This Thursday, October 18, The Jazz Gallery is pleased to welcome pianist Lex Korten back to our stage with his new project Make/Believe. Korten made his Gallery debut as a leader in June of this year, presenting new work with a quartet of his peers. In an interview with Jazz Speaks, Korten spoke about challenging himself and his band mates with different approaches to composition:

I played this music with the band during the session, and they killed it. I know what sort of music they’re going to make sound good. Now, instead of writing for them, I’m going to write against them, because I trust them so much, and I want to see what comes out of that. Sometimes, it’s easy to write within this idiom when you’re dead-set on the language that’s going to be used. So I challenge myself to write differently than I normally do, and to challenge these guys to play in a different way than they’re used to playing.

For this week's Gallery performance, Korten is once again is pushing himself and his band in these challenging directions. While the set of compositions from June focused on personal experiences and daily life of the city, the compositions for Make/Believe live in a more fantastical realm. Before coming to hear Korten and company at the Gallery, check out Korten's evocative "Free Suite," below: Lex Korten & Make/Believe play The Jazz Gallery on Thursday, October 18, 2018. The group features Mr. Korten on piano, Davy Lazar on trumpet, Yuma Uesaka on tenor saxophone, David Leon on alto saxophone, Nick Dunston on bass, and Kayvon Gordon on drums. Sets are at 7:30 and 9:30 P.M. $15 general admission (FREE for members), $20 reserved cabaret seating ($10 for members)  for each set. Purchase tickets here.