About Matt Wilson’s Topsy Turvy
Topsy Turvy includes drummer Matt Wilson’s regular quartet of saxophonist Jeff Lederer, bassist Chris Lightcap and cornetist Kirk Knuffke plus Ray Anderson on trombone, Helen Sung on piano and Jaleel Shaw on alto sax. Matt chose these unique players to cover the “little big band” sound of the 30s and 40s. He brought this great fun, swinging music to Dizzy’s in December to celebrate his 50th birthday.
Photo by Michael Jackson
Flexible, subtle drummer Matt Wilson gained a strong reputation with his debut recording as a leader in a 1996 (the LJF debut year!) release for Palmetto featuring tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman. It took us until 1999 to have him grace our stage at Litchfield but once up there we never let him go. To date Matt has appeared 19 times in 18 years – an LJF record!-with his quartet, MSQ plus strings, a group built around his beloved late wife the violinist Felicia Wilson, his Arts & Crafts and with Mario Pavone, Dewey Redman, Bill Mays, Denny Zeitlin, Dena DeRose, Lee Konitz, Helio Alves, Charlie Haden, Lindsey Muir and Gary Smulyan. He has twice served as LJF’s Artist in Residence and has been a on the faculty at Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2010.
In 2014 Jeff Lederer was named in DownBeat’s Critics and Readers Polls for tenor and alto sax and for clarinet. In addition to his long history with Matt’s projects, he has played and recorded with Bobby Sanabria, Salsa trombonist Jimmy Bosch, and bassist Buster Williams. His ensemble “Shaker n’ Bakers” performs modern jazz interpretations of the Vision songs of the Shaker sect.
A representative list of Chris Lightcap’s collaborators include Regina Carter, Mark Turner, John Medeski, Chris Potter, Paul Motian, John Scofield and Paquito D’Rivera. His has 60+ albums as a sideman and three critically acclaimed releases of original music.
“One of New York’s busiest musicians (New York Times)” cornetist Kirk Knuffke is largely self-taught but studied improvisation with Ornette Coleman and others. He has played and recorded with John Zorn, Tony Malaby, Dave Douglas, Steven Bernstein, and Mary Halvorson to name a few.
Ray Anderson, Director of Jazz Studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook,is a regular on the New York scene and has performed with Charlie Haden, David Murray, Barry Altschul, Henry Threadgill, John Scofield, Sam Rivers and many others. He joins the Litchfield Jazz Camp Faculty this year.
Pianist Helen Sung has worked with jazz masters like Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Ron Carter, Buster Williams, Wayne Shorter and Regina Carter and frequently appears with the Mingus Big Band. She a winner of the Mary Lou Williams Competition and was named a US State Department Musical Ambassador. Helen appeared as a leader on the Litchfield Jazz Festival 2012. She joined the Litchfield Jazz Camp faculty in 2010.
Jaleel Shaw is a member of the Roy Haynes Quartet with whom he appeared at LJF in 2011 and Tom Harrell’s Colors Of A Dream. He has also performed with Christian McBride, Jason Moran, the Mingus Big Band, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Jimmy Cobb and others.
Matt Wilson will help us celebrate the 20th year of LJC with Topsy Turvy August 8, and with a special salute to the great drummer Charli Persip on August 9.
