Photos: Rudy Lu

Alexa Tarantino Quartet made an appearance at the Local on April 18th. They dazzled the audience with their virtuosity, interplay and not only displayed that but also did not forget to include melody and harmony in their performance.

Alexa exclusively played the alto saxophone for this performance even though she is also known for her flute.Piano was handled by Addison Frei whose fingers danced across the keys played chords with ease and was equally at home with the ballad. Keita Ogawa of Snarky Puppy fame was on drums. Bassist Jennifer Vincent who has been a long time member of the NYC jazz scene filled out the remaining quarter of the quartet.

All members of the band took turns leading into the tunes, Alexa and Addison dominated playing the melodies and harmonies with each other with the others adding their color and solos. At times Alexa’s alto sounded almost clarinetlike.

Wayne Shorter’s composition “This is for Albert” opened the concert, This was followed by varied compositions and covers including the old standard “Old Folks” and her original “Surge Capacity” from her latest recording “Firefly” (Positone).

They ended with a Latin piece “La Puerta” that she learned as a member of Arturo O’Farrill’s Orchestra.

The concert season at the Local will continue with more performances this week, 17 year old pianist Aaron Goldberg on 4/25 and the uncategorizable music of Hazmat Modine. Additional world music, classical music and other cultural events will continue until the end of June. For more details go to thelocalaugerties.com for details.

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