Paul Dietrich Quartet

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Trout Museum of Art

Paul Dietrich (at right).

media release: Paul Dietrich, trumpet - Matt Gold, guitar - Brian Courage. bass - Devin Drobka, drums.

Paul Dietrich has been described as “an apt bandleader, an exceptional composer, and a superlative performer” (All About Jazz) and “a skilled composer” (JazzTrail) and his music has been praised as “stunningly beautiful” (Audiophile Audition) and “captivating” (Chicago Jazz Magazine).  A composer, trumpet player and educator based in the Midwest, Dietrich has been the leader of the Paul Dietrich Quintet since 2012 and the Paul Dietrich Jazz Ensemble since 2016. The Chicago-based Quintet has released two albums: Focus (2017, ears&eyes) and We Always Get There (2014, Blujazz). The Paul Dietrich Jazz Ensemble’s 2019 album Forward features guest artist and world-renowned drummer Clarence Penn (Dave Douglas, Maria Schneider) alongside many of the Midwest’s best jazz musicians, including Greg Ward, Russ Johnson, Dustin Laurenzi, Matt Gold, and Andy Baker. In demand as a composer, Dietrich has completed over a dozen commissions for schools and organizations including Lawrence University’s Jazz Weekend, Ripon College, Madison College with the Edgar Knecht Trio (Germany), The Mount Horeb Middle School Jazz Festival, The UW-Whitewater Brass Quintet, and various high schools throughout Wisconsin. In 2017, Paul was commissioned by the Wisconsin Union Theater in Madison to write an extended work in honor of the Isthmus Jazz Festival’s 30th Anniversary. This piece was premiered at the festival in June 2017 by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Jazz Orchestra. Paul’s pieces have been played throughout the United States, and were performed as part of a cultural exchange program in Camagüey, Cuba in 2019.

Matt Gold | "There’s an alluring kinetic energy to this recording, whether it be Gold’s electric guitar power-playing, his acoustic guitar and its whispered textures, the folk-tinged vocals blending perfectly with the abstracted Americana, or the bluesier elements that are a welcome delight."  - UK Vibe  “…a showcase for Matt Gold - one of most exhilarating guitar solos of recent memory, in any genre.” - Pitchfork. "This Chicago-based guitar trio have an engaging sound and wield their own succinct brand of distorted Americana."  - Jazzwise Magazine 

BRIAN COURAGE | Originally from Long Island, NY, bassist Brian Courage has spent the last decade as an integral part of the creative music scenes in Minneapolis, Brooklyn, and now Chicago, where he currently resides. He has performed alongside an extensive array of nationally acclaimed improvisers, including Greg Ward, Jon Irabagon, Lew Tabackin, David Hazeltine, Jason Stein, Weasel Walter, Michael Lewis, Erik Fratzke, Russ Johnson, JT Bates, and Billy Mintz. Brian is adept at a wide range of styles and has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, renowned vocal quartet The Four Freshmen, the Chicago Tap Theater, and the New York based Americana / blues rock band Hollis Brown, with whom he toured the US and Europe extensively. His most recent creative endeavor is Abhorrent Expanse, a fully improvised metal band. Their debut album "Gateways to Resplendence" has been featured in prominent outlets including Decibel, Metal Injection, Burning Ambulance, and Wire Magazine.

Devin Drobka is one of the most in-demand and creative musicians in the midwest for the past 15 years. Audiences around the world have been enthralled with his wide sonic palette and limitless rhythmic possibilities on the drums. A deep love of jazz, metal, folk, hip-hop, ambient, idm, and classical music has helped shaped Devin’s unique voice and vision on the drums both as a leader and as a sideman. His highly personal and creative drumming can be heard within the realm of jazz having performed with Greg Osby, Jerry Bergonzi, Dayna Stephens, and Joe Lovano as well as indie- folk bands like Field Report and indie rappers R.A.P. Ferreira and Serengeti. Devin can be heard on over 50 albums of genre bending, original music for which he is an advocate for. Devin currently composes music for his newest group, The Devin Drobka Trio, which draws upon his love of contemporary classical music and minimalism and his multi horn group, Bell Dance Songs, which is a response to his love of Albert Ayler, Paul Motian, and Ornette Coleman. Devin’s music has been described as “sounding like nothing else in midwestern jazz” and “gorgeous, innovative.”