In-Person and Online: Dharma Rhythms – All About the Bass

Marty Jaffe

One of New York City’s most versatile and highly sought after bassists, Marty Jaffe has performed with world-renowned artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Samara Joy, Marcus Roberts, Catherine Russell, George Coleman, Sullivan Fortner, Peter Cincotti, Karrin Allyson, and Laura Anglade, among others. When not in NYC, Marty tours extensively throughout the US and world with these artists and other collaborators including pianists Ben Rosenblum, David Meder, and his own group.

Marty was born into a family of extraordinary musicians, including his father, a prominent pianist, composer, and educator Andy Jaffe. He grew up in Conway Massachusetts and moved to New York City to attend Columbia and Juilliard, where he studied under musical giants Ron Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Drummond, Frank Kimbrough, and Kenny Washington. His accolades include being named a 2012 Presidential Scholar in the Arts and winning the International Society of Bassists’ jazz competition in 2013.

Marty is active as a bandleader and has presented his original music at the Kennedy Center, The New World Center for the Arts, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He currently co-leads an innovative trio TONE FOREST, with longtime collaborators Miro Sprague (piano) and Jason Ennis (7- string Brazilian classical guitar). Their debut album, self-titled Tone Forest, released in August 2024, features original compositions by each member that blend influences from jazz, world music, classical music, free improvisation and more.

John Ferrara

John Ferrara is a bassist and composer, best known for his work with the acclaimed world fusion group Consider the Source, his work as a solo artist and as founding member of Mono Means One. He has performed and taught all over the world, earning widespread praise for his unorthodox approach to writing and performing which he accomplishes largely by utilizing the “two handed tapping technique”. Ferrara alters the instrument’s role into something more akin to a piano or classical guitar. His music spans genres, pulling inspiration from classical, jazz, rock, folk, and minimalism and falls somewhere between the brooding moodiness of Phillip Glass, the improvisational exploration of Chick Corea, and the melancholic spirit of Radiohead. Where Ferrara’s take on the bass guitar showcases his technical proficiency, his ethos as an artist is strictly to serve an emotional end, making his compositions both comprehensible and palatable.

John is also a teacher, giving private lessons and online lectures weekly and has taught clinics and masterclasses all over the US and in many other countries.

Jason Smith

Jumping from one musical pond to the next has always been a hallmark of New York City-based electric/acoustic bassist Jason Smith. Most recently, Jason performed in the multimedia theatre piece Skinfolk at the Bushwick Starr. Formerly he performed with the interdisciplinary art punk band What Would Tilda Swinton Do, and in the past wrote music for the video art work of the band’s leader, Austrian visual artist and vocalist Suzie Léger. Before this he performed with a slew of improvisatory noise and jazz groups. Jason trained in classical music theory and composition, jazz and world music performance, and business at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts.

Outside of performance, Jason is also a skilled audio visual engineer, technician, and installer, previously working as an installer at the Brooklyn Museum (David Bowie Is; Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960–1985) and Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and production tech at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Outside of museums, Jason has worked at ShapeShifter Lab, a venue focused on the world of non-traditional jazz and other experimental types of music.

Evan Harris

Evan Harris is a New York-based saxophonist whose passion for jazz has informed his “vividly evocative” (Words About Music) sound on the saxophone.

Evan leads his own ensemble, the Evan Harris Quintet, which performs his original compositions, drawing inspiration from the panoramas and cityscapes that have shaped his recent past. The compositions themselves are “cinematic in feel” (Jazz in Europe) and architectural, “painting the sun rising over the jagged line of the city’s skyscrapers” (Words About Music). The Evan Harris Quintet has appeared in New York, as a headline act at the 2019 DC Jazz Festival, and across Australia for a national album launch tour, presenting Evan’s debut album Skylines. Skylines garnered three nominations for the 2018 Australian Jazz Bell Awards; Best Instrumental Jazz Album, Best Produced Album and Young Australian Jazz Artist of the Year.

Originally from Sydney, Australia, Evan has established himself with performance credits ranging from Miguel Zenon’s Identities are Changeable to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. At the formative age of 31, Evan has been acknowledged with accolades including the title of 2018 Young Australian Jazz Musician of the Year, a grant from the Arts Council of Australia, and the Gerry and Franca Mulligan Scholarship. Evan holds a Master of Music degree and an Artist Diploma (both in Jazz Studies) from The Juilliard School, and the William Schuman Prize, which recognizes a graduate student of music for outstanding achievement and leadership. Evan maintains an active performance calendar locally in New York City at venues such as the Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Minton’s Playhouse, and Smalls Jazz Club, and has recently toured the US with Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Songs We Love”.

Paul Bloom

Originally from Needham, Massachusetts, Paul Bloom is a dynamic presence in the New York City music scene. As a pianist, keyboardist, songwriter, arranger, and producer, Paul’s versatility shines across live performances, recorded music, and film scoring. His collaborations span a wide range of genres and artists, including Jess Best, Taylor Simone Harvey, iiii, Justin Carter, Alex Graff, Bria Monét, Sedric Perry, Marty Jaffe, Jazze Belle, Sadi Mosko, Ajada Reigns, Daru Jones, Pete Rock, Marcus Machado, Kendra Foster, Jermaine Holmes, Rojo Lavoe, and JSWISS.

Paul has graced premier stages such as the Blue Note, Apollo Theater, Dizzy’s Club, Nublu, Cafe Wha?, Arthur’s Tavern, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has also performed at renowned festivals and events, including the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, San Jose Jazz Festival, NYC Winter Jazz Festival, Harlem Arts Festival, The Bowery Ballroom, and the California Jazz Conservatory. When not making music, Paul works as a postdoctoral research scientist studying youth mental health, including an ongoing clinical trial of mindfulness meditation paired with real-time neural feedback to treat adolescent depression.

Josh Wexler

Josh Wexler is a native New Yorker. As a bookseller, he won an important First Amendment case (Wexler vs. New Orleans) helping secure the right to distribute published materials. He wrote for the website NoMaas, and spent most of his adult life as a gigging and recording musician. He still teaches piano in Greenwich Village (GVPianoLessons.com), and currently runs New York City’s Suicide Hotline as Director of Crisis Services for Samaritans NYC.