An intimate evening with original music, Romanian folk songs, African lullabies, blues and post bop with Lucian Ban (piano, compositions) and Bruce Williams (alto sax, sop sax, alto flute).

Transylvanian expat, pianist Lucian Ban has a history of playing duets for many years. He has a longstanding duet and acclaimed album ("Somethin' Holy", 2003) with bari sax wizard Alex Harding, an ongoing duet with tenor sax great Abraham Burton and a duet with bassist Hilliard Greene. His latest album " The Romanian - American Jazz Suite " with Sam Newsome features also duet tracks with the renown sopranist. Mr. Ban has released 7 albums as a leader for jazzaway records, cimp and green records labels with people like Bob Stewart, Nasheet Waits, Jorge Sylvester, Brad Jones, Alex Harding, J.D.Allen, Derrek Phillips, and is getting ready for as European CD release tour this fall with Sam Newsome for "The Romanian-American Jazz Suite". Terrell Holmes of All About Jazz says "Ban plays with a fluency and sensibility that recalls Vladimir Horowitz as much as McCoy Tyner" .

More information on Lucian Ban here.

At the begining of July, RCINY organized a US tour celebrating the release of The Romanian-American Jazz Suite by Sam Newsome & Lucian Ban Ensemble, a multi-movement work which combines Romanian folk music with American jazz. The concerts (in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston) and the CD received both an audience success and enthusiastic reviews from the American press.

For this concert he has invited one of today's master reed players - Mr. Bruce Williams on alto sax, sop sax and alto flute. Mr Williams garnered critical attention with his own releases - "Brotherhood" and "Altoicity" - issued on Savant Records. He's made an indelible impression as a sideman on over twenty other CD and video recordings and has performed and toured with a long roster of jazz legends including: Little Jimmy Scott, Frank Foster, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Stanley Cowell, Louis Smith, Cecil Brooks III, The Count Basie Orchestra, The World Saxophone Quartet, Russell Gunn, Curtis Fuller, and Roy Hargrove to name a few. Bruce Williams is a versatile saxophone stylist, performing in a variety of diverse playing environments - from traditional to hip-hop to the avant-garde. He has been an honored recipient of awards from Downbeat magazine and The Charlie Parker Music and More Foundation. His ability to perform masterfully in a range of jazz styles has placed him on two Grammy nominated recordings and sent him to numerous cities throughout the US and abroad - France, Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland, the West Indies, and Japan. Branford Marsalis said of him " Bruce Williams is a part of the next wave of young jazz prodigies exhibiting soul and virtuosity, - "Bruce 'Blow-Daddy' holds the tools to be a major force in today's jazz.