MUSIC

Ovations presents Leigh Pilzer (bari sax) & Jen Krupa (trombone) of Washington D.C.'s own JLQ.  Joined by top Houston musicians — Pamela York (piano),  Anthony Caceres (bass), and  Daleton Lee (drums).

JEN KRUPA and LEIGH PILZER were inspired by the duo collaborations of such pairs as Gerry Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer, J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding, and Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. With Jen on trombone and Leigh on baritone and soprano saxophones and a roster of world-class rhythm section members they perform jazz standards, selections from the Great American Songbook, and straight-ahead originals.

JEN came to the Washington area from her native California via Florida and New York. First Florida, where she earned a degree in Jazz Trombone Performance at the University of North Florida and played gigs at Universal Studios and Walt Disney World, and with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, the Larry Elgart Orchestra and the St. John’s River City Brass Band. Then New York, where she was one of the first class of students to be awarded the Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies and where she played with Wynton Marsalis, Wycliffe Gordon, Warren Vache, Davis Berger’s Sultans of Swing, the Blue Saracens, the New York Ragtime Orchestra, and the Choro Ensemble, in addition to leading her own small group. Jen moved to DC in 2004 after winning a position in the United States Navy Band Commodores Jazz Ensemble.

LEIGH is a lifelong DC resident, aside from time spent in Boston while attending the Berklee College of Music. After completing a degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging at Berklee she returned to Washington where she has been freelancing since, backing artists from Patti Austin to Pia Zadora, and playing with (among others) the Bill Potts Big Band, Bruce Gates’ Jazz Consortium Big Band, the Blues Alley Big Band, Chuck Brown, Eva Cassidy, and the National Symphony Orchestra. In 2001 she was one of the first two students to receive the Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies at the University of Maryland. She continued at Maryland to complete another Master’s degree, this one in (classical) Saxophone Performance. Since 2005 Leigh has been on faculty at Maryland, teaching Jazz Theory and Jazz Arranging.

Individually Jen, Leigh, and the rest of the group have played with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, Sherrie Maricle & The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, and the top-notch DC area military jazz ensembles. Collectively, they bring you small-group jazz with big-band spirit.

"Jen and Leigh are brilliant musicians, and I believe that adding Pamela, Anthony and Daleton will provide some amazing chemistry. In fact, I am certain that I will not be able to resist their invitation to join them on a few tunes. I hope you will come out and share some great music with us." — Carol Morgan