Josh Deutsch & Nico Soffiato - Time Gels (2011)

Trumpeter Josh Deutsch and guitarist Nico Soffiato have been playing together in a duo setting since 2006, when they both fortuitously sublet rooms in the same Boston apartment. Over the last year, Nico and Josh have been compiling a set of music composed specifically for this ensemble, including several co-written works. The duo setting allows for a level of transparency, interaction and sonic exploration which can be lost in larger ensembles. Josh and Nico have embraced the challenges and possibilities of writing for this duo, and created a book of original music, borrowing from some of their favorite classical, jazz and pop ideals, and ranging from electronic loops to entirely acoustic pieces, balancing carefully crafted compositions with space for exciting improvisation and interaction. The duo has performed throughout the New York area, and will be touring the West Coast in May 2011, playing music from its new CD, "TIME GELS".

Individual Bios:
Nico Soffiato, Italian guitarist, composer and educator, currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. After receiving his Master's degree in philosophy with a thesis on the ontology of music, he moved to Boston. There he attended Berklee College of Music, thanks to a Best Entering Talent Students scholarship, and graduated magna cum laude. At Berklee he studied performance and composition with David Tronzo, Jon Damian, Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi and Jeff Galindo to mention a few. During his stay he was awarded a second scholarship: the Berklee Achievement Scholarship. Nico was also selected to be part of an all-guitar ensemble whose members included notable alumni like Bill Frisell, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Mike Stern and Wolfgang Muthspiel.

In New York, aside from being the front man of the Nico Soffiato Quartet, he leads the improvised music group Paradigm Refrain with which he's been performing for over two years at a monthly residency in Brooklyn. The group has a diverse cast and guests have included: David Tronzo, Nate Wooley, Sunny Kim, Marco Cappelli, Bruno Raberg, Danilo Gallo, Zeno de Rossi, Alessandro Fedrigo, Piero Bittolo Bon, Nick Falk, Petr Cancura, Giacomo Merega, Federico Casagrande, Brian Adler, Noah Kaplan and many others.

Nico co-leads a duo with trumpeter Josh Deutsch and they will be releasing a record in early 2011.

As a sideman and solo performer, Nico has performed extensively in the US and Italy.

"...with creative treatments and impressive attention to nuance, the ensemble crafts intriguing, enigmatic music that stands out from the otherwise oversaturated jazz scene and its tired sound." - John Engelman, Knocks from the Underground NYC

"One of the rising young players in this post-free, modern jazz genre is Italian composer and guitarist Nico Soffiato...a player who has studied the greats during his upbringing, but has also managed to develop a unique voice along the way; not an easy task for any player to achieve." –Matt Warnock

Josh Deutsch is a trumpeter and composer, living in Queens, New York. Originally from Seattle, Josh has performed throughout the country and internationally, both with his own projects and as a sideman. Josh holds degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Oregon, and has studied with Bob Brookmeyer, Danilo Perez and John McNeil. As a 3-time participant at the Banff International Jazz Workshop, Josh worked closely with Dave Douglas, Kenny Werner and Bill Frisell.
Current projects include the Josh Deutsch Quintet and the Josh Deutsch / Nico Soffiato Duo, which will release its debut album in 2011. Josh can be heard on recordings with the groups Four Across, The Poisonous Birds and Brian Adler’s Helium Project. His recent New York performances have included shows at the Stone, the Jazz Gallery and on Dave Douglas’s Festival of New Trumpet Music. In 2008, Josh was named Downbeat Magazine’s Student Music Awards College Jazz Soloist winner.

“Deutsch plays with a wide, soft tone, concealing the transition from melody to solo and connecting the different parts of each piece into a very unified flow.” – Earshot Jazz Magazine