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Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Philanthropic Services provided by grants from the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation, Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation, and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust, The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation, the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County's ArtsEverywhere initiative, and the Arts Project Support Grant and Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission. Concert support provided by the Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund grant (2022-2023 season).

Sunnyside Records will release pianist/composer Jason Yeager's new multi-movement work, Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite for septet and octet. Using novel approaches to integrate literature with instrumental jazz, Yeager dialogues with the late master of American Letters through musical onomatopoeia, text painting, and imagined scene scoring. He's joined by an all-star ensemble of some of jazz's most dynamic improviser-performers, including  Miguel Zenón,  Lucas Pino, Yuhan Su, Jay Sawyer, and Alphonso Horne among others. "Comedians and jazz musicians have been more comforting and enlightening to me than preachers or politicians or philosophers or poets or painters or novelists of my time. Historians in the future, in my opinion, will congratulate us on very little other than our clowning and our jazz." - Kurt  Vonnegut

https://www.jasonyeager.com/

Jason Yeager - piano

Lucas Pino - tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet

Michael O'Brien - bass

Jay Sawyer - drums

What do Kurt Vonnegut, Thelonious Monk, Argentine and Chilean folk music, and the socio-political issues of our time all have in common? They all find their way into the music and mind of New York City-based pianist-composer Jason Yeager. On November 10th, Yeager and his quintet will celebrate the release of Unstuck in Time: The Kurt Vonnegut Suite (Sunnyside Records) at Merrimans' Playhouse in South Bend, Indiana. The new album can be pre-ordered here.    

Launched on the occasion of local Hoosier legend Kurt Vonnegut's centennial, Yeager's colorful and exuberant suite employs novel approaches to integrate literature with instrumental music, dialoguing with the late master of American Letters through musical onomatopoeia, text painting, and imagined scene scoring. Featuring Yeager's adventurous and lyrical writing, ranging from straight-ahead to Latin and modern jazz, the album features some of today's most dynamic improviser-performers, including Miguel Zenón, Lucas Pino, Yuhan Su, Jay Sawyer, and Alphonso Horne, among others. In his fall preview for WRTI, noted jazz writer and former New York Times critic Nate Chinen calls Jason's new album "a spirited tribute that engages in sneaky ways with the form of Vonnegut’s texts." The son of a proud Hoosier, Jason’s family and the Vonneguts were once in business together, in the mid-century architectural firm “Vonnegut, Wright, & Yeager.” 

Inspired by the social activism and vision of his mentor, Danilo Pérez, Yeager released the acclaimed 2019 album New Songs of Resistance (Outside in Music), which includes reimagined nueva canción protest songs from South America and original compositions that address contemporary social issues. New York Music Daily called the release “one of the best albums of 2019 in any style of music.”

Originally from the Boston area and now based in New York City, Jason is an active performer on the international scene, having performed across five continents at such venues and festivals as Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, Birdland Jazz Club, Berklee Performance Center, Qintai Concert Hall, Panama Jazz Festival, Festival Internacional de Jazz de Costa Rica, and more. He’s performed and recorded with the likes of Luciana Souza, Ran Blake, Sean Jones, Ayn Inserto, Ben Monder, George Garzone, Jason Palmer, Noah Preminger, and Aubrey Johnson. He regularly gigs around NYC and beyond with artists like Fleur Seule, Randal Despommier, and Jason Anick.

In addition to his 7 albums as a leader, Jason has performed on 25 more as a side musician. He’s performed and recorded with the likes of Luciana Souza, Ran Blake, Sean Jones, Ayn Inserto, Ben Monder, Steve Wilson, George Garzone, Jason Palmer, Noah Preminger, and Aubrey Johnson. He regularly gigs around NYC and beyond with artists like Fleur Seule, Randal Despommier, and Jason Anick.

Mentored in music by generous and inspirational teachers, Jason is now a committed educator in his own right. He is Assistant Professor of Piano at Berklee College of Music, where he has taught since 2012. He also teaches at the New York Jazz Academy and through his private studio. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude from the Tufts University/New England Conservatory Double Degree Program, and earned a Master of Music, summa cum laude, from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

Originally from Framingham, MA, Yeager was first mentored by extraordinary artist-teachers, including Milton Academy's jazz director, bassist Bob Sinicrope, and pianists Dan Loschen and Kyle Aho. He has since studied with some of the foremost musicians in the world, including Fred Hersch, Danilo Pérez Sophia Rosoff, Ran Blake, Terri Lyne Carrington, John Patitucci, Vijay Iyer, Joe Lovano, and Jerry Bergonzi.

Award-Winning Musician and Composer Lucas Pino has performed at some of the world’s most esteemed festivals and venues. As a tenor saxophonist and multi-woodwind player, his unique and lyrical approach make him one of the most in-demand side musicians across generations. A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Lucas graduated from some of the country’s top music programs, including the Brubeck Institute, The New School, and The Juilliard School. Lucas’ past performance experience includes Dave Brubeck, Christian McBride, Takuya Kuroda, Darcy James Argue, Alan Ferber, Samora Pinderhughes and Nick Finzer, among others. Based in New York City, Pino is the leader of The No Net Nonet, a distinct and innovative nine-piece acoustic jazz ensemble. His band has become an established part of today’s scene through a monthly residency at Smalls Jazz Club and three critically acclaimed album releases. Lucas received an Herb Alpert ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award for his composition, “Golden Rule, Turing Test”.

Born in Grand Rapids, MI, Jay Sawyer is one of the most in-demand rising star drummers in New York City. He has shared the stage with artists such as Freddy Cole, John McNeil, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Donny McCaslin, Benito Gonzalez, and Shai Maestro among others. Jay is also a first call drummer for many up-and-coming musicians in New York including Itamar Borochov, Caroline Davis, Tomoko Omura, John Raymond and many more. He has toured extensively in the USA and Europe, including performances at the Montreal, Detroit and Chicago Jazz Festivals, Festival Eclats d’Email in Limoges, France and more.

While attending Western Michigan University and the University of Illinois, respectively, Jay studied with some of the most well-respected jazz drummers including Billy Hart, Tim Froncek, Keith Hall and Dana Hall. Each nurtured his passion and skill for the art of jazz drums. As a result, Jay has become a passionate and gifted educator, both as a private lesson teacher as well as in a group setting. www.jsawyerdrums.com

Michael O'Brien holds a B.A from the University of Minnesota with a major in the Spanish language. He studied bass under Anthony Cox, and West African and Haitian percussion under Marc Anderson. He has been performing and composing Internationally for over a decade with such notables as Harry Connick Jr., Ruben Blades, Toninho Horta, Gil Goldstein, The Merce Cunningham Dance Co., Gene Pitney, Dave Samuels, Pablo Ziegler, Steve Wilson, Veronica Swift, Wayne Escoffery, Joel Frahm, Jacques Swartz-Bart, Tom Brechtlein, Dave King, Matt Wilson, Victor Lewis, Gene Jackson, Alex Sipiagin, Portinho, Kim Plainfield, Jeff Hirshfield, Sachal Vasandani, Ted Nash, Sandro Albert, Lady Rizo, Joshua Breakstone, Elliot Zigmund, Ron Afiff, Lage Lund, Filo Machado, Todd Reynolds, Wessel Anderson, David Binney, Ari Hoenig, The Jazz Mandolin Project, Joel Harrison, Christian Howes, Peter Apfelbaum, Robert Rodriguez, James Wiedeman, Bruce Barth, Dan Weiss, Marc Giuliana, Luba Mason, Paul Bollenback, and Oriente Lopez to name a few. Michael has performed at Festivals in Russia, Belarus, Indonesia, Haiti, Peru, Mexico, Norway, Ukraine and Japan. As well as the Lincoln Center Festival, JEN (Jazz Educators Network), IAJE (International Jazz Educators conference), PASIC (Percussive Arts Societies International Convention), American Composers Forums' Sonic Circuits Festival. His string quartet work "Pine" was performed at the Kennedy Center by the acclaimed string quartet Ethel. Michael has taught clinics and performed master classes throughout the United States, Central and South America, Europe, and Japan. In 2020 he appeared in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary "More Than Just The Music."