Jazz on the Plaza: Jasper Shogo Dutz Quartet

Join us in the outdoor plaza at 601 Lexington Ave / Saint Peter's Church / The Hugh (former Citigroup Center) for our electrifying outdoor jazz concert series! Free to all!

This week we welcome:

Jasper Shogo Dutz (woodwinds)

Robbie Lee (piano/voice)

Adam Olszewski (bass)

Ben Zweig (drums)

About Jasper Shogo Dutz:

Jasper Shogo Dutz is a distinguished multi-woodwind instrumentalist based in New York City, originally hailing from Los Angeles. In addition to playing freelance gigs in the NYC area, Jasper is the lead alto saxophonist in the Grammy-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra directed by Arturo O'Farrill. He also leads his own quartet that blends Japanese folk influences with jazz, combining both his creative background and his heritage. In 2023, Jasper founded the J-Pop/Jazz cover band Catbus Collective, where he showcases his virtuosity on various woodwind instruments alongside several colleagues in a modular configuration. Beyond performing, he serves as the artistic director for VGM Jam Sessions NYC, a role he has held since 2021. A graduate of the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he attended on a full tuition scholarship, Jasper has collaborated with renowned artists such as Nels Cline, Joel Ross, Lenny Pickett, Jon Batiste, and Ron Carter.

About Robbie Lee:

A graduate of both The Juilliard School(AD ‘21) and The Manhattan School of Music(BM ‘18), at 27 he has already shared the stage with his mentors, such as world renown jazz icons Wynton Marsalis, Jimmy Heath, Herlin Riley, Bruce Barth, Matt Wilson, and Brice Winston. As both a leader and a sideman, Robbie has graced several world class stages, including Dizzy’s Club, Smalls Jazz Club, Birdland, Frederick P. Rose Hall, and Joe’s Pub. He has also played in numerous jazz festivals across the globe including the Monterey Jazz Festival, The Umbria Jazz Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and the Bern Jazz Festival. Throughout his career, Lee has earned recognition for both his performance and composition skills, receiving awards from Downbeat Magazine, YoungArts, The Essentially Ellington Festival and Competition, and The Next Generation Jazz Festival.

About Adam Olszewski:

Bassist, composer, arranger, and educator Adam Olszewski is a New York City based musician hailing from Ann Arbor, MI. He began playing the bass at 12, instantly enamored with its deep, beautiful sound. He found his passion playing jazz within that same year, and it quickly became a channel for his energetic personality and creative spirit. He credits much of his early bass influence to the legacy of Detroit bass players proceeding him, and was thrilled to continue in their footsteps when he moved to NYC.

About Ben Zweig:

Born in 1992 in NYC, Zweig anchored himself in the local scene of seasoned jazz musicians who eventually became close mentors. He has had the opportunity to share the stage with some of these masters over the years – Randy Weston, Ira Coleman, Johnny O’Neal, Jerry Dodgion, Harold Mabern, Larry Ridley, David Williams, Deborah Davis, Grant Stewart, Joe Cohn, and Steve Nelson. Downbeat magazine has described his playing as “especially crisp and articulate” and all about jazz, “Zweig steals it with his brush work.” Ben strives for his playing to reflect a passion for performing simple, heartfelt music.

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