UNC Jazz Press

String Quartet. Violin I, II, Viola and Violoncello. Salsa Rhythm. Quarter Note = 188. From the Jazz Suite for String Quartet.

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PAUL NASH is active in jazz and new music as composer, guitarist, music director and educator. A highly accomplished guitarist, Mr. Nash and his music have traveled an unconventional path, beginning when his teenage rock band opened for the Blues Project and followed a then unknown Jimi Hendrix at the Cafe Wha? in Greenwich Village. As Director of the Manhattan New Music Project, Nash has been presenting and recording new work by composers at concerts around New York City. In 1997 Nash led his ensemble in a recent showcase of his jazz orchestral works as a part of the JVC Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall. His jazz writing suggests somewhat contradictory influences, most notably the cool orchestration of Gil Evans and the fiery proclamations of Charles Mingus. Along with earlier albums on Soul Note Records, including Mood Swing and Second Impression, extended compositions for various instrumentations are explored. These and other albums of his featured many well-known jazz soloist such as Tom Harrell, Jack Walrath, Tom Varner, David Samuels, Mark Isham, Art Lande and Eddie Marhsall. Among the classical groups which have performed Nash's music are the Aspen Music Festival, the Chamber Symphony of San Francisco, Musical Elements, Composers Concordance and the Bay Area Jazz Composers Orchestra. His guitar etudes were premiered by Sergio Puccini in Argentina in 1997. Nash has received numerous grants and fellowships including the Banff Center for the Arts (Canada), Yaddo, National Endowment for the Arts, the University of California at Berkeley, the MacDowell Colony, The Djerassi Foundation and Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts.