NYC – Threatening All Star Sextet

Line-up:

Alex Sipiagin: trumpet;
Tim Armacost: saxophone;
Luis Bonilla: trombone;
Hector Martignon: piano;
Boris Kozlov: double bass;
John Riley: drums;

Luis Diego Bonilla is an American jazz trombonist of Costa Rican descent. He is also a producer, composer and educator. He was born and raised in Eagle Rock, California to parents who immigrated to the United States from Costa Rica. He was introduced to music and jazz while attending high school. After graduating from Eagle Rock High School, he studied music at California State University, Los Angeles, and earned a bachelor's degree in music. During his time at C.S.U.L.A., he was a member of both the Big Band and the top jazz quintet that won top honors at the West Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival. Bonilla recorded five high-profile records with the big band C.S.U.L.A., on which he performed as a soloist and arranged one of these records. He studied in Los Angeles with Don Raffell, Roy Main, David Caffey, and former Stan Kenton trombonist/producer Bob Curnow. When he later moved to New York City, he earned a master's degree in jazz performance and composition from the Manhattan School of Music.

Alex Sipiagin is a Russian jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn. He moved from Russia to the United States in 1990. His first major job in the U.S. was with the Gil Evans Band. He played with Dave Holland, the Mingus Big Band, Michael Brecker and Mulgrew Miller. As a leader, he recorded numerous albums, twelve of which he recorded for Criss Cross Jazz. Sipiagin is a founding member of Opus 5 with Seamus Blake, David Kikoski, Boris Kozlov, and Donald Edwards. His album NoFo Skies was his debut for Blue Room Music, but it was recorded by the same quintet as his previous album Moments Captured.Je a faculty member at New York University Steinhardt.

Saxophonist Tim Armacost grew up in Tokyo and Washington, D.C. At the age of eight, he first learned to play the clarinet, then switched to tenor saxophone at age 16 and played in big bands in Washington, D.C. At the age of 18, he moved to Los Angeles. After graduating from Pomona College, he moved to Amsterdam and from there worked in Europe for seven years, where he also taught at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He lived in New Delhi, India for a year, where he studied tabla with Vijay Ateet and incorporated the concepts of Indian classical music into his original work. He has returned to India twice, where he has performed with American and Indian jazz musicians at the Bombay International Jazz Festival, the Jazz Yatra Festival in New Delhi, and concerts in Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Kolkata. In 1993, Armacost moved to New York City and recorded his debut album Fire (Concord Jazz) with Kenny Barron, Gerald Cannon, Billy Hart, and Shingo Okudaira. In 2010, he was also a member of the New York Standards Quartet and co-leader of the Brooklyn Big Band, for which he composes and arranges. He recorded an album with Mike Rodriguez and Yutaka Shiina called Future Swing (2015). In 2018, he contributed to David Berkman's album Six of One. Between 1986 and 2019, he participated in 55 recordings of jazz music.

Boris Kozlov is a Russian jazz bassist. Born in Moscow in the USSR, Kozlov studied piano at a junior music school before switching to bass. Kozlov won the competition of the Gnesin Academy of Music, which allowed him to enter college at the age of 15 and study electric bass guitar.

After graduation, Kozlov completed mandatory two-year military service, where he played tuba and other brass. After leaving the service, in 1989 Kozlov played with the Soviet state studio ensemble "Melodia" and in 1991 won the competition of jazz soloists of the USSR. He then moved to New York City to study and perform jazz. Kozlov played on two Grammy Award-winning albums, the first with Brian Lynch and the second with the Mingus Big Band (Live at Jazz Standard) in 2011. Kozlov acted as the music director of the latter band. Kozlov has performed with Lew Tabackin, Bobby Watson, Michael Brecker, Alex Sipiagin, and others. As a solo artist, Kozlov released the album Double Standard in 2010, and as the leader of Conversations At The Well in 2016.

John Bernard Riley is an American jazz drummer and educator. He has performed with Woody Herman, Stan Getz, Milt Jackson, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, Mike Stern, Joe Lovano, Franck Amsallem, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, John Patitucci and Bob Berg. Riley started playing drums at the age of eight after receiving a small drum as a gift. Riley studied music at the University of North Texas College of Music, where he became acquainted with the wider world of music and percussion. There he played, toured and recorded Lab 76 with the One O'Clock Lab Band. Lab 76 was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Jazz Big Band Performance." Jazz drummer Paul Guerrero was one of his influential teachers in North Texas.

In case of bad weather, the concert will be held at the Kras Hotel.

The project was financially supported by the Municipality of Postojna and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.

Free admission!