The Brooklyn Jazz Underground surfaces!

For Immediate Release (Brooklyn, NY) – January 2007 will see the birth of The Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a new collective conceived in the spirit of a new, do-it-yourself music industry, and the emergence of myriad independent artists and record labels, spawning a creative boom which counts Brooklyn as one of its bastions of innovation and artistry. The Brooklyn Jazz Underground is a shining example of a vibrant, thriving, creative group that keeps jazz and improvised music perpetually evolving. Individually and collectively, they serve an important role in our culture and society by providing a bustle of composing, playing and teaching that enriches, delights, provokes, inspires and educates. By pooling their resources, and through cooperative effort, the members hope to create a greater awareness of their work.

From January 11th through the 14th at Smalls in Greenwich Village, NYC the group will present their first annual festival to officially launch The Brooklyn Jazz Underground, featuring all ten members leading their own ensembles in performances of original music. The Underground’s first annual compilation CD will also be issued at this time. Other ambitions of the collective include becoming a charitable organization (plans are in the works to contribute to funds to benefit music programs in public schools), and to present a weekly residency in a NYC club featuring members' bands.

Catch members of The Brooklyn Jazz Underground at The IAJE: Panel: The Artists' Collective in Jazz: Unity and Diversity in the New York Scene, Thursday, January 11, 2007, at 4:00 PM, New York Ballroom West - Sheraton Hotel 3rd Floor. Tanya Kalmanovitch (moderator), Alexis Cuadrado and Alan Ferber will be joined by two founding members of the Jazz Composers' Collective, Ben Allison and Frank Kimbrough, to discuss the benefits of artists collectives, as well as the potential problems, to share information about what works, and what doesn't, and to inspire people to establish similar organizations in their local scenes.

Check out www.brooklynjazz.org for bios, mp3s, podcasts, blogs, photos and much more.

The Brooklyn Jazz Underground Launch Festival @ Smalls, January 11-14:

Smalls is located at 183 West 10th Street, at 7th Avenue South

Thursday, JANUARY 11: 8:00 PM: Benny Lackner Trio, 10:00 PM: Shane Endsley Group, 11:30 PM: Tanya Kalmanovitch Hut Five

Friday, JANUARY 12: 10:00 PM Alexis Cuadrado Sextet, 11:30 PM: Alan Ferber Nonet

Saturday, JANUARY 13: 10:00 PM Sunny Jain Collective, 11:30 PM: Dan Pratt Organ Quartet

Sunday, JANUARY 14: 8:00 PM Anne Mette with strings, 10:00 PM Jerome Sabbagh Quartet, 11:30 PM: Ted Poor Trio

For more information contact: Jason Byrne, Red Cat Publicity. 55 92nd Street, Suite C5, Brooklyn, NY 11209, Tel 347-578-7601, email redcatpublicity@aol.com