Alex Martin, New World Jazz

Born in Brittany, the Celtic region of western France, raised mostly in rural North Carolina, and a traveler through Latin America now living in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Alex seeks to create music that expresses his unique confluence of world cultures, a personal crossroads of the “exotic” and the familiar that he calls “New World jazz.” He is a graduate of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Texas at Austin who now views his music as his primary medium of storytelling. He has just released his third CD, Folk Songs, Jazz Journeys, an exploration of musical traditions that have shaped him. He is accompanied on this pilgrimage by 12 musical collaborators, including three vocalists and master instrumentalists on balafon, tabla, cello, Northeastern Brazilian triangle, and trumpet. He has released two previous albums: Nostalgia for Terra Incognita (2007), recorded in Washington, DC, with a Brazilian rhythm section and vocalist Lena Seikaly, and the more intimate trio recording Second Life (2010), recorded in North Carolina and made possible in part by a grant from the Prince George’s Arts Council. Nostalgia and Second Life foreground Alex’s compositions but also include pieces written or made famous by Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Caetano Veloso, Wayne Shorter, Édith Piaf, and Breton harper Alan Stivell, all important influences on Alex’s music. Alex has performed at venues around the DC area, from Blues Alley, Twins Jazz, Bethesda Blues & Jazz, and the National Gallery of Art’s Jazz in the Garden series to the Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland.