New Jersey Repertory Company Announces A New Series Featuring Weeks & Peterson Quintet

New Jersey Repertory Company has announced the Weeks & Peterson Quintet will be performing two sets at NJRep on Wednesday, February 22, 2023 at 7:00pm and 8:30pm. Drummer Dan Weeks and bassist Joseph M. Peterson formed the Weeks & Peterson Quintet in late 2021 to perform original jazz and underplayed classics from the hard-bop repertoire. Currently, the band is concentrating on the music of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Hank Mobley, and Roy Hargrove.

In addition to compositions by Mobley and Hargrove, the quintet features music by Cedar Walton, Bobby Timmons, and New Jersey's own Wayne Shorter-all of whom were members of the Jazz Messengers. Patrons can purchase tickets to the WEEKS AND PETERSON QUINTET, or any of NJRep's offerings by visiting www.njrep.org or calling 732.229.3166. Tickets are $30.

DAN WEEKS (Drums). Prior to forming the Weeks & Peterson Quintet, Dan Weeks co-led the Hammerheaded Quartet with bassist Mike Noordzy for more than a decade. The band, featuring alto saxophonist Anthony Ware and guitarist Chuck Welch released two full-length CDs on Ratamacue Records-Crazy Talk from the Brainhead and Monksplorations. Weeks also co-led the critically acclaimed Jersey Shore hardbop jazz ensemble Jazzlamic Jihad from 1990 till 2004. This group also released two CDs, Forbidden Expression, which received a three-star rating in the Newark Star-Ledger, and We're in Your Neighborhood. Jazzlamic's music was included in the feature films Waiting and Just Lovers, and the band's appearance at Jazz in the Park, Red Bank, in 1997 was broadcast nationally on the Comcast Cable Network. Weeks, who studied privately with Blue Note recording artist Ralph Peterson Jr. and Muse recording artist Michael Carvin, has performed with saxophonists Danny Walsh, Frank Griffith, and Leo Johnson, trumpeters Clark Terry, Ted Chubb, and Ralph Peterson Jr., trombonist Bob Farrell; the Jazz Lobsters; guitarists Doug Clarke, Lenny Argese, Jerry Topinka, and Chaz Williams, and bassists Gary Mazzaroppi and Jack Six. In the 1980s, Weeks co-led the Jersey Shore bebop group J.W. Quintet with trumpeter Steve Jankowski. Other highlights include the Cape May and Montclair jazz festivals, and nine appearances at the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival. "With the ability to swing tastefully in the pocket and explode out of it, Weeks is hypnotizing to watch and to hear," wrote James Quirk in The Islander. Newark Star-Ledger critic George Kanzler has written that "Weeks is a crisp, in-the-pocket drummer with good ears for group dynamics."

JOSEPH M. PETERSON (Bass) has been an active professional musician in the tri-state area for the greater part of two decades. He has been a key member of such jazz units as the Deftet, Trio Joe, and Jazzlamic Jihad and has performed with jazz stalwarts such as tenor saxophonist Leo Johnson, trumpeters Ralph Peterson Jr. and James Gibbs, and guitarist Abe Ovadia. He has recorded with the Deftet, guitarist Tim Riddle, and the pop group Sun Daze. He is also a prolific composer of jazz tunes, which are published with BMI. Peterson has been a producer and host of more than twenty-five episodes of the "Jazz from the Archives" radio program on WBGO Jazz 88.3 FM and was for many years a research assistant at the Institute of Jazz Studies in Newark. Peterson earned a bachelor's degree in music performance from Monmouth University and a master's degree in jazz history and research from Rutgers University. He currently teaches bass at Lake House Music Academy, Asbury Park.

Steve Jankowski (Trumpet) is a touring and freelance trumpet player in the NYC area, who is currently a member of Grammy-nominated Nile Rodgers and Chic. He is also one of only three trumpet players to tour with the legendary horn band Chicago. Jankowski was a member of the legendary jazz-rock group Blood, Sweat and Tears for eight years, serving as the band's musical director for his last six years there. Other tours include Don Henley, the Funk Brothers (featuring Steve Winwood and Billy Preston), Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave), K.C. and the Sunshine Band, and the late Donna Summer. Jankowski's recording credits include Amy Grant's House of Love(Double Platinum), Darryl Hall (Platinum), Jeff Lorber (two Grammy-nominated CDs with the BS&T horn section), Luther Vandross, Bon Jovi, the Rolling Stones, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and many more. Other highlights include performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival with the George Duke All Stars (tribute to Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic Records), Madison Square Garden with Donna Summer, Carnegie Hall with Aretha Franklin, and Shakira on the Late Show with David Letterman and NBCs "Christmas at Rockefeller Center." When not touring, Steve records, produces, and engineers at his own Jankland Recording Studio. With Weeks, he co-led the bebop jazz group J.W. Quintet.

GREG GRISPART (Saxophone) a multi-instrumentalist in a wide range of genres. He has worked with Bruce Springsteen, The Duprees, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and locally with Steve Turre, Larry McKenna, Gary Mazzaroppi, the Jazz Lobsters, the Deftet, Chris Pinella, and the Brookdale College Big Band. He has also performed with the National Wind Ensemble, the Garden State Symphonic Band, the New Jersey Pops, and the Metropolitan Woodwind Ensemble. Grispart earned his bachelor's degree in music education and classical clarinet performance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. At Rutgers, he was a member of the Grammy-nominated Rutgers Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. William Berz and can be heard on five of the group's CDs. In 2005, Grispart performed with the ensemble at the CBNDA National Conference held at New York University and at Carnegie Hall later that spring. He has also performed with the Rutgers University Orchestra, the Rutgers Philharmonia, the Rutgers Symphony Band, and the Rutgers Jazz Ensemble. He earned a master's degree in Jazz Studies and Performance at The Maynard Ferguson Institute of Jazz, Rowan University, studying with Denis DiBlasio.

MIKE BOND (Piano) One of the most sought-after piano players in the tri-state, Mike Bond has worked with tap dancer Savion Glover, in Latin projects led by trombone giant Conrad Herwig, and hardcore jazz gigs with masters like saxophonists Mark Gross, Joe Ford, and Bruce Williams and trumpeters Joe Magnarelli and Duane Eubanks. He is a featured sideman on guitarist Jean Chaumont's debut album The Beauty of Differences which received a four-star review in Downbeat Magazine. In 2020, Bond released his own digital CD, The Honorable Ones, featuring jazz heavyweights Steve Wilson on saxophones and Ben Wolfe on bass. He composed ten of the twelve tunes on the recording. As a leader, Bond has performed at Smalls and Mezzrow in New York City, as well as the Central Jersey Jazz Festival, the Canadian Music Festival in Toronto, and the New York City Winter Jazz Festival. He has also toured with saxophonist Ryan Devlin and worked with such notables as saxophonist Jerry Weldon, and drummers Billy Kilson, Will Calhoun, Adam Nussbaum, and Jerome Jennings. Bond started playing piano at age four and at age six won the classical piano competition at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. In high school, he began to play jazz, studying with pianist Jim Ridl and later with Mike La Donne. Bond earned his bachelor of music degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, where he received the Excellence in Jazz Performance Award and the Arthur G. Humphrey Award for Music Education.

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