The Julian Gerstin Sextet includes some of New England’s most creative talents: clarinet virtuoso Anna Patton; versatile trumpeter Don Anderson; pianist Eugene Uman, who ranges across traditions and from funky grooves to experimentalism; bassist Wes Brown, whose career spans gigs with early jazz master Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines to avant-gardists like Wadada Leo Smith and Anthony Braxton; Ben James, who was John Tchicai’s drummer for several years and can both swing and go wild.

Julian Gerstin has spent a lifetime playing music of the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and the U.S. — funk, R&B, and jazz. He’s lived and studied in Martinique, Cuba and Ghana, mastering dozens of percussion instruments and hundreds of traditional rhythms. On a given song you might hear him playing congas, jawbone, an enormous beaded shaker, or the tanbou drum of Martinique on which he sits and uses his heel to change the pitch.

Gerstin founded the Sextet to bring his wide range of instruments and influences to a jazz setting, where they serve as a platform for his fellow musicians’ creativity.

This is global jazz: music with lively Caribbean drums and sparkling trumpet, velvety clarinet and muscular piano. Music by turns lyrical and humorous, intense and peaceful, grooving and thoughtful, and always surprising.

“Global sensibilities on full display… Infusing jazz composition and instrumentation with his worldly orientation and rhythmic arsenal, Gerstin teases out the African and Caribbean elements so prevalent in jazz.” — JazzIz Magazine

“Full of danceable grooves, along with swirling irresistible ensemble playing and strong solos that are easy to listen to but far from being easy listening music… A magical musical stew.” — Ron Weinstock, Jazz and Blues Report

Julian Gerstin Sextet at Stage 33 Live, 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, VT, on Sunday, September 29, 2024, at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $20 in advance through stage33live.com or at the door. Advance tickets guarantee entry. Limited seating; the performance will be recorded and filmed.

Stage 33 Live is a casual and intimate industrial-rustic listening room in a former factory hosting local, regional, and national performances and presentations of original material. No bar or kitchen, the stage is the mission; coffee / soda / juice / water and weird snacks available by donation. More info about the nonprofit, all-volunteer project, and this and other upcoming events, online at stage33live.com

Stage 33 Live gratefully acknowledges the help of so many individuals without whom none of this would be able to happen, and institutional support this season from The Island Corporation, the Vermont Arts Council, Guilford Sound, WOOL-FM, the Rockingham Arts & Museum Project, and Chroma Technologies to help fund improvements and maintenance, and generally smooth out a lot of the rough edges. Stage 33 Live is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and all donations are deductible to the fullest extent. Volunteers run the thing from stem to stern.