January 18, 2027
take two: kweku sumbry reimangines
elvin jones’ puttin it together
co-presented with pique-nique

ABOUT

Pique-nique and Winter Jazzfest present drummer, percussionist and composer Kweku Sumbry, reimagining Elvin Jones' 1968 Blue Note debut Puttin' It Together in the centennial year of one of the most influential drummers in jazz. Part of the "Take Two" deep-listening series, the evening begins with an uninterrupted playback of the album. Sumbry and his trio then give it a live reinterpretation, connecting the dots between record culture and live music culture.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Sumbry began studying West African drumming at age four. Like Jones, whose playing was famously polyrhythmic, he carries the language of the djembe orchestra onto the drum kit. He is joined by bassist Henry Fraser and saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, whose quartet Sumbry has anchored across a string of acclaimed Blue Note albums and a GRAMMY nomination. The record's three-way dialogue will be met by a partnership already years deep.

We pay homage to Elvin Jones in his centennial year with Puttin' It Together, the record that opened a new chapter after his years at the heart of the John Coltrane Quartet. A spare trio with Coltrane bandmate Jimmy Garrison on bass and Joe Farrell on reeds and flutes, it launched Jones' run as a Blue Note bandleader, and decades later he still counted it among his favorites.