Alan Lewine’s Azxtet at The Nash

Alan Lewine’s AZXtet [sometimes THE ALAN LEWINE XTET] presents some of the finest players in Arizona playing an exciting mix of hard-hitting jazz drawing on the entire history of the genre, with an emphasis on the 3 Big Ms: Mingus, Monk and Morton (Jelly Roll) – M cubed – M3 – with a heavy emphasis on the sound of the Mingus ensembles of the early-mid-sixties in this his centennial year. The Xtet performs many original compositions and covers of classics with an original take or arrangement. The Xtet draws on the classic jazz sound of the 60s, with reference to the tradition of simultaneous improvisation that characterized the early days of the music and the African roots that helped to spawn it...

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Alan Lewine’s AZXtet [sometimes THE ALAN LEWINE XTET] presents some of the finest players in Arizona playing an exciting mix of hard-hitting jazz drawing on the entire history of the genre, with an emphasis on the 3 Big Ms: Mingus, Monk and Morton (Jelly Roll) – M cubed – M3 – with a heavy emphasis on the sound of the Mingus ensembles of the early-mid-sixties in this his centennial year. The Xtet performs many original compositions and covers of classics with an original take or arrangement. The Xtet draws on the classic jazz sound of the 60s, with reference to the tradition of simultaneous improvisation that characterized the early days of the music and the African roots that helped to spawn it. Bearing in mind the words of Jelly Roll Morton, that “It’s not jazz without a Spanish (he meant Cuban) tinge”, the Xtet also incorporates boleros, habaneras, salsa and bossa nova into the book as well as varied influences from around the world. Firmly rooted in the many-splendored traditions of the music called jazz, the Xtet continues to grow and explore and import influences from around the world, including flamenco, North African, Balinese gamelan and Latin American. What is an Xtet? Generally appearing as a sextet, the Xtet represents an organization of players that more or less of them may appear at any time depending on the opportunity. So, regardless of size, the Xtet has one name based on the algebraic unknown: “X”. (Also the MPAA assigned this rating to the ensemble.) Alan Lewine plays bass, leads the ensemble, composes many of the tunes and arrangements, and gives the AZXtet direction with substantial input from every player involved.

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