Aaron Goldberg Trio Returns for Residency, Accompanied by Special Guest

Tenor sax player Mark Turner will join the Aaron Goldberg Trio in a jazz concert at Skidmore at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30. Admission to the performance in Filene Hall will be $5, or $2 for students and seniors. 

Goldberg's trio and Turner will be in residence for three days, teaching and coaching student musicians. It's a return visit for Goldberg, a pianist and composer, and for his trio-mates, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland: the three were Filene Artists-in-Residence last February at Skidmore.

"Aaron's group established such a great rapport with students on his first visit here that the returning students wanted to work with them again," explained John Nazarenko, a jazz pianist himself and a senior artist-in-residence at the College. "There was such a positive connection, and that will be strengthened in this second visit."

Nazarenko believes it is important for young musicians not just to hear great musicians and to study with them, but also to talk with them informally during residencies. Personal contact de-mystifies the music profession, he said.

Goldberg agrees. "It's special for the students to see us perform and to have the chance to ask us about our music, and these visits also give us a chance to keep track of their progress," he said, adding that the residency allows the musicians "to act a bit like part-time faculty members."

Bringing sax player Mark Turner to Skidmore with the trio came about because the College had originally planned to have a saxophonist in residency this semester, according to Nazarenko, referring to Turner's playing as "amazing."

Raised in southern California, Turner initially planned to be a commercial artist, but then fell in love with music. He studied alto sax before switching to tenor. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in 1990 and then moved to New York, where he performs, records, and teaches at the Manhattan School of Music. "He's a great teacher, and one of the inspirations for younger jazz players in New York, and a constant inspiration for me," Goldberg said of Turner, adding that they have played in each other's bands.

Goldberg began studying piano at age seven in Boston, and studied jazz first with Bob Sinicrope, and then with saxophonist, composer and author Jerry Bergonzi. While still a teenager, Goldberg had awards from both Berklee College and Downbeat. At 17, he studied at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York, and then returned to Boston to enroll at Harvard University. At 19, he was awarded one of five Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellowships by the International Association of Jazz Educators, and also was named winner of the 1993 Recognition and Talent Search of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. Goldberg graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, with a degree in history and science, and a concentration in "Mind, Brain and Behavior."

Bassist Reuben Rogers was raised in the Virgin Islands, and experimented with clarinet, piano, drums and guitar before turning to the bass at age 14. He studied summers at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, and earned a music degree from the Berklee College of Music. He has toured extensively, and has recorded on more than 60 CDs.

Originally from Houston, drummer Eric Harland began playing professionally while attending the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Wynton Marsalis discovered him during a workshop in high school, and encouraged him to continue his studies study in New York City. Harland attended Manhattan School of Music on a full scholarship, and went on to study theology at Houston Baptist University (College of Biblical Studies), becoming an ordained minister.

Noted also as a composer, he has recorded with various artists on 26 CDs, including several that were nominated for Grammy Awards, and has played on 18 film scores.