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BLUESTEM JAZZ | AARON STROESSNER QUARTET

The Aaron Stroessner Quartet tours the Midwest in support of their 2nd release, "Gifts." The group features guitarist Aaron Stroessner, Hammond B3 organist Kevin Lloyd, bassist Michael Frederickson and drummer Brandon Armstrong, and their appeal "... derives from Stroessners thoroughly engaging themes and distinct flair for creating colorful mood shifts that never fail to hit the mark." (Mike Joyce, Jazz Times)

Stroessner, a professor of guitar at several Nebraska colleges, studied jazz with luminaries such as Brian Lynch, Kenny Werner and Peter Bernstein first as an undergraduate at Berklee and then years later earning a masters degree at NYU. While those experiences helped inform his improvisations, Stroessner sharpened his writing skills as a singer songwriter in the years between, returning to his roots to create the New York City rock band Dead Left, releasing four indie CDs over the course of a decade; playing in what were the cities most notorious rock shrines, including CBGBs, the Continental, and the original Knitting Factory. His songs were featured at several prominent ASCAP events in New York, and for a while Dead Left at the cusp of a much bigger market, but ultimately their material was deemed "too diverse" by several major labels.

Years after the end of Dead Left, the Aaron Stroessner Quartet was born, an all-instrumental group that amalgamated the best of his interests; dynamic improvisations housed in direct and memorable songs. An important contemporary voice, the Aaron Stroessner Quartet's repertoire, including 2020's "Haymarket Station," is more than a reaction to the times. It is, rather, a prescription for our times, played with "vitality, soulfulness and, perhaps most of all, quirky charm." (Joyce) Truly "Gifts" to be enjoyed.