After many years working together with Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood, John Medeski and John Scofield will once again join forces, this time with a new group bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jack DeJohnette. The project’s name–Hudson–is a tribute to New York’s Hudson Valley, which all four members of the band call home.
The quartet finished recording a studio album (slated for a summer 2017 release) and has announced a run of tour dates. Stops include club shows across the U.S. and Canada, as well as sets at Playboy Jazz Festival in L.A., Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival in Saratoga Springs, NY, Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, RI, and more. You can find a full list of upcoming Hudson dates here.
The members of Hudson originally came together in 2014 to perform at the Woodstock Jazz Festival. According to DeJohnette in an interview with DownBeat, “There is a kindred spirit in the Hudson Valley. There are many musicians who live in the area who represent a variety of genres. In recent years, we have only been able to collaborate locally on occasion due to our individual musical obligations, but the fact remains that there’s a common language that we all speak—something that emerges from our shared environment and our shared surroundings.”
Adds Medeski, “The Hudson Valley puts the gentle beauty and power of very old mountains and an incredible river estuary within reach of one of the most powerful, international, creative centers in the world—New York City. I think each of us, in our own way, uses these forces as tools to keep us creative and growing.”
“The musicians who migrated up this way from the City were not escaping the music,” explains Grenadier, “They were looking for a way to go deeper into it. The space and the atmosphere of the area create an ideal place to find the music within. We all travel and play so much around the world that when we are home, we’re in a place that’s full of quietude and we have room to search for the beauty and space within music.”
[h/t – DownBeat]