The Claudia Quintet

The Claudia Quintet is an "eclectic post-jazz"[1] ensemble formed by drummer and composer John Hollenbeck.

Personnel

History and name

After the dissolution of the Refuseniks trio upon the departure of bassist Reuben Radding, Hollenbeck formed The Claudia Quintet.

Between sets on the Refuseniks' first gig, we met an attractive, bubbly, enthusiastic young lady named Claudia who rambled on incessantly about how "she was going to make this a regular thing" (coming to our regular gig), "she was going to invite and tell all of her friends", blah, blah, blah. When she was done captivating us (or at least me) with her good intentions, Reuben and I sauntered up to our instruments for the next set. He softly whispered, "She's never coming back". I was shocked, "What do you mean? She said…" Reuben answered, "Trust me, she's never coming back." Reuben proved to be more experienced in this department; we never saw Claudia again.

Amongst the trio, we tried to continue this relationship with Claudia with casual remarks, such as "Hey, I saw Claudia on the street, she says hi," or "Claudia left me a message that she is definitely coming by next week." As time passed, our imaginations continued to recreate Claudia's life. Claudia, according to me, eventually became pregnant and moved to New Jersey with her dot.com entrepreneur boyfriend.

I chose to name this group The Claudia Quintet.

My reasons for this choice:

  1. In homage to Reuben and the Refuseniks.
  2. I wanted the band to maintain a female quality.
  3. I noticed ships were historically named after women, so why not a musical group?
  4. I wanted to lose myself in the group-emphasizing the ensemble (this didn’t pan out, since the media and the music biz has taken to calling us John Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet.)
  5. I wanted this group to be able to play completely notated "new music" as well as jazz-based, improv-based, etc. - so I was emulating the common name format of chamber ensembles (i.e. The Arditti Quartet…)
    — John Hollenbeck, [2]

Discography
  • The Claudia Quintet; February 1, 2002; Blueshift CRI
  • I, Claudia; January 14, 2004; Cuneiform
  • Semi-Formal; October 11, 2005; Cuneiform
  • For; May 21, 2007; Cuneiform
  • Royal Toast w- Gary Versace (piano); May 18, 2010; Cuneiform
  • What Is the Beautiful? w- Matt Mitchell (piano), Kurt Elling (vocals), Theo Bleckmann (vocals); October 11, 2011; Cuneiform
  • September; September 24, 2013; Cuneiform
  • Super Petite; June 24, 2016; Cuneiform

References
  1. "Semi-Formal". Johnhollenbeck.com. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  2. "The Claudia Quintet rose from the ashes of the Refuseniks". Johnhollenbeck.com. Retrieved 2020-04-02.


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