Reflecting on his guiding artistic impulse, cornetist-composer Kirk Knuffke says: “I’m concerned with making beautiful music. Even when the music is free and avant-garde, I want it to reach into people’s hearts. I like to play fast and loud and high, but beauty is always first.” He has made 20-plus albums, including Gravity Without Airs (2022), which earned 4.5-stars from DownBeat, while Cherryco (2017), his homage to Don Cherry, was NPR’s Jazz Album of the Year. Brightness: Live in Amsterdam (2020) included his hip, soulful vocals. Knuffke has performed with a who’s who of sage musicians, from Tootie Heath, Frank Kimbrough and Karl Berger to Myra Melford, Billy Hart and William Parker. In addition to working with the Matt Wilson Quartet, he is a member of drummer Allison Miller’s Boom Tic Boom sextet and guitarist Charlie Hunter’s Quartet. An educator as well as a virtuoso musician, Knuffke regularly passes along his expertise and experience at international jazz camps and in university masterclasses. He has received a Jerome Foundation Composers Grant.
September 23 @ 7:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Howl: A Performance with Percussion and Cornet