For those unaware, Jerry Kalaf, a Colburn Community School of Performing Arts faculty member, has been active in the jazz community for many years. His credits include performances and tours with Eddie Harris, Gary Burton, Gary Foster, Frank Strazzeri, Bill Mays, Bill Perkins, Jimmy Cleveland, The Pointer Sisters, Gregory Hines, and Major Holley.

Jerry has toured Europe, Asia, Russia, South America, Africa, and the United States as musical director of the Jazz Tap Ensemble with performances at the Playboy Jazz Festival in Los Angeles, Salzburg Jazz Festival in Salzburg, Austria and in New York, at Carnegie Hall, and the Apollo Theater.

Active in the recording studios of Los Angeles, Jerry has participated as both a performer and composer in scoring sessions for hundreds of film and television shows.

Recorded at Studio J in Studio City, CA by Kalaf, and at RAX TRAX in Chicago, IL, by Andy Shoemaker, Safe Travels is his latest album, a collaboration with arranger Doug Walter. The compelling collection of original compositions brings together the distinctive voices of a piano trio and the lush textures of a string quartet.

The album features the Chicago-based string quartet ATYLS, seamlessly blending classical influences with Kalaf’s jazz sensibilities. The result is an evocative and emotional journey, where the improvisational nature of jazz meets the expressive power of the string quartet.

1. 263 Beacon
2. Another Summer
3. At The End of The Day
4. Bailing
5. Epilogue
6. Perspectives
7. Safe Travels
8. Shearing

Striking a balance between complexity and accessibility, delivering music that challenges musicians while deeply resonating with listeners, the new recording opens on the sweeping elegance of 263 Beacon and then we get the ornately sculpted Another Summer, some gentle dance floor swirls and twirls sewn within At The End of The Day, with the graceful Bailing along next.

Then we get brought forth an aching yearn that drives Epilogue, which is in turn followed by the dutifully melodious Perspectives, this delightful new album rounding out on the all-embracing rhythmic stillness of the titular Safe Travels, coming to a close on the quietly flirtatious Shearing.

Musicians:
Tom Ranier, piano
Trey Henry, bass
Jerry Kalaf, drums
And featuring ATLYS
Sabrina Tabby and Jinty McTavish, violins
Erin Rafferty, viola
Genevieve Tabby, cello

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