On December 26, the Jazz Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago (Jatt) will be hosting its second annual fund-raiser event, Jazzang II, at the Phase II Panyard, Hamilton Street, Woodbrook.<!--break--> The event starts at 7 pm, and promises to be bigger and more attractive to patrons. This time around, the Sean Thomas Jazz Quintet will be joined by baritone saxophonist, Ed Epstein, and US tenor saxophonist, Grant Langford from the US.
Epstein, an American saxophonist and composer currently living in Sweden, has been playing since he was 10 years old, and has been playing professionally for the past 45 years. He has toured with Dr Hollis Liverpool, The Mighty Chalkdust, in Scandinavia, and is currently planning for a recording session with Rudy Smith, the great jazz pannist from Copenhagen, Denmark.
He is a member of several prominent big bands in Sweden and Denmark.Langford, tenor saxophonist, recording artiste, composer, and educator, lives in New York City. Since 2005, he has been a featured member of the world famous Count Basie Orchestra (CBO). Over the past two years, CBO has travelled to Europe, Africa, and Asia, and has performed in concerts in the US with the likes of Tony Bennett, Patti Austin, Diane Schuur, Nnenna Freelon, Carmen Bradford, and Dennis Rowland.
He is also a regular member of the Valery Ponomarev Sextet, George Gee, Cab Calloway, and Harlem Renaissance Orchestras. Mr Langford was the first recipient of the 2003 Young Lion award by the Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium. He has also performed as a sideman in the US and abroad with the Ray Charles Orchestra, TS Monk Tentet, Eric Reed Quintet, Sean Thomas Quartet, Dave Gibson Quintet, Kent Glenn-Putter Smith Quartet, Ben Dixon, Grassella Oliphant, Louis Hayes and The Brooklyn Soul Organisation.