Allison, Cardenas and Nash | Jazz at the Athenaeum Winter 2025

Friday, March 7, 2025

7:30 PM

The series continues Friday, March 7, with a San Diego debut by Allison, Cardenas & Nash, a collective trio of top New York City–based artists bassist Ben Allison, guitarist Steve Cardenas, and saxophonist Ted Nash. The trio weave musical conversations that are full of subtlety and surprise. They have released four albums including their latest, Tell the Birds I Said Hello: The Music of Herbie Nichols, which features previously unknown music by Nichols, an underpraised pianist-composer often compared to Thelonious Monk.

The trio is modeled after reedist-composer Jimmy Giuffre’s drummer-less groups of the 1950s and 60s. As jazz was becoming more expressionistic and at times bombastic, musicians like Giuffre were going in the opposite direction. They were envisioning quieter music that maintained elements of blues and folk, while also embracing the emerging qualities of free playing. JazzTimes recognized Allison as, “a visionary composer, adventurous improviser, and strong organizational force on the New York City jazz scene.” Nash is a Grammy-winning artist known for his long tenure with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. DownBeat called him “one of the most together saxophonists of his generation.”