Reeder & Dag Off​-​the​-​Cuff

Two complementary musicians with distinct approaches to career "rendezvous in a Manhattan apartment" and record spontaneous arrangements of American Songbook material. Grand piano and snare with brushes, simplicity, and possibility. Bryan Reeder is a pianist, composer, and graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. He writes, arranges and records for film, big bands, orchestras, and small ensembles. He is both a bandleader and a member of several bands, and his work in the realms of jazz, classical and contemporary music has brought him to a diverse array of stages. He recorded piano and harpsichord for tubist Dan Peck's Baroque album 1685. Closer to the heart of this paper his appreciation of classic jazz led him to play in Glen Crytzer's groups. A quick search of Youtube reveals him with a number of other classic jazz groups as well as prior pairings with his interlocutor here, Dag Markhus. Markhus has a different approach to his music. While Reeder's search for art leads him to branch out, Markhus has on his website the maxim, "The cannon shoots far because it doesn't scatter its fire." It was his love of the swing of classic jazz that brought him from Norway to Julliard and kept him on in New York City after he graduated in 2014. He's performed with Bucky Pizzarelli and Barbara Carroll and despite some other projects including a modern classical work he's focused on Amer