Ryan Keberle, Frank Woeste, Vincent Courtois at Arcata Playhouse

Jazz and chamber music are gracefully intertwined by Reverso, a collaboration between American trombonist Ryan Keberle and Paris-based pianist Frank Woeste, that traces its overlapping musical inspiration to early 20th century French composers Maurice Ravel and those collectively known as Les Six. Keberle and Woeste, both talented composers, conceived Reverso through support from a French-American Jazz Exchange grant. They are joined by the talents of Erik Friedlander on cello and Jimmy MacBride on drums at the Lakewood Cultural Center on Feb. 29.

The ensemble draws particular inspiration from Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” in homage to the seminal French classical composer who was inspired by jazz and, in turn, his music inspired jazz musicians. The suite incorporates Ravel’s original melodic, harmonic and rhythmic material while redefining the movements within Reverso’s unique and lush compositional languages. The performance shows that the boundaries between jazz and classical have become even more porous in today’s music world since the styles began to intersect more than 100 years ago. “I love the chamber music vibe that we have with this band,” says Woeste. “Of course, this is jazz because it’s very improvised, but at the same time you can hear the classical background in it.”...

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Jazz and chamber music are gracefully intertwined by Reverso, a collaboration between American trombonist Ryan Keberle and Paris-based pianist Frank Woeste, that traces its overlapping musical inspiration to early 20th century French composers Maurice Ravel and those collectively known as Les Six. Keberle and Woeste, both talented composers, conceived Reverso through support from a French-American Jazz Exchange grant. They are joined by the talents of Erik Friedlander on cello and Jimmy MacBride on drums at the Lakewood Cultural Center on Feb. 29.

The ensemble draws particular inspiration from Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” in homage to the seminal French classical composer who was inspired by jazz and, in turn, his music inspired jazz musicians. The suite incorporates Ravel’s original melodic, harmonic and rhythmic material while redefining the movements within Reverso’s unique and lush compositional languages. The performance shows that the boundaries between jazz and classical have become even more porous in today’s music world since the styles began to intersect more than 100 years ago. “I love the chamber music vibe that we have with this band,” says Woeste. “Of course, this is jazz because it’s very improvised, but at the same time you can hear the classical background in it.”

Music for the performance will also be drawn from Reverso’s upcoming album “The Melodic Line” (to be released on OutNote Records on Feb. 14). This work digs even deeper into the possibilities of classical/jazz cross-pollination by looking into the music of Les Six, whose members included Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, Arthur Honneger and the sole female member of the group Germaine Tailleferre.

Keberle, a featured soloist with the Maria Schneider Orchestra, has distinguished himself among jazz’s most adventurous new voices. Woeste, a graduate of the Paris Conservatory, has won international jazz competitions and the Steinway Prize at the Montreux. A prolific solo artist, Courtois has recorded numerous albums for the legendary ECM record label.

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