Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz 2023

Linda Ransom and Friends

Linda Ransom
Linda Ransom hails from Connecticut and has been an integral part of the Hartford music scene for many years. She has recorded and performed with jazz greats such as Marion Meadows, Ed Cherry, Larry Willis, Johnny O’neal, Steve Davis, Dezron Douglas among many others. Linda’s voice is like butter and her style is attributed to the legends that came before her. She is influenced by Sarah Vaughn, Nancy Wilson, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington but also has a strong connection with R&B music and the classics. Linda splits her time between Atlanta and Hartford but performs most frequently in the Hartford area. In New York, Linda has performed at some of the top jazz clubs including Minton’s Playhouse and Smoke Jazz Club. She has performed in London, Paris, Nagano and Matsumoto Japan and throughout the U.S. Linda’s most recent recording was with Ed Fast and Conga Bop on their sophomore record “Do or Die”. The album features Linda singing in a Latin Jazz setting. She is scheduled to record her own project in 2023.

Kris Jensen
Saxophonist, flutist and composer/arranger Kris Jensen is a versatile musician that resides in Connecticut, USA. He is associated with many well known acts in jazz and rock including the Allman Brothers Band and it’s individual members’ bands (Gregg Allman and Friends, Jaimoe’s Jasssz Band, Dickey Betts Band) trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson and members of Connecticut’s world class jazz community including Mark Templeton, Nat Reeves, Steve Davis, Phil Bowler, Jesse “Cheese” Hameen, Rohn Lawrence and others. Jensen both attended the University of Hartford and taught there under the auspices of jazz saxophone legend Jackie McLean.

Ed Brainerd
Ed Brainerd has been playing jazz music in the greater Springfield area for over 30 years, mainly at jazz clubs, restaurants, private, corporate, and political functions.  Venues have included All That Jazz at Caffeine’s Downtown, Uno Chicago Grill, Iron Horse Music Hall, The Marigold  Theater, The Bing Performing Arts Center,  Mass. Governor Patrick’s inauguration, and several Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies.

Chris Casey
Chris Casey earned a bachelor’s degree from The Hartt School and is a member Alpha Chi Na. Mr. Casey has studied under Jackie McLean, Jackie Byard, and Hotep Galeta. An active pianist, composer and arranger, Chris has performed extensively throughout New England and the New York area. He has performed with such greats as Jackie McLean, Nat Reeves, Steve Davis, Claudio Roditi, Slide Hampton, Houston Person, Jacomo Gates, Bob Berg, Jimmy Greene, and Greg Banaszak. Mr. Casey’s works have been commissioned by Jackie McLean, Curtis Fuller, Steve Davis, PBS Television, and The Polish National Chamber Orchestra of Slupsk. Recordings include “Double Vision”, “Jazz in the Wild”, “Sounds of Hartford”, “Head over Heals”, and “Imagination”. Other faculty appointments include The Greater Hartford Academy for the Performing Arts and Choate Rosemary Hall.

Matt Dechamplain
Pianist Matt DeChamplain grew up in Wethersfield, Connecticut. During high school Matt attended the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts studying under Jimmy Greene and Dave Santoro. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the Hartt School in 2010 and graduated with his masters from the University of Toledo in Ohio in 2012. Matt has performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, Berks Jazz Festival, New York’s JVC Jazz Festival, the Berklee Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center and renowned jazz clubs such as the Regatta Bar, Smalls and Yoshi’s. In 2008, Matt was selected for the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program where he engaged in a two week intensive composition and performance workshop under the instruction of jazz luminaries Dr. Billy Taylor, Nathan Davis and Curtis Fuller culminating in three performances filmed live from the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. That same year he was part of a group lead by bassist Nat Reeves that toured New Ross, Ireland. In 2010, Matt participated as a semifinalist in the Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition in Paris, France. As a sideman, Matt has appeared on guitarist Norman Johnson’s album “Get It While You Can” (2011), jazz violinist Jason Anick’s album “Tipping Point” (2012), and recorded several songs with vocal legend Jon Hendricks for “Holiday Wishes II: River of Stars” (2013). Also in 2013, he recorded a solo piano album titled “Stride-Bop” that sought to fuse the Harlem stride tradition with bebop and hardbop language. “Jazz’s rich heritage has been such an inspiration to me, and I hope that my combination of stride, swing, bebop and blues elements in these arrangements and compositions will honor it.” In 2015, Matt and his wife vocalist Atla DeChamplain released their first collaboration together titled “Pause.” The album features a guest appearance by Hendricks. Currently Matt holds faculty positions at the Hartt School (University of Hartford, Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz). He has also taught at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, led the big band at Glastonbury High School and taught at the Artist’s Collective, the Litchfield Jazz Camp and New Hampshire’s Jazz All State.

Morris Trent
Morris Trent was raised in New Haven, CT. As a young boy he made makeshift guitars using two pieces of wood and rubber bands. Morris’s mother, Nancy Trent, was a pianist who noticed Morris’s continued interest in music. She bought Morris his first guitar at age twelve. At age 14, Morris started performing around the New Haven area, establishing his foundation musically playing R&B and Funk. At age 17, he was introduced to the Buster Brothers who just returned from Chicago where they were playing with Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt. Eddie and Bobby Buster would become Morris’s mentors. Morris has since earned a name for himself as a talented musician in the New Haven area. He plays both guitar and bass performing with local musicians and he continues to gain respect from new and old audiences. Morris has collaborated with respected musicians such as Dicky Meyers, Hank Bolden, William Fluker, Lisa Bellany, Joe Grippo, Michael Coppola as well as several others.

Gil Hawkins, Jr
Gil Hawkins, Jr is a Jazz, Blues and R&B drummer based out of the New Haven, CT area. He has performed with Blues recording artists Johnny Rawls and Mojo Ike.  In addition, Mr. Hawkins toured with the George Lesiw Fusion Band and he’s the principal of the Hawkins Jazz Collective trio.

Matt Dwonszyk
Matt Dwonszyk is an accomplished bassist, composer, arranger and educator from Rocky Hill, CT. He graduated from the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz studying under his mentor and world-renowned bassist, Nat Reeves. Matt then went on to get his Masters degree from SUNY Purchase College. He has been living in Brooklyn, New York the past five years but still frequents back home to Connecticut to perform. Matt has shared the bandstand with world-renowned jazz musicians such as Steve Davis, Harold Mabern, Jazzmeia Horn, Bennie Wallace, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Herlin Riley among many others. In 2018, Matt toured through Russia apart of the Rainy Days Jazz Festival. He frequently performs at some of the top jazz clubs in New York City including Smalls Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club, Smoke and the Blue Note. Matt’s debut recording, “Wonderful World”, was released May of 2019 and his latest recording “A Year and a Day released 2022. He continues to perform with his group, the Dwonztet, featuring some of the top jazz musicians in the world today.