Tributaries, out July 17, 2026 via ACP Records, features six new works for big band by four composers: founder Jeremy Cohen, Darryl Harper, Matan Rubinstein and Sam Spear
“The compositions offer a diverse range of styles, textures, and moods, highlighting the strength and versatility of the musicians. Each performer contributes a dynamic presence and expression to the music, creating a vibrant soundscape that defines the ensemble’s creativity, individuality, and collaborative spirit.” – Regina Carter
“The music on this new album by the New England Jazz Collaborative is fantastic… I hear the individual voices of Jeremy, Matan, Darryl, and Sam… It’s refreshing and uplifting to hear this music.“ – Ben Allison
“The uniform excellence and diversity of the present music has created a powerful debut…” – Bob Blumenthal
Tributaries, the debut album from the New England Jazz Collaborative, vividly showcases the panoramic spectrum of approaches to composition represented by its diverse membership, from classic New Orleans swing and elegant balladry to Third Stream fusion and West African highlife. The album features six wide-ranging new pieces by four of the collaborative’s member composers: Jeremy Cohen, Darryl Harper, Matan Rubinstein and Sam Spear.
The NEJC was created as a solution to a daunting dilemma: how to provide access for composers from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to a skilled big band that can help bring their most ambitious imaginings to audiences. Composer and percussionist Jeremy Cohen found himself with a trove of works on paper but lacked the resources to have them properly performed or recorded. Realizing that he was likely far from alone, he reached out through his network of peers and colleagues to bring together a community of like-minded composers to form the NEJC – an artist-led nonprofit dedicated to fostering new music and expanding the audience for what remains a thrilling and vital musical form.
An idea born of necessity quickly proved to be a groundbreaking new model. Instead of an ensemble devoted to the vision of a single composer and bandleader, the NEJC spotlights a variety of voices and approaches, akin to a symphony orchestra in its diverse repertoire. But where most orchestras or repertory big bands adhere to canonical works from the past, the NEJC is committed to promoting new works by its ever-expanding group of member composers. The ensemble is one of, if not the, only group in the country built on an artist-led model actively commissioning and presenting new works for 17-piece big band from a vast array of modern composers.
In less than five years since Cohen’s initial inspiration, the collaborative has been responsible for over 30 new works for jazz orchestra, and has paid more than $100,000 to local musicians and other creatives. At least two composer-led big bands have already emerged from the NEJC crucible.
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“The variety is what makes NEJC’s approach to programming both contemporary and accessible,” Cohen says. “I’ve witnessed it first-hand in our concerts: between the different colors, the dynamic range of the orchestra, and how that was put to use by all the different composers, even audiences who are unfamiliar with jazz find something on the program that captivates them.”
The make-up of the orchestra is equally diverse and compelling, with well-known musicians with strong ties to the Greater Boston area – trumpeters Jason Palmer and Bijon Watson, saxophonists Felipe Salles and Brian Landrus and guitarist Eric Hofbauer, among others – side by side with rising stars whose vibrant solos will surely mark them as names to watch. All are conducted by the baton of noted composer, bandleader and educator Ken Schaphorst. The album will be released on July 17, 2026 via ACP Records, the innovative record label founded at Amherst College on an academic, open-access, peer-reviewed model.
In a sense, the NEJC can be seen as taking up the mantle of the Jazz Composers Collective, the influential group formed in the early 1990s that included such forward-thinking musicians as Ben Allison, Michael Blake, Ron Horton, Ted Nash and Frank Kimbrough. Allison himself notes the comparison, saying, “We, like the musicians represented here, collaborated and supported each other through experimentation. The worry for us at the time was that by working so closely together our music might… homogenize into one kind of sound. However, what we found was working in this way actually brought out our individualism and helped us each to find our voices as composers and artists.”
Tributaries is bookended by two of Cohen’s contributions. “Another Brighter Day” opens the proceedings with a dawning of birdsong and lush harmonies before bursting into a gentle exhilaration that exemplifies Cohen’s melody-forward approach. The piece’s intriguing blend of intricate, kaleidoscopic hues and infectious hooks is reminiscent of influences from Steely Dan to Weather Report. Guitarist Mitch Selib responds with a silken run, leading into an eloquent soprano turn by Temidayo Balogun. The multi-talented Nigerian-born saxophonist also adds talking drum and other percussion to the spirited “Green Turtle Strut,” the Berkeley, California native’s jubilant reflection on his time in Ghana, an interpretation of the country’s guitar-driven highlife music with a rhythmic feel from Congolese sebene. Eric Hofbauer’s solo is remarkably fluent in that tradition while retaining a fluid jazz guitar tone.
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Matan Rubinstein’s rollicking “Ol’ Liminal” is driven by the emphatic staccato groove of drummer Lumanyano Mzi and bassist Bob Nieske, parrying with darting horn declarations. The Jerusalem-born composer brings a staggering range of genres to bear in his work; “Ol’ Liminal” bridges the collective improvisation of jazz’s origins in New Orleans – here erupting in a cacophony of trumpets – with modernistic flourishes from rock, hip hop and electronic music, specifically citing elements of the Velvet Underground, Aphex Twin and Squarepusher in this piece.
Darryl Harper, a former classmate from New England Conservatory, was the first composer that Cohen reached out to with the idea that became the NEJC. Originally from Philadelphia, Harper is a prolific composer and an in-demand clarinetist who has toured with the likes of Regina Carter and Jason Moran. Tributaries includes a pair of Harper’s compositions: the tender ballad “Kiss Me Again,” highlighted by a breathtakingly delicate solo by pianist Emily Pruneau, and the odd-meter funk of “The Secret,” with a round robin of short solo statements in lively conversation.
Finally, Sam Spear’s striking “Gee, Em…” reverberates with the classical-jazz hybridism of Gunther Schuller and Duke Ellington, sparking a deft, witty statement from alto saxophonist Allan Chase. Hailing from Cleveland, Spear is a Schuller disciple (the title references the composer theorist and his wife Marjorie) who employed the 12-tone row known as “Gunther’s Magic Row” as the foundation for the dreamlike piece.
“The composers’ breadth gives the album an element of surprise and a genuine something-for-everyone quality, while still holding together as a cohesive artistic statement,” Cohen says. “It reflects a contemporary musical reality in which artists and listeners move fluidly across styles and traditions. Tributaries feels like a carefully curated playlist, but with a strong sense of authorship, continuity and ensemble sound.”
The title Tributaries references the multiple influences and experiences that flow into the NEJC from its diverse composers and musicians, but it also hints at a New England legacy that the project carries boldly forward. Schuller’s Third Stream, the Lydian Chromatic Concept of George Russell (a direct source for Harper’s “Kiss Me Again”), the pan-stylistic arrangements of Bob Brookmeyer – all have made a profound impact on musicians and audiences in New England and around the world. With its communal ethos and inborn eclecticism, the NEJC is primed to add its own contributions to that remarkable legacy.
“This project started out as a way for each of us to get our music heard,” Cohen says. “But it became something much more compelling. We have a mission.”
New England Jazz Collaborative
NEJC is an artist-run nonprofit collective dedicated to expanding the audience for jazz and related genres by commissioning, presenting and documenting new music by a diverse group of living composers. Its current member/composers include Jeremy Cohen, Darryl Harper, Matan Rubinstein, Sam Spear, Eric Hofbauer, Randy Pingrey, Zahili Gonzalez Zamora, Jason Robinson, Ellie Pruneau, Bob Nieske, Philip Ryan Goss and Temidayo Balogun.
NEJC’s programs have been featured in The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and on WBUR’s Morning Edition, and have received support from the National Park Service, Eastern Bank, Cambridge Community Foundation and Mass Cultural Council. Presenting partners include: The Drake, MIT, Arrow Street Arts, Regattabar, Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club and The Side Door, reflecting NEJC’s work throughout New England.
Album Release Concert Thursday, September 17 at Arrow Street Arts, Cambridge, MA
New England Jazz Collaborative – Tributaries
ACP Records – Recorded June 6, 2025
Release date July 17, 2026
nejazzcollab.org
acpress.amherst.edu
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