6:00 PM Doors 7:30 PM Show

ALEX LAURENZI - Saxophone
Noah Halpern - Trumpet
Joe Block - Piano
Dan Finn - Bass
Christain McGhee - Drums

Alex Laurenzi (b. 1998) is a saxophonist, composer, arranger, and educator from Mountain Lakes, NJ. He was a student of Jazz House Kids and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Jazz Program, working with teachers such as Mike Lee, Bruce Williams, Oscar Perez, Ted Chubb, Julius Tolentino, Radam Schwartz, Michele Rosewoman, Jim Saltzman, and Jeremy Manasia. A graduate of African-American history at Princeton University in 2020, Alex was an active member of the Jazz Program during all four years, working with Rudresh Mahanthappa, Darcy James Argue, and Ralph Bowen. Alex received the Isidore and Helen Sacks Memorial Prize from the Princeton Music Department for his contributions to the musical community at Princeton.

His awards include two Downbeat Student Soloist Awards, 2016 for High School Best Soloist and 2013 for Junior High School Best Soloist, runner-up in the 2019 Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, two honorable mentions from YoungArts Foundation, and two soloist awards from the Essentially Ellington Competition and Festival. Alex was a member of the 2015 Grammy Jazz Session Big Band, the award-winning Jazz House Kids Big Band for three years, and toured Peru in April 2016 with a select group from Jazz House Kids on behalf of the U.S. Embassy. Since moving to New York in 2020, he has performed at venues such as Dizzy’s, Birdland, the Django, Room 623, Drom, Close Up, and the Iridium with his trio and his sextet, along with the Christian McBride Big Band, Rachel Z, the Ed Palermo Big Band, the George Gee Orchestra, and many of his peers. He was the music director for the Jazz House All-Stars with their engagement on the Blue Note at Sea Cruise in January 2023.

Alex spent most of his summers during college traveling and composing for mixed chamber ensembles. In 2019, Alex received funding to compose a suite based off of Claude Monet’s Nymphéas in the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris. His “Waterlilies Suite” debuted in late August of that year and after a brief hiatus during the pandemic, his new-look sextet brought the piece back to life in late 2022. He was also a participant in the Lake George Music Festival’s Composer’s Institute in August 2022, where he wrote his first piece for string quartet, and the Ravinia Jazz Fellows program in 2023 led by Rufus Reid, Billy Childs, and Steve Wilson. He won a Herb Alpert ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award in 2024 for his song “Do You See My Brother and My Sister?”

In addition to his performing and composing, Alex hopes to continue his scholarship in jazz history, both adding to the field and using his studies to inform his music-making. His senior thesis, “Freedom to Freedom Now! The Expansion of Jazz’s Political Tradition During the Civil Rights Movement,” looks at the ways artists like Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and musicians in the “avant-garde” engaged critically and musically with the politics of their moment.

Alex’s career in the arts has also developed into education and curation. In addition to maintaining a private instruction studio, he is junior faculty at Jazz House Kids, where he has taught at their Montclair program, their newer New York-based program at Trinity Church, and their flagship Summer Workshop. He has also held many administrative roles for the organization, including Interim Student Services Manager, Alumni Relations Liaison, and most recently Artist Relations Liaison. As Alumni Relations Liaison, he has produced and hosted the Alumni Stage at the Montclair Jazz Festival from 2021-2023. From 2021-2024, he served as the booker for Room 623, a speakeasy based in Harlem, and he currently works for WBGO 88.3 in a similar role, programming public concerts including their longstanding Kids Jazz series as the Education Programs Coordinator.

This event is All Ages

Seating is first-come, first-served; the last 10 spots in the room are standing room. ALL SALES ARE FINAL. WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCOMMODATE SWITCHING SETS OR DAYS.

ALEX LAURENZI - Noah Halpern - Joe Block - Dan Finn - Christain McGhee - Set 1

ALEX LAURENZI - Noah Halpern - Joe Block - Dan Finn - Christain McGhee - Set 1