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Dustin Laurenzi

Chicago saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi has developed a distinctly personal approach to improvisation and composition that has garnered the attention of the city's creative music community. Recognized for his "offbeat approach to articulating harmonies and constructing melodies" (NextBop), Dustin's music is inspired and informed by jazz, folk, improvised music, and contemporary classical music. His wide range of influences and inventive improvisational sensibilities have made him a sought-after musician in many circles of Chicago's rich music scene.

Dustin has been a leader/co-leader of his own projects, Twin Talk, Snaarj, and Natural Language, and a member of the Marquis Hill Blacktet, the Quentin Coaxum Quintet, and Katie Ernst's Little Words, among others. He has released several albums featuring his original compositions, including Twin Talk’s eponymous release, praised by Chicago Jazz Magazine as “a cohesive and original album that brims with a vibrant fluidity and a poetic sense.”

Dustin earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies and a Performer's Certificate from Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in 2011. He has performed or recorded with Jeff Parker, Matt Ulery, Russ Johnson, Jeff Hirshfield, Corey Christiansen, Lil BUB's Big Show, the Dave Lisik Jazz Orchestra featuring Tim Hagans, and has recently been featured at the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and the Kennedy Center. Dustin’s debut album as a leader, Natural Language, will be released in September 2016 on ears&eyes Records.

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4
Album Review

Euan Edmonds: Beyond Hope and Fear

Read "Beyond Hope and Fear" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian


jny: Washington DC-based Trombonist Euan Edmonds is a versatile musician who has performed in diverse settings. He honed his improvisational skills, however, in Chicago's creative music scene. His intriguing debut, Beyond Hope and Fear, on drummer Gustavo Cortinas' Desafio Candente label, features some of the city's most exciting voices in a cohesive sextet. The core of this cinematic album is the eponymous seven-part suite that features the spontaneity of the individual musicians in a dynamic framework. Saxophonist Clark ...

7
Album Review

Twin Talk: Twin Talk Live

Read "Twin Talk Live" reviewed by Mark Corroto


The trio Twin Talk makes music that is best described as stealthfully hip. This Chicago ensemble of drummer Andrew Green, tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi and bassist/vocalist Katie Ernst does not trade in a clamorous and flamboyant sound. Still, in their own way, the trio stands out as expressive and captivating. Their fallaciously titled Twin Talk Live is the trio's third release and it follows Weaver (37d03d, 2019) and a self-titled 2015 disc on Ears&Eyes Records. Each of the ...

67
Album Review

Andrew Vogt: Awakening

Read "Awakening" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


Chicago-based Andrew Vogt's Awakening is a profound exploration of the bass guitar's potential as a melodic and rhythmic force. The album highlights Vogt's exceptional musicianship and compositional skill as he delves into a rich sonic palette. It is a jazz album that feels like a musical journey through a dreamscape, where each track is a different chapter in an unfolding story. The album opens with the melodic title track, “Awakening," which sets a serene yet powerful tone with ...

30
Album Review

Paul Dietrich: 5+4

Read "5+4" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The concept for this latest album by Wisconsin-based trumpeter, composer and educator Paul Dietrich, his fourth as leader, can be found in its title, 5+4, wherein he employs a jazz quintet and four-member string section. It is to Dietrich's credit that neither one outshines the other; the quintet takes the lead on six of the album's eight numbers (all written by Dietrich), the strings on the others ("Out Here," “A Separation"). Indeed, the two components mesh so ...

4
Album Review

Matt Ulery: Mannerist

Read "Mannerist" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


There is a lilting magic to the music of Mannerist that is hard to deny or find fault with. The “Bridge" starts and the whole day changes, eliciting, perhaps, a feeling of being lighter on the feet, lighter in spirit and, most importantly, lighter in the head. Suddenly all the information they want you to swallow goes away and its just you and the music. It is a beautiful thing. It is something bassist/composer/bandleader Matt Ulery sets out to do ...

5
Album Review

Dustin Laurenzi's Natural Language: A Time And A Place

Read "A Time And A Place" reviewed by Mark Corroto


When Chicago tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi dedicates a song “Albert" on A Time And A Place to the the Holy Ghost of the avant- garde, Albert Ayler, he doesn't follow what most impersonators do and scream “ALBERT" at you. He builds upon a simple melody pattern (Ayler-like) patiently magnifying the intensity and fervor. Unlike Ayler, whose music hinted he wouldn't live long (he died at 34), Laurenzi's invocation maintains an equanimity within the eruption. That's just Laurenzi being Laurenzi.

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Album Review

Matt Ulery: Pollinator

Read "Pollinator" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


What a wonderful lift to an otherwise dismal year is Pollinator, Chicago based bassist Matt Ulery's unabashed revelry in swing jazz circa King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. Add a few pops, skips and other random surface noises to the sound of these eight unbridled, hothouse Ulery compositions and you'd swear you were sitting in and listening to the real thing. Because Pollinator sure sounds like your grandad's 78s. Those mysteriously heavy, black platters that set you on this beautiful ...

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“Laurenzi plays with a beguiling cool that belies the sophistication and flexibility of his lines” Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader ​ ​ "Laurenzi’s playing here is superbly winning; it’s like listening to a human voice." Robert Rodi, Newcity Music ​ ​ "Laurenzi plays with a sense of economy, using a strong narrative to make points without the need to show flash." Michael Shanley, Shanley On Music ​ “Laurenzi’s tenor tone has something in common with cool players such as Zoot Sims. However, Laurenzi’s soloing — not aggressively radical, yet still steering clear of any clichés — is more along the lines of fellow Chicagoan Ken Vandermark.” Jack Walton, South Bend Tribune ​ "...Laurenzi instead went for emphasizing those lines that showed an offbeat approach to articulating harmonies and constructing melodies." Alex Marianyi, Nextbop ​ ​ "...a modern voice and a quiet storm." Mike Lebrun, The Woodshed Blog
Primary Instrument

Saxophone, tenor

Willing to teach

Intermediate to advanced

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Twin Talk Live

Shifting Paradigm Records
2025

buy

Awakening

Self Produced
2024

buy

Beyond Hope and Fear

Desafio Candente Records
2024

buy

Mannerist

Woolgathering Records
2023

buy

Cachito

Self Produced
2023

buy

5+4

Shifting Paradigm Records
2023

buy

Violet

From: Beyond Hope and Fear
By Dustin Laurenzi

Big Talk

From: Natural Language
By Dustin Laurenzi

Videos

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