Song:Royal Toast
Album:Royal Toast
The Claudia Quintet is a very interesting jazz group led by drummer John Hollenbeck. They were formed in 1997 and a version of the band continues and the individual members also record solo. Hollenbeck was born June 19, 1968 in Binghampton, NY. He became a fixture on the New York jazz scene as a member of Bob Brookmeyer's New Art Orchestra. The Claudia Quintet came out of the ashes of a band called The Refuseniks. They named it after this girl named Claudia who came to one of their shows and claimed to be a big fan. They never saw her again and she became a running joke. Hollenbeck said he just didn't want to name it after himself. Other band members are Chris Speed on tenor sax, Matt Moran on vibes, Ted Reichman on accordion and Drew Gress on bass. The accordion is an instrument you don't normally see in jazz. Hollenbeck got that idea from playing in Klezmer bands. For the 2010 CD Royal Toast, pianist Gary Versace was added to the band. It doesn't look like he toured with them. Their most recent CD What Is The Beautiful was released Oct. 2011. Nate Wooley has replaced Reichman and pianist Matt Mitchell has been added. Hollenbeck also released a new CD Songs I Like A Lot this week. Jazz fans should check out The Claudia Quintet. Here's The Claudia Quintet performing Royal Toast at the 2009 Baltic Jazz Festival.
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