85 Seconds w/ Louis & Friends - 2024 Video
THE BAND
Saxophonist and multi-wind artist, composer and arranger Kris Jensen is a versatile musician who has forged a diverse musical career. A veteran sideman to legends for nearly two decades now, Jensen has performed throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Bangkok, Thailand, and Switzerland. Kris is associated with many prominent artists in jazz and rock including the Allman Brothers Band – as well as the individual members’ bands (Gregg Allman and Friends, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, Dickey Betts and Great Southern)- trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson, and a host of others.
In 1996, Jensen was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. He has studied Jazz and African-American music at the University of Hartford, where he would later teach under the auspices of jazz saxophone legend Jackie McLean. Jensen continues to carry on the great tradition as both a performer and educator. Recent performances of particular note have included concerts or appearances with jazz legends such as trombonist Curtis Fuller, alto saxophonist Phil Woods, and pianist Larry Willis. He has appeared on New Jersey Public Television with Maynard Ferguson, on “Late Night with David Letterman” with Gregg Allman & Friends, and on stage with The Allman Brothers Band, The Dave Matthews Band, and with Warren Haynes and Govt. Mule.
Jensen keeps an active freelance performing schedule in addition to touring regularly with Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band with whom he can be seen monthly at the famous Iridium jazz club in New York City and at festivals and venues across the U.S. and beyond. He also serves on the music faculties of the Indian Mountain School, The Salisbury School, The Millbrook School, and in Hartford with the Bushnell “Jazzicians” student scholar program.
ABOUT RICK REYES
Rick Reyes, a self-taught guitarist, songwriter known for poetic lyrics, and leader of the Latin Rock band The Cosmic Jibaros, is a folk hero of Connecticut’s independent music scene.
In Puerto Rico, where Reyes grew up between early years in Bridgeport and his return to the Park City as a teenager, los jibaros possess the romantic individualism of American mountain men from an earlier era and are known for having a simple, honest connection to the earth, a strong work ethic, and wonderful music.
The Cosmic Jibaros blend Latin and Caribbean rhythms, rock guitars and global influences cross-cultural music that’s danceable, and hypnotically magnetic. Primarily sung in Spanish by Reyes, the songs are laced with social and political overtones, and energized by the pulse of congas, timbales, and effects-laden guitar work.
Reyes has also combined other musical genres to produce new sounds in projects that include his first solo album Novela Sin Tiempo (2013), featuring an acoustic band with cello, violin, upright acoustic bass, hand percussion, and nylon string guitars. A 2018 project called Latin Americana fused Caribbean music and American country, folk, and blues.
Reye’s songs range from exploring the illusory qualities of love (Illusion) to the wisdom of seeing everyday as a new opportunity (Todos Los Dias), and breaking the chains that prevent you from moving forward (La Cadena).
It all began with Reyes’ father, who played the guitar-like cuatro and wrote decimas, a form of poetry. Reyes was 13 when the family returned to Bridgeport from Puerto Rico. He didn’t speak English, felt alone, and even encountered racism. Recording his in journals became an outlet, and his musical future began to gel when Reyes’ father bought him a Harmony guitar from the Sears catalog.
“I remember playing a few chords and looking at something I had written. Just like that I began combining the two,” Reyes recalls.
He attended Sacred Heart University but spent all his free time writing songs, playing music, performing for the first time, and later forming The Cosmic Jibaros.
The band has performed at New Haven’s Art’s & Ideas Festival, The Gathering of The Vibes, New London’s Sail Fest, The SONO Arts Festival, and New England’s largest Hispanic festival, The Areyto Festival, as well as appearing on TV and playing storied clubs like The Cutting Room and The Bowery Ballroom.
In 2009, the band toured Puerto Rico, and has opened for music legends, Sergio Mendes, Gato Barbieri, and Eddie Palmieri.
While music is Reyes’ passion, he also has a career on the sales side of the textile industry interior design industry and currently serves as a sales representative for Maxwell Fabrics.
In his “spare time,” Reyes works to improve the community with nonprofits such as the Greater Bridgeport Latino Network, the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County, City Lights Gallery, and others.
ABOUT ASHER DELERME
Though born and raised in “El Barrio” section of East Harlem, New York City, Asher Delerme has long been a pioneering force in Connecticut’s social services, behavioral health and supportive housing programs. As Executive Director of C.A.S.A. Inc., a non-profit behavioral health agency based in New Haven and Bridgeport CT, Delerme has been continuously involved in advocating for culturally-based clinical and institutional practices on state and national levels. Having overseen human services programs for the past 25 years, his experience ranges from behavioral health treatment to community-based programs and higher education. Delerme holds Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University, has attended the University of Ghana in West Africa and obtained his Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Southern Connecticut State University. Delerme is a licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor and Certified Clinical Supervisor.
For the past decade, as a clinician and educator, Asher Delerme has passionately explored the connection between learning, human development and the arts. He is a principal member of MPACT – Multicultural Perspectives in Assessment, Consultation and Training, providing consultation and training, both regionally and nationally. In addition to his social services work, Delerme is an accomplished musician with extensive knowledge of the ethnomusicology of African, Caribbean, and Jazz music genres. Delerme’s cumulative experience in psychosocial development and the ethnomusicology of African, Caribbean, and Jazz genres affords him a unique training perspective in music education, multicultural issues, behavioral health and community development.
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