Terell Stafford Quintet featuring Ralph Moore, Nasheet Waits, & Taylor Eigsti

“[Terell Stafford is ] one of the great players of our time.” – McCoy Tyner

A mid-career master regarded by his peers as one of jazz’s very best trumpeters, Terell Stafford possesses a huge, lithesome sound, bountiful imagination and a full-spectrum emotional palette with infinite shades of tenderness, sorrow, aggression and awe. While he’s recorded about a dozen excellent albums as a leader, he’s been more visible as a dependably inspired sideman who adds a potent jolt of energy into setting. Over the past quarter century he’s been sought out by veteran masters such as saxophone legend Jimmy Heath, pianist Cedar Walton, altoist Bobby Watson (for both his quintet Horizon and Tailor Made Big Band), drummer Matt Wilson’s Arts and Crafts, and the Clayton Brothers and Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. A member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, he won a 2009 best large ensemble Grammy Award for the ensemble’s Live at the Village Vanguard album. For this concert Stafford’s all-star quintet bristles with brilliant improvisers, starting with his partner in the front line, tenor saxophonist Ralph Moore. Bassist Eric Revis, a highly regarded composer and recording artist in his own right, is best known for his three-decade tenure with Branford Marsalis. Even on a scene brimming with trap set talent Nasheet Waits stands out as one of the era’s definitive drummers. The son of the late drum great Freddie Waits, he gained renown in the late 1990s with pianists Fred Hersch and Andrew Hill. For the past two decades he’s powered Jason Moran and the Bandwagon, a trio described by JazzTimes as “the most exciting rhythm section in jazz.” For Stafford, the concert offers a prime opportunity to explore his original compositions and arrangements. A leader on and off the bandstand, Stafford is the director of jazz studies and chair of instrumental studies at Temple University, while also serving as managing and artistic director of the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia.