Ari Hoenig Trio - (5:30PM)

"He's got Rhythm of every variety...trickles of rhythm seeping into all the cracks and at regular intervals he changes the rhythm, pouring it out or stoppering it, turning its emphasis around, subdividing or refocusing it and making it follow the melody." - Ben Ratliff New York Times
"Ari Hoenig is one of the most maniacally obsessive, spasmodic and musical drummers in jazz." - Jazz Times
"Postbop daredevil Ari Hoenig turns jazz drumming into a thrilling high-wire act." - Time Out New York
"Ari Hoenig’s Punk Bop is an altogether different take on jazz." - Downbeat Magazine
"Drummer Ari Hoenig is an unalloyed pleasure, matching rhythmic verve with a keen ear for melody" - Steve Smith, Jazziz Magazine
“Rhythm is a contact sport for Ari Hoenig...expansive technique, propulsive time and deep musicality...his style is characterized by a crisp attack and quick attentive reflexes." - Nate Chinen, New York Times
Ari Hoenig is a jazz drummer, composer, and educator known for his unusual and intense approach to drumming emphasizing complex rhythms in direct harmony with other group members. Ari is widely noted particularly for his drumming not being relegated to just keeping tempo, or being a side issue to the music he plays in, but rather for elevating drumming as an indispensable part of the performance.
Born on November 13, 1973 in Philadelphia, Ari Hoenig, was exposed at an early age to a variety of musical experiences and by age fourteen was honing his skills in Philly clubs. After attending the University of North Texas for three years, Ari transferred to William Patterson College in New Jersey and soon found himself playing for legendary Philadelphia organist Shirley Scott and working regularly in New York City.
Shortly thereafter, Ari moved into Brooklyn and began playing extensively with a variety of groups, including Jean Michel Pilc Trio, Kenny Werner Trio, Chris Potter Underground, Kurt Rosenwinkel Group, Joshua Redman Elastic band, Jazz Mandolin Project and bands led by Wayne Krantz, Mike Stern, Richard Bona and Pat Martino.
Both of Ari's self-produced solo drum CDs, "Time Travels" (2000) and "The Life Of A Day" (2002), document his exploratory nature and they represent an ambitious tribute to the melodic possibilities of the drum set. Today, Ari continues to build on the concepts of these two records by playing largely improvised solo concerts using a simple four-piece drum kit without help from extraneous percussion instruments.
The Ari Hoenig Quartet was formed at the end of 2002 while playing every Monday night at the New York Village jazz club Fat Cat. The band featured Jacques Schwarz-Bart on tenor sax, Jean Michel Pilc on piano, and Matt Penman on bass. They released two records on the Smalls Records label: "The Painter" (2004) and the DVD "Kinetic Hues" (2005)
In 2006 Ari signed a multi-record deal with Dreyfus Records and released his first record for them called “Inversations" (2006) which features the trio of Jean Michel Pilc and Johannes Weidenmueller. “Bert’s Playground” (2008), Ari’s second record for Dreyfus, features Ari’s Punk Bop Band joined by Chris Potter. Jonathan Kreisberg, Matt Penman, Will Vinson, Gilad Hekselman and Orlando le Fleming also represent on this one.
His next record project was for “Smalls Live”, a record label set up in 2009 to document some of the music being performed at the “Smalls Jazz Club” in New York where Ari has appeared regularly since 2003. Ari chose his Punk Bop Band to make the live record “Punk Bop Live at Smalls (2010)”. The Punk Bop Band features Will Vinson on alto, Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar and fellow Jazz Mandolin Project alumni, Danton Boller on bass and Tigran Hamasyan.
In 2018, Ari released a standards record called NY Standard (a tribute to playing standards in New York). In 2019, Conners Days (his first full trio record) was released. It features Nitai Hershkovits on piano and Or Bareket on bass. Both of these are on the Fresh Sound label and have received widespread acclaim.
In 2022 Ari teamed up with arranger/pianist Ben Markley to record an album of his compositions with a full 19 piece big band from the Denver area and released “Ari’s Funhouse” (OAM). The same year the trio recording “Golden Treasures” (Fresh Sound) was released featuring Ari’s current trio of Gadi Lehavi and Ben Tiberio, documenting Ari’s composing and other general musical activities during the pandemic. The record is indicative of Ari’s cinematic style of songwriting.
Ari also co-leads a variety of projects. Pilc, Moutin, Hoenig (The Three headed monster) released Threedom in 2011 on the Motema label. He has had various projects with partner Gael Horellou including the jazz electronica project “Nasty Factorz” with a self titled record released in 2016 and “Live” with the quartet featuring Horellou, released in 2019. Ari has also co-led various duo’s with Chris Potter, Edmar Casteneda, JD Walter and Dan Weiss. His recordings as a side-artist total around 120 to date.
Ari Hoenig - Drums
Jacob Duncan - Saxophones
Ryan McGillicuddy - Bass

This show is 21 and over only. All sales are final and we unfortunately cannot offer any refunds. Additional tickets may be available at the door on the day of the show even if it is sold out online.

Please try to arrive 15 minutes prior to the show start time. If you do not arrive within 45 minutes after the show start time on your ticket your seat may be resold to other patrons at the door. If you arrive after 45 minutes from the start time of the show and your ticket has been resold, although we cannot guarantee it, we will try our best to make space for you to attend the show.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Rudy's Jazz Room, 809 Gleaves Street, Nashville, United States