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Explorers of modern creative jazz, avant jazz, and a great deal more, the Claudia Quintet were formed in 1997 by drummer/composer <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">John Hollenbeck</a>, who was less than eager to give up an existing weekly gig at alt.coffee, an Internet café in New York City's East Village. <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a>, accordionist <a href="spotify:artist:4gVMZd8jF9BNGePe8upjzM">Ted Reichman</a>, and bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4X339KghYlZSCaLWm5Mvc1">Reuben Radding</a>, performing as the Refuseniks, had the gig for about a year, but <a href="spotify:artist:4X339KghYlZSCaLWm5Mvc1">Radding</a> abandoned ship to move to Montana -- so, nix on the Refuseniks. Rather than bid adieu to alt.coffee, which had become a hot little gathering spot on the New York downtown music scene, <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> recruited several scenester musicians to form a new band and carry on: reedman <a href="spotify:artist:2KTHYtycTGrBi1xcLaQ2AO">Chris Speed</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:4HMyzDtVu6uNLYQZqYeOXK">Drew Gress</a>, and vibraphonist <a href="spotify:artist:2vi8K7KcSB3zTYsfTlPHm2">Matt Moran</a> -- along with <a href="spotify:artist:4gVMZd8jF9BNGePe8upjzM">Reichman</a> (by now a proven empathetic player with <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> and the man who had secured the Refuseniks' alt.coffee gig in the first place).
<a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> named his new band the Claudia Quintet after an alt.coffee patron who had professed enthusiasm for the Refuseniks at the group's first show and promised to return for future performances, but never followed through on her vow. "Claudia" subsequently became a running theme cropping up occasionally in the trio members' conversations; the contours of a life story were even imagined for her. <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> also gave other reasons for naming his new group after the enigmatic Claudia rather than choosing a moniker like, say, the <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">John Hollenbeck</a> Quintet; these included emphasizing the group as a whole and avoiding the typical leader-with-sidemen perception, drawing parallels with the naming approach often used by chamber ensembles that play thoroughly scored material, and giving the band "a female quality" -- although to date no Claudia Quintet albums feature actual females as either core bandmembers or guests.
The Claudia Quintet soon proved to be an utterly unique outfit and impressive vehicle for <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a>'s creativity as a drummer and composer, and a fine showcase for the other bandmembers as well, featuring an unusual mixture of instrumental timbres and a stylistic mélange drawing from cutting-edge jazz, of course, but also <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a>'s background in modern composition. The quintet's eponymous debut album was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CRI%2FBlueshift%22">CRI/Blueshift</a> in 2001 (simultaneous with two other <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> non-Claudia discs), and the group soon attracted attention from the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a> label, which has a long history of work with artists who do not fit in easily categorizable niches. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a> released the band's label debut, I, Claudia, in 2004, and continued its commitment to the Claudia Quintet with a series of releases extending for the next ten years: Semi-Formal (2005); For (2007); Royal Toast (2010), featuring special guest <a href="spotify:artist:3bklSQEy3caQzQT5GQ5Nhp">Gary Versace</a> on piano; What Is the Beautiful? (2011), with the quintet supplemented by pianist <a href="spotify:artist:5YP7nSBWjN9yoANLVzrD1G">Matt Mitchell</a> and featuring poetry of <a href="spotify:artist:3ztMbP4gY2RKrvXngAYOSQ">Kenneth Patchen</a> sung by vocalists <a href="spotify:artist:0BaPQJfbkwN3y4n7qALgRZ">Theo Bleckmann</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1UhC1mCcd9SFXLibHhMX61">Kurt Elling</a>; and September (2013), in which Red Wierenga replaced accordionist <a href="spotify:artist:4gVMZd8jF9BNGePe8upjzM">Reichman</a> (whose family commitments had taken him to Boston) and the bass duties were split between <a href="spotify:artist:4HMyzDtVu6uNLYQZqYeOXK">Gress</a> (one of the busiest bassists in modern creative jazz with numerous competing commitments) and <a href="spotify:artist:0yMZZ6O1LaeUc7ejx2UDOC">Chris Tordini</a>. ~ Dave Lynch, Rovi
<a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> named his new band the Claudia Quintet after an alt.coffee patron who had professed enthusiasm for the Refuseniks at the group's first show and promised to return for future performances, but never followed through on her vow. "Claudia" subsequently became a running theme cropping up occasionally in the trio members' conversations; the contours of a life story were even imagined for her. <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> also gave other reasons for naming his new group after the enigmatic Claudia rather than choosing a moniker like, say, the <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">John Hollenbeck</a> Quintet; these included emphasizing the group as a whole and avoiding the typical leader-with-sidemen perception, drawing parallels with the naming approach often used by chamber ensembles that play thoroughly scored material, and giving the band "a female quality" -- although to date no Claudia Quintet albums feature actual females as either core bandmembers or guests.
The Claudia Quintet soon proved to be an utterly unique outfit and impressive vehicle for <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a>'s creativity as a drummer and composer, and a fine showcase for the other bandmembers as well, featuring an unusual mixture of instrumental timbres and a stylistic mélange drawing from cutting-edge jazz, of course, but also <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a>'s background in modern composition. The quintet's eponymous debut album was released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22CRI%2FBlueshift%22">CRI/Blueshift</a> in 2001 (simultaneous with two other <a href="spotify:artist:59tdGIxFYXNsHrRMOn2Wr8">Hollenbeck</a> non-Claudia discs), and the group soon attracted attention from the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a> label, which has a long history of work with artists who do not fit in easily categorizable niches. <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Cuneiform%22">Cuneiform</a> released the band's label debut, I, Claudia, in 2004, and continued its commitment to the Claudia Quintet with a series of releases extending for the next ten years: Semi-Formal (2005); For (2007); Royal Toast (2010), featuring special guest <a href="spotify:artist:3bklSQEy3caQzQT5GQ5Nhp">Gary Versace</a> on piano; What Is the Beautiful? (2011), with the quintet supplemented by pianist <a href="spotify:artist:5YP7nSBWjN9yoANLVzrD1G">Matt Mitchell</a> and featuring poetry of <a href="spotify:artist:3ztMbP4gY2RKrvXngAYOSQ">Kenneth Patchen</a> sung by vocalists <a href="spotify:artist:0BaPQJfbkwN3y4n7qALgRZ">Theo Bleckmann</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1UhC1mCcd9SFXLibHhMX61">Kurt Elling</a>; and September (2013), in which Red Wierenga replaced accordionist <a href="spotify:artist:4gVMZd8jF9BNGePe8upjzM">Reichman</a> (whose family commitments had taken him to Boston) and the bass duties were split between <a href="spotify:artist:4HMyzDtVu6uNLYQZqYeOXK">Gress</a> (one of the busiest bassists in modern creative jazz with numerous competing commitments) and <a href="spotify:artist:0yMZZ6O1LaeUc7ejx2UDOC">Chris Tordini</a>. ~ Dave Lynch, Rovi
