Talking with jazz pianist and composer Bryan Nichols

Bryan Nichols by John Whiting

It’s a good time to be Bryan Nichols. Earlier this year, he won a prestigious McKnight Artist Fellowship for Performing Musicians. He’s about to go into the studio for his first two recordings as leader. He just bought a new piano, a Boston grand, replacing his ancient Steinway upright.

He has his own trio, quartet, quintet, and large group (called We Are Many) and plays in several other bands including Gang Font, Off the Map, the James Buckley Trio, and the Zacc Harris Quartet. Plus he and his wife, optometrist Marcie Nichols, are expecting their first child in July.

His quintet—Nichols on piano, Michael Lewis and Brandon Wozniak on saxophones, Eric Fratzke (stepping in for James Buckley) on bass, JT Bates on drums—will play the Artists’ Quarter in St. Paul this weekend. We spoke about music and musicians, McKnights and composing.

PLE: Why a quintet?

Bryan Nichols: One of the things I love about music is the social aspect. I like the possibilities of having more musicians, more interaction. We’d been playing as a quartet with a mixed cast—[saxophonists] Mike Lewis or Brandon Wozniak, [bassists] Adam Linz or James Buckley, [drummers] JT Bates or sometimes Sean Carey. Brandon and Mike have such interesting individual styles and musical approaches that I thought, maybe I should try to get both of them when they’re in town. So that solidified the concept. It offers opportunities for things to happen that wouldn’t otherwise. And if someone’s gone—if Mike is out with [Andrew] Bird or Brandon’s gone with the Dave King Trucking Company—we can do a quartet.

Dan Musselman, pianoman

When Dan Musselman plays piano, he means it. That was my first impression the first time I saw him live, playing an electronic keyboard at the Hat Trick Lounge in St. Paul. At the time, I wished he were playing an acoustic grand; I wanted to hear more piano sound than the amp was delivering.

Musselman is a serious guy—serious about music, focused on building a career. He started playing piano at age 5, took lessons along the way with people like Kenny Werner and Craig Taborn, listened to a lot of Keith Jarrett and Joanne Brackeen, graduated summa cum laude from McNally Smith College of Music in April 2008 with a degree in piano performance (and the school’s Outstanding Student Award), and released his first solo CD that month, Ruminations, a collection of all-original improvisations.

That was gutsy. Most debut recordings include standards and other familiar tunes, known quantities that serve as safe havens while you’re trying to decide if you like what you’re hearing. (“Introducing Brad Mehldau” is more than half standards.) On Ruminations, Musselman tosses you into the briar patch with the first track, “Liberation,” a big, two-handed piece that packs a lot of emotion into just under four minutes. “With this recording, I tried to play emotionally,” Musselman told Andrea Canter last September. Put it on as background music and you’ll soon get pulled into paying attention—to the dark and anxious “Depraved,” the romantic “Respiration,” the exotic “Incantation” (which starts with a hint of “Concierto de Aranjuez”), and the rest of this impressive collection. You can hear his classical training in his touch and phrasing.

Musselman has been playing out a lot around the cities with vocalists and other musicians; he and singer Rachel Holder released their own CD earlier this year, Save Your Love for Me. For more than a year he and a group of other musicians have opened for the Tuesday Night Band at the AQ. Now he’s out with his own quartet, as leader, playing the major clubs in town. On July 30 they performed at the Dakota; tomorrow night, August 12, they’re at the AQ.

We caught only part of the July 30 show because of prior commitments on either side. Enough to hear how the quartet—Musselman on piano, Brandon Wozniak on sax, Adam Linz on bass, Jay Epstein on drums—holds together (as if there was ever any doubt), and also how Musselman sounds on an acoustic grand (much better, thanks). I like all of these musicians very much and enjoyed the music and the vibe. We heard several Musselman originals—“On the Way” (if I got that right), “Crystal Moments,” “Incantation” from the solo CD, a tune called “Maze,” and a lovely version of Mehldau’s “When It Rains.” The quartet was happy and so was the crowd. I’m up for more.

Photos by John Whiting. T to b: Dan Musselman, Brandon Wozniak, Adam Linz, Jay Epstein

Monk in Motian

When: Saturday, July 12, 2008 • Where: Dakota • Who: Brandon Wozniak, tenor saxophone; Zacc Harris, guitar; Park Evans, guitar; Jeremy Boettcher, bass; Pete Hennig, drums

The idea behind Monk in Motian: to interpret the music of Thelonious Monk as interpreted by drummer Paul Motian, who played briefly with Monk and in 1988 released an album called Monk in Motian.

Have we come full circle? Nothing about Monk is that easy.

Monk in Motian (the album) features Motian on drums, Bill Frisell on guitar, and Joe Lovano on saxophone, with guests Geri Allen on piano and Dewey Redman on saxophone. Monk in Motian (the group) chose to approach Monk’s music as if performed by Motian’s Electric Bebop Band, a group without a pianist.

An interesting choice given that Monk was a pianist.

It’s a late-night show at the Dakota and the crowd is good. I have enough trouble remembering the names of Monk compositions when keyboards are involved, but I hear familiar phrases. When I ask a friend, “What was that tune?” the answer is “Ask Me Now,” a “Who’s on first?” response that also happens to be the name of the tune.

The music is complex and satisfying, quirky and layered, full of Monkish twists and turns. The group works hard to play it. The person who seems to be having the most fun is Hennig at the drums.

Monk in Motian (the group) has a MySpace page with several selections (“Evidence,” “Brilliant Corners,” “Misterioso,” “Oska T”) I’m assuming were recorded at the show we saw. They’re scheduled to play the Dakota late-night series again on October 10. Let's hope that means the group is a going concern. I want to hear more.

Photo by John Whiting.

Late-Night All Stars

When: 3/28/08
Where: Dakota
Who: Kelly Rossum (trumpet), Brandon Wozniak (tenor sax), Tasha Baron (piano), Chris Bates (bass), Jay Epstein (drums)

It’s already a long night: 7 Black Butterflies followed by Prezens at the Walker, then the final set of Irvin Mayfield’s sextet at the Dakota. It’s after midnight and we’re going home. Then Kelly Rossum and Chris Bates walk past the bar. They’re here to play so we stay.



I haven’t seen Wozniak before; he plays around town with Atlantis Quartet and The 3Rio. I learn from his MySpace page that he spent six months working in a jazz club in Shanghai. I like his sound. Tasha Baron is new to me, too; our friends Ben&Amy tell us she’s with Black Blondie. MySpace says she’s also with Hips Don’t Lie and Sferic Witch.



This is the first time these five have played together. Dan Eikmeier, who books the late-night shows, pulled them together and it works. They start with Kenny Garrett’s “Sing a Song of Song,” end with something called (I think) “Play It Twice.” It’s Late Night so there’s a lot of chitchat, even at our table, but I’m glad we stayed.