Rabbit Hole Sessions with Abe Ovadia

EPISODE 107 - Zaccai Curtis

Zaccai Curtis moved to New York City in 2005 where he’s connected with and regularly performed with artists such as: Lakecia Benjamin, Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, Cindy Blackman Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, the Mambo Legends, Abraham Burton, Ralph Peterson, Ray Vega, and Avery Sharpe among others.Currently Zaccai is a professor of music at the University of Hartford: Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division and University of Rhode Island. Besides being an educator Zaccai authored two books “Art of the Guajeo” and “Theory of the Common Voicing” which are meant to aid students in their Jazz and Latin Jazz education. Zaccai composes and arranges for his own quartet and trio as well as for artists such as Little Johnny Rivero, Steve Kroon, Sonido Solar and more. In 2003 he was chosen as a winner of the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s competition and each year consecutively through 2006. Zaccai and his quartet were selected by the U.S. State Department to be in the American Music Abroad (Jazz Ambassadors) program two times in 2006. They performed in Bangladesh, Calcutta, Bangalore, Mumbai, Sri Lanka and Maldives. In 2007 Zaccai Curtis was awarded the ‘Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism’s Artist Fellowship’ for ‘original composition.’ In 2017 Curtis became a Chamber Music America: “New Jazz Works” grant recipient. In 2020 Zaccai was voted as the Rising Star in the Critics Poll for Downbeat Magazine. Most recently, Curtis has been invited to be the special guest director for 2023 CMEA Southern Regional High School Jazz Band.When Zaccai is not busy being a sideman, he performs his own music with his group ‘Zaccai Curtis Quartet’ and ‘Sonido Solar’ and after five successful releases; He plans on releasing his next recording “Cubop Lives” in 2023.Zaccai, along with his brother Luques, has developed the record label TRRcollective which is a collective of musicians that produce their own music and release it together. He is also proud to have produced and released the GRAMMY nominated album, ‘Entre Colegas’ by Andy González (2016). Zaccai has created the first ever music news app developed for record labels, artists and venues. ‘The Riff: Music News‘ available for free on iTunes and android.

EPISODE 106 - Julian Smith

I’m thrilled to feature Julian Smith, an extraordinary jazz bassist based in New York City. Originally from Chicago, Julian brings a unique blend of tradition and innovation to his music, honed through studies at Berklee College of Music and Rutgers University. A regular performer at NYC's best venues, Julian’s captivating tone and artistry have made him a rising star in the jazz world.
 

EPISODE 105 - Benito Gonzalez

🚀 Episode 105 is here! 🎙️
We're thrilled to welcome back the incredible Benito Gonzalez to Rabbit Hole Sessions with Abe Ovadia! 🔥
We dive into:🎶 His new trio with Lenny White & Buster Williams🎷 His work with the legendary Pharoah Sanders💡 Turning life’s challenges into positives
Tune in for an inspiring convo! Drop a 🎵 in the comments if you're listening!
#RabbitHoleSessions #JazzPodcast #BenitoGonzalez #LennyWhite #BusterWilliams #PharoahSanders #JazzLife #PodcastVibes 🎧✨

EPISODE 104 - Ned Goold

Ned Goold is as distinctive an inside-outside tenor player as there is, and he should be a household name given the luck he's had with employment.
Besides fronting his own trio on several CDs, he has been a mainstay of Harry Connick Jr.'s bands since the early '90s. Goold's unique tone combines something of the cool, sharp delivery of Bird and Charlie Rouse with the breathy insistence of Lester Young and subtle phraseology of Dizzy Gillespie.
His modern system of harmonic improvisation (based on 20th century serial concepts) brings the swing approach into the new century. Ned Goold is perhaps best known as a member of Harry Connick, Jr.'s backing band, but he has also performed with artists like Ben Wolfe, Brother Jack McDuff and the legendary Haitian group, Tabou Combo. In the early '80s, Goold got his start as a session saxophonist, playing paying gigs at night while studying his craft during the day. By 1990, his solo improvisation skills were well known enough for Harry Connick, Jr. to invite Goold into his band, and an additional gig with Connick's bassist Ben Wolfe followed shortly after.
In addition to his work on Connick's records and the showcase album Jazz Underground: Live At Smalls, Goold has released four solo albums, 1998's Goold and the following year's Entropy. He has since recorded and released two acclaimed CD's on Smalls records: The Flows and March of the Malcontents.
 

EPISODE 103 - David Fiuczynski

David “Fuze” Fiuczynski is an iconoclastic innovator and a rebel with a guitar. Fluent in funk, rock, fusion, wicked fretless blues slides, Eastern melodicism, Western microtonalism and everything in-between, his remarkably open-minded and versatile approach to his instrument and music in general has made him a “first call” player, and lead to tours and recording projects with a remarkably diverse cast of characters, including Stewart Copeland (The Police), Jack DeJohnette (Miles Davis, John Coltrane), John Zorn, Hiromi, JoJo Mayer, Marc Guiliana (David Bowie), Bernie Worrell (P-Funk), Dennis Chambers, Me’shell NdegeOcello, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Marcus Miller, Billy Hart, John Medeski, Cuong Vu, Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Decoding Society and countless others. He has played on nearly 100 recordings as a session musician, band leader or band member, won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 and is a professor at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Best known as the leader of the Screaming Headless Torsos, KiF and as a member of Hasidic New Wave, Fuze launched Planet MicroJam, an institute that explores the use of microtones in groove, jazz, ethnic, folk and other contexts, in 2012. With this impressive resume under his belt, the mad-scientist guitar hero is now seeking to bring his music to new audiences.
 

EPISODE 102 - Peter Apfelbaum

Born in Berkeley, California in 1960, Peter Apfelbaum started playing drums at the age of three, taking up piano and saxophone in elementary school and forming his first band at age 11. A product of the Berkeley Schools' pioneering Jazz Project, Apfelbaum began performing professionally while in his early teens and was a member of the award-winning Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Phil Hardymon. In 1977 - his senior year at Berkeley High - he formed the 17-piece Hieroglyphics Ensemble as a vehicle for composing and exploring non-traditional musical forms. The Ensemble was initially largely comprised of fellow BHS classmates, some of whom would later move to New York and achieve recognition in their own right. The band originally included pianist Benny Green, saxophonist Craig Handy and trumpeter Steven Bernstein and would later feature saxophonist Joshua Redman prior to his move to NY. The band released their self-produced debut album, "Pillars", in 1979 and began to attract international attention for their unique mix of elements of world music with the aesthetic of the jazz avant-garde. Around this time Apfelbaum made his first sojourn to New York, where he worked with Carla Bley, David Amram and the late Eddie Jefferson. He toured Europe for the first time in the Fall of 1979 with Karl Berger's Woodstock Workshop Orchestra, an all-star band which included Lee Konitz, Oliver Lake, Don Cherry, Leroy Jenkins and Trilok Gurtu. In 1981 Apfelbaum returned to the Bay Area and resumed rehearsing regularly with the Hieroglyphics Ensemble. In the mid-80's he toured the U.S. with O.J. Ekemode and the Nigerian All-Stars (first on baritone saxophone, later on drums) and also worked regularly with Cuban percussionist Francisco Aguabella's band, as well as with local reggae and r&b bands. By 1988, the Hieroglyphics' performances had become more frequent, and in the Fall of that year Apfelbaum was commissioned by the San Francisco Jazz Festival to write a suite for the band. The resulting "Notes From The Rosetta Stone" was premiered at the Palace Of Fine Arts and featured the legendary trumpeter Don Cherry as guest soloist. Cherry was so impressed with the band that he took up residence in San Francisco and adopted Apfelbaum and fellow Hieroglyphs Bo Freeman (bass) and Josh Jones (drums) as his "Multikulti" group, touring extensively in North America, Europe and Japan over the next several years. Cherry also continued to appear frequently as a guest with the Hieroglyphics, and featured the band (as well as two Apfelbaum compositions) on his album "Multikulti" (A&M, 1989).

EPISODE 101 - Frank Basile

Since moving to New York in 2001, Frank Basile has been fortunate to establish himself as one of today's most in-demand baritone saxophonists.
 
Dubbed a "prized sideman" by The New Yorker, Basile has been called upon to perform with, record with, and tour the world with many of jazz's finest musicians and ensembles. Among this distinguished list are The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band, The Jimmy Heath Big Band, The Bob Mintzer Big Band, The Jon Faddis Jazz Orchestra, The Joe Lovano Nonet, The Dave Holland Big Band, Dennis Mackrel's Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra, The Christian McBride Big Band, The Count Basie Orchestra, Michael Bublé, Pablo Mayor’s Folklore Urbano, The Richie Vitale Quintet, The Fabien Mary Quintet, and The Osian Roberts-Steve Fishwick Sextet.
 
Born in Illinois in 1978 and raised in Nebraska, Frank Basile began his musical studies in grade school. After four years on clarinet and alto saxophone, he made a permanent switch to the baritone saxophone. Once in high school, Basile’s interest in jazz began to grow and, with the help and encouragement of his parents, he sought out further instruction on the ins and outs of this great music. Basile was soon playing in numerous big bands and combos throughout the Omaha area. 
 
Basile enrolled at the University of North Texas to continue his musical studies. While at UNT, Basile played in the world-renowned One O’clock Lab Band for six consecutive semesters. After graduating with honors and a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from UNT, Basile moved to New York in the summer of 2001 as a selected member of the first Jazz Studies program at the Juilliard School.
 
As an educator, Basile has maintained a private studio for the past decade and has served as an adjunct faculty member at The New School. He has also been called upon to teach lessons or masterclasses at such institutions as New York University, the Eastman School of Music, Temple University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, SUNY Purchase, the University of Nebraska, and the New York Youth Symphony Jazz Orchestra.
 
In addition to his activities as a sideman and educator, Basile also takes an active role as leader of his own quartet, quintet and sextet. To date, Basile has released three recordings as a leader, and his band has headlined at many of New York's major jazz clubs.

SOLO SESSION: First Solo Pod

“Abe Ovadia is one of the true treasures of the Jazz Guitar world. Renowned as a leader among contemporary Jazz artists. He headlines on the stages of the most famous Jazz Venues…this man has been a dedicated supporter of directly educating our youth in schools and adults in public centers. He believes the art of jazz guitar belongs to all people to know and enjoy, not a select elite.
Abe Ovadia carves out precious time from his very busy schedule whether on tour or performing in his NYC region. We enthusiastically applaud Abe Ovadia’s long standing and ongoing tireless crusade to include and educate the uninitiated, inexperienced and uneducated in this American art form.”
Matt Eichen, President
MUSICVOX GUITARS

EPISODE 100 - Nick Biello

Welcome back to the podcast, saxophonist Nick Biello! We're excited to have him join us again for another great conversation. If you haven’t seen his previous episode, be sure to check it out to learn more about his incredible journey and deep insights into jazz.
 
 

EPISODE 99 - Eric Wyatt

Welcome back to the podcast, saxophonist Eric Wyatt! We're excited to have him join us again for another great conversation. If you haven’t seen his previous episode, be sure to check it out to learn more about his incredible journey and deep insights into jazz.