Jerome Sabbagh Quartet

Jerome Sabbagh (sax), Gilad Hekselman (guitar), Joe Martin (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums)

Saxophonist and composer Jerome Sabbagh was born in Paris in 1973 and has been living in Brooklyn since 1995. A prolific forward-thinking composer, as well as a musician with a deep connection to the well of the jazz tradition, he has recorded nine albums as a leader.

Jerome Sabbagh’s latest recordings are Heart (Analog Tone Factory, 2024), a trio record with Joe Martin and master drummer Al Foster, and Vintage (Sunnyside, 2023), an album of original compositions and standards which features legendary pianist and NEA jazz master Kenny Barron in intimate duets, as well as in a quartet setting with Joe Martin and Johnathan Blake.

Jerome Sabbagh’s longstanding group with Ben Monder, Joe Martin and Ted Poor, a band which has been together since 2004, has released three albums, the critically acclaimed North, Pogo and The Turn, which was listed as one of the best albums of 2014 by the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, DownBeat, Ottawa Citizen and France Musique. Jerome has also recorded an album exclusively devoted to standards, One Two Three, in a saxophone trio setting with Ben Street and Rodney Green. I Will Follow You is a freer project featuring European drum legend Daniel Humair and Ben Monder. Plugged In, sparked by a CMA/FACE grant, is an electric project co-led with Jozef Dumoulin, with Patrice Blanchard and Rudy Royston.

As a sideman, Jerome Sabbagh was one of Paul Motian’s last saxophone players. After one gig together, the legendary drummer asked him to play for a week at the Village Vanguard, in his “New Trio” with guitarist Ben Monder, in September 2011. He also has been involved with pianist Laurent Coq’s quartet, Guillermo Klein’s Los Guachos and the Marta Sanchez Quintet.

Jerome Sabbagh has shared the stage with Al Foster, Victor Lewis, Bill Stewart, Jeff Ballard, Greg Hutchinson, Billy Drummond, Nasheet Waits, Eric McPherson, Justin Brown, Eliot Zigmund, Andrew Cyrille, Damion Reid, Mark Turner, Melissa Aldana, Reggie Workman, Vicente Archer, Matt Penman, Matt Brewer, Joe Sanders, Steve Cardenas, Lage Lund, Mike Moreno, Gilad Hekselman, Dan Tepfer, Pete Rende and Jean-Michel Pilc, among others.