Celebrate Bud Powell at 101 with Austin Cebulske Quartet

Born Sept 24, 1924, Bud Powell would turn 101 in 2025. This concert celebrates the colorful music of master Bud Powell, while also bringing his sonic conception into the 21st century. With reimagined arrangements of Bud’s music and original compositions inspired by Bud, listeners will experience the musical innovations of Bud Powell in a fresh and invigorating context.

Featuring Austin Cebulske on saxophone, Dave Stohler on piano, John Christensen and bass, and Wayne Saltzmann on drums, this concert will breath new life into the majestic beauty of one of America’s most important composers.

Pianist Bud Powell is heralded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century and a pioneer in establishing the language of bebop, which has since become the dominant vernacular through which all of jazz music is communicated. The fierce, yet inherently joyful energy exhibited in Bud’s music has shaped the playing of countless jazz musicians, from Bill Evans to John Scofield and beyond. The rich harmonic language that he developed in the 1940s has become cemented in jazz history as a clear demarcation point which jazz critics credit as, “greatly extending the range of jazz harmony.”
His compositions are a direct incarnation of this visionary musical conception and there is an astoundingly swift evolution over the course of Bud’s short career apparent in his writing. While tunes like, “Bouncin’ with Bud,” and “I’ll Keep Loving You” are now recognized as pillars of the jazz standard repertoire, many other compositions are underrepresented in the current jazz canon. Tunes like “Glass Enclosure” and “Tempus Fugit” display a thorough mastery of Western harmony and clearly indicate the direction jazz was headed as it moved towards the post-bop of the 1960’s.

Austin Cebulske is a saxophonist, educator, and composer hailing from the historically and culturally vibrant music scene of St. Louis, Missouri. He is currently residing in Madison, WI, where he serves as Lecturer of Saxophone & Music at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He leads an organ trio, Soul Impressions, his own jazz trio, and performs as a sideman in a diverse array of music ensembles in the Madison area.

As a performer, Austin has released several albums as a leader, including a self-titled debut with his quartet in 2020 and a trio record, Slophouse, in 2021. He can also be heard as a sideman on recordings with artists like the Funky Butt Brass Band, Drew Zaremba’s Big Band, & the Zach Rich Sextet. Throughout his career, Austin has been privileged to perform with such luminaries as Sheila Jordan, Vincent Gardner, Donald Harrison, Carmen Bradford, Dick Oatts, Rodney Whitaker and Marquis Hill. His extensive performance history has led him throughout Europe and across much of the United States, including to such iconic venues as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz At the Bistro, Frederick P. Rose Hall at Lincoln Center and Dazzle Denver.
Austin holds a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Performance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, a M.A. in Jazz Studies from Northern Illinois University, and is currently finishing a D.A. in Jazz Studies from the University of Northern Colorado. His dissertation focuses on the colorful improvisational vocabulary of George Coleman.

https://www.austincebulskejazz.com/

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