Jochen Rueckert Quartet | Jan 31

Jazz-center-of-the-universe-based, exiled German-born drummer Jochen Rueckert presents his working quartet with guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Joe Martin and saxophonist Walter Smith III. The band from New York City, plays Jochen’s compositions, containing surprisingly more optimistically swinging sections rich with chords than one would expect from a teutonic

drummer, sprinkled with the occasional 3/8 bar for good measure.

Jochen’s deliberate avoidance of formal music education, albeit initially for budgetary reasons, provides a great lack of erudite nonsense in his writing. Jochen is celebrating his 4th album, titled “Charm Offensive” (Pirouet records, 2016). The band has been touring for over 8 years, reaching greater depths of musical interaction as it continues to do so, proudly devoid of the mounting gimmickry and desperate festival-pandering observed in many of its peers.