On September 15, Thursday Night Jazz at Reverie presents the Omar Adbulkarim Quartet, a band of stars across two generations.
Omar Abdulkarim has been playing trumpet since the early age of 14 months. Omar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the renowned New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He has shared the stage with Roy Hargrove, Redman, Method Man, KRS-ONE and Talib Kweli to mention a few. Omar has also had the pleasure of performing with Nicholas Payton’s Television Studio Orchestra and Valerie Ponomarev’s Big Band. Omar has written and recorded with Lauryn Hill and Jose James. His Influences include: Fats Navarro, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, John Coltrane and Lee Morgan. After living in New York for 11years, where he completed the undergraduate program at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, Omar has recently moved back to Minnesota where he is currently composing new music for his upcoming album, performing with Source Code and the Minnesota Hard Bop Collective, and more.
Alto saxophonist Jabari Powell recently relocated to the Twin Cities from Chicago, where he studied jazz at Columbia College. He’s been a regular participant in “Solomon’s Sessions,” led by Solomon Parham at the Bedlam, as well as performing with Rodney Ruckus, Pippi Ardennia, Steven Hobert, and more.
Twin Cities native Anthony Cox studied bass at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, then headed to New York, building a reputation that took him on tour with Stan Getz. In the early 90s, he returned to the Twin Cities but his career has hardly been limited by his residence. Over the years, Cox has worked and/or recorded with Joe Lovano, Sam Rivers, Dewey Redman, Geri Allen, Arthur Blythe, and Uri Caine, playing upright acoustic, electric and Spanish acoustic bass, as well as cello. With Bill Carrothers and Jay Epstein, he has performed and recorded as Easy Company, and recently has appeared at the Icehouse, Dakota, Black Dog and Jazz Central. He leads several ensembles including DD7 and the Regional Jazz Trio, and is a member of the Atrium Jazz Ensemble, with whom he recently debuted “The Rage of Achilles” at Orchestra Hall, co-written with Jeremy Walker.
A Florida native, Rodney Ruckus started playing drums at the age of two in church, and also picked up piano and bass. He was introduced to jazz at age 14 in his middle school music program after moving from Miami to Sarasota, FL. Attending the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship, he was selected as drummer for The Grammys in the Schools Foundation. After completing studies at Berklee, he received an Art Blakey Jazz Messengers Presidential Scholarship to the McNally Smith College of Music. He’s been on stage with such jazz luminaries as Tia Fuller, Ralph Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Billy Childs, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, Roy Hargrove, Wynton Marsalis, and Charles Lloyd. Locally, Rodney has performed with the Solomon Parham-Steve Kenny Quintet at the 2016 Winter Jazz Festival, with the Steve Kenny Quartet, with Anthony Cox’s Open Range Quartet at the Black Dog, and with is own ensembles at Jazz Central Studios, Reverie and more. He’s also appeared with Solomon Parham at The Bedlam.
Thursday Night Jazz at Reverie takes place at 1931 Nicollet Ave (at the corner of Franklin and Nicollet), formerly The Nicollet. Weekly schedule available at www.thursdaynightjazzatreverie.info.
