NEXT Collective is a group of young jazz musicians who are exploring new interpretations of contemporary songs. Logan Richardson, an alto saxophonist, was born in 1980. He was already a member of the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of 16. Downbeat magazine called him “up and coming” after he studied music at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, and New York’s New School. After that, he played with several bands including Joe Chambers, Nasheet waits, Jason Moran, and Greg Tardy. He has released Cerebral Flow and Ethos as a leader, and toured the world with his own band since 2006. In 2010, France’s Jazzman magazine proclaimed him one of the “ten most burning alto saxophonists in the world.” Walter Smith III, a Houston native, is a tenor saxophonist. In 2003, he graduated from Berklee and his hometown’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He has appeared on more than 75 recordings, performed or recorded with Eric Reed, Mulgrew Mill, Bob Hurst, Joe Lovano and Terence Blanchard. He splits his time between his own band and playing in sidebands with Eric Harland, Ambrose Akinmusire and Eric Harland. Matthew Stevens, a guitarist, was born in Toronto. He graduated from the Etobicoke School of the Arts, then the Berklee College of Music. He received the Jimi Hendrix Award, the highest honor given to guitar teachers. Although he is most well-known for his contributions on and off stage with Christian Scott’s Berklee ensemble, Matthew has also recorded and shared the stage with Victor Bailey, Jason Moran and Dr. Lonnie Smith. Gerald Clayton, a keyboardist, was born in 1984. He is part of Los Angeles’s well-known jazz clan, which includes his father John, composer/bassist, and his uncle Jeff, saxophonist. He won the Edison Award for Best International Jazz Album in 2011, was nominated for three Grammys, and finished second in the 2006 Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Pianist Competition. He is the result of years of intensive training at the University of Southern California, the Manhattan School of Music and on-the-job experience with the likes of Roy Hargrove and Lewis Nash, Clark Terry and Hank Jones. His Concord Jazz debut album will be released in April 2013. He is currently the leader of one of the most well-known piano trios, along with Joe Sanders and Justin Brown. Kris Bowers, born 1989, is the youngest member of this young conclave. He was a prodigy and won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition Award last year (2011). He was raised and educated in Los Angeles and studied with Fred Hersch and Frank Kimbrough. He has recorded and performed with many artists including Aretha Franklin and Marcus Miller, Q-Tip and Kanye West as well as Ludacris, Ludacris, Ludacris, and Louis Hayes. He was the first recipient the Luther Henderson Scholarship from Juilliard. There he earned his Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance, with a specialization in film composition. Concord Jazz will release his debut solo album in 2013. Born 1984, bassist Ben Williams was raised in Washington D.C. He earned his Masters at Juilliard and won the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute International Jazz Competition. He has performed with Wynton Marsalis and Terence Blanchard, Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard (with Nicholas Payton), Paquito D’Rivera, Roy Hargrove, among others. He recorded his 2011 album The Guitar Man with George Benson and released State of Art. This was his first recording as a leader. Jamire Williams, a Houston native and a graduate of the High School for the Performing Arts in 1984, is percussionist.
