Alon Nechustan’s Venture Bound Quintet

Matt Renzi and Jesse Levit, reeds; Alon Nechustan, piano; Sam Bevan, bass; Gregg Wyser-Pratte, drums

DOWNBEAT writes: “Alon Nechushtan’s Venture Bound is based in New York City. The group has opened for Jazz legend Tony Bennett and played at every major stage in New York City and the U.S including Carnegie Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Blue Note Jazz Club, Kennedy Center, Merkin Hall, The Central Park Bandshell, Brooklyn Bandshell, showcasing ‘compelling chemistry in abundance’.”

JAZZ TIMES writes: “The single most salient fact about current jazz is its ongoing globalization. Jazz is an open-ended, self-renewing art form that draws strength from sources far outside itself. Example: Venture Bound. It is hardcore, up-to-the-minute small-ensemble jazz with a unique sonic signature. Alon Nechushtan was born in Tel Aviv. On “The Gratitude Suite,” the formal chiming of his piano introduction is overtaken by wheeling klezmer rhythms when the band kicks in. On “Dark Damsel,” Brahim Brigbane’s fidgeting oud, old and exotic and Middle Eastern, creates sinuous counterpoint with Nechushtan’s freeform 21st-century piano. “Pome(grenades)” starts as a headlong thrust, but then it careens back on itself, like a Balkan circle dance.”

Venture Bound’s touring schedule includes frequent appearances in the Red Hook Jazz Festival, Chicago World Music Days, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Baltimore, along with the once-prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in its true golden era, which commissioned Alon Nechustan and his group to perform a special tribute to Billy Strayhorn on Strayhorn’s 100th birthday. This September, Alon has booked a run of key Bay Area jazz venues that concludes with their Bird & Beckett appearance.

$25 cover charge; byob
Students $10

For a reservation, call the bookshop at 415-586-3733

Check out Venture Bound’s last Bird & Beckett show, in February of this year: