combos, balkan brass, and wedding bands. She coleads the Olson Pingrey Quartet with her husband, trombonist Randy Pingrey, and is currently a member of the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, Pete Kenagy's Monkfish Jazz Orchestra, and Conical Cacophony among others.
Dylan Foley
Dylan Foley is a composer and multi-instrumentalist based out of Medford. His compositions have been played by numerous groups from across the US, including his own band, Eight Foot Manchild.