Festival Event · Saturday, July 25, 2026 · 5:30 PM

Paul Bollenback brings his quintet to the 31st Litchfield Jazz Festival Mainstage with a group that is rooted in the Litchfield Jazz Camp family. Joining him are Alejandra Williams on piano, Conway Campbell on bass, Albert Rivera on saxophone, and Jerome Jennings on drums. Every member of this group serves on the Litchfield Jazz Camp faculty, and Alejandra, Conway, and Albert were all Jazz Campers themselves. Albert also serves as the Camp’s long-time Director of Operations.

Meet the Artist: Paul Bollenback

George Benson has described Paul Bollenback’s work as “bona-fide playing, unambiguous, up-front and powerful.” Benson ranks high on Paul’s own list of major influences, alongside guitarists Carlos Santana, Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, John McLaughlin, and Jimi Hendrix, and the giants of improvisation and composition, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Wayne Shorter, and John Coltrane.

Paul was raised in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. His father, a classically trained trumpeter, handed his 7-year-old a nylon-string guitar and a world of inspiration. When Paul was 11, his family relocated to New Delhi, where he developed a lifelong interest in the exotic sounds and timbres that are evident in his music today. Back in New York, he picked up the electric guitar, started gigging in local rock-and-roll bands, and then he heard Miles Davis. That sent him in a new direction, toward jazz fusion and straight-ahead jazz.

Paul majored in music at the University of Miami and went on to study with Baltimore-based professor of Theory and Composition Asher Zlotnick. In 1987 he made his recording debut with saxophonist Gary Thomas on Seventh Quadrant (Enja), and in 1990 began working with organist Joey DeFrancesco. That association lasted until DeFrancesco’s sudden death at just 50 in 2023. Their collaboration produced multiple tours, 18 recordings, and a GRAMMY nomination for Paul for co-production on Joey’s Never Can Say Goodbye (Hi Note).

His illustrious career has included appearances on the Tonight Show, Good Morning America, the Today Show, and Entertainment Tonight, and performances alongside Gary Bartz, Paul Bley, Charlie Byrd, Terri-Lyne Carrington, Herb Ellis, Geoffrey Keezer, Joe Locke, Jack McDuff, James Moody, Grady Tate, Stanley Turrentine, and Jeff “Tain” Watts, among many others. His latest recording, Portraits in Space and Time (Mayimba Jazz Music, 2014), featuring all original music in a trio setting, was released to critical acclaim.

The Paul Bollenback Quintet

Five musicians, every one a Litchfield Jazz Camp faculty member, take the Mainstage together:

Paul Bollenback & Litchfield

Paul Bollenback has been a teaching artist at Litchfield Jazz Camp since its early days. It was the founder and artistic director of Litchfield Jazz Fest falling in love with his music that brought him into the fold, and that connection led to Joey DeFrancesco’s trio landing a Mainstage gig in 2001. Paul has also taught at Columbia University, Peabody Conservatory, Queens College, and the Skidmore, Prague, and Bobby Durham summer jazz workshops, and he recently joined the faculty at Prins Claus Conservatory in the Netherlands.