Jazz Police: Tuey Connell at The Dakota
May 25th, 2004

Tuey Connell

Contributed by Andrea Canter
Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Through his singing, songwriting and banjo and guitar playing, Connell melds jazz, blues, folk, rock, and gospel into what he terms "root music." And his musical roots run deep: Connell grew up on his family's vineyard in Connecticut, where his mother sang and played piano and guitar; his father introduced young Tuey such diverse music as the Kingston Trio, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Wes Montgomery, Flatt & Scruggs, B.B. King, the Allman Brothers, and even Mozart. Connell focused on the banjo, ultimately moving to Chicago and receiving an Artist Fellowship Grant from the Illinois Arts Council for contemporary banjo composition in 1991. Performing throughout the U.S. and Europe, Connell was frequently sought as a sideman and for radio and television commercial jingles. In 1997, he founded TuConn Music as a means of promoting his own music. After a second CD created interest in his jazz leanings, his work came to the attention of Germany's Minor Music label, which has now produced several recordings including the recent release, Under the Influence.

Although Chicago is still home, Connell's current tour features his New York band, David Hazeltine (piano), Neal Miner (acoustic bass), and Joe Strasser (drums). Of his October 2003 performance at Danny's Skylight Room in New York, critic Laurie Lawson noted that Connell's "soothing voice that wraps around music and only lets go when he's performing an instrumental on his guitar or banjo." Says Show Business, "Connell's rich dark-hued baritone drips with sex appeal and he swings with an easy elegance that's equal parts Johnny Hartman and Kenny Rankin."


Connell's bandmates are not back-up but well established musicians in their own right, making the Dakota gig all the more compelling. Dave Hazeltine is one fine pianist, whose "style has a deep-seated commitment to jazz history while communicating a wealth of 'today's' ideas..." according to piano legend Cedar Walton. With Midwest roots including stints in Chicago and even Minneapolis, Hazeltine was house pianist at Milwaukee's Jazz Gallery, where he worked with Sonny Stitt, Pepper Adams, and Chet Baker; Baker urged him to move to New York in the early 90s. In addition to his working trio of Peter Washington (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums), Hazeltine is a first-call pianist for many of New York's finest jazz artists, has over a dozen recordings as leader and dozens as sideman. Also a committed jazz educator, Hazeltine was on the Berklee College faculty, was co-founder of Milwaukee's Jazz School, and directed Jazz Studies at the Wisconsin College of Music. Aaron Steinberg of Jazz Times noted, "A player and writer with great respect for the melody, Hazeltine can be surprisingly inventive with the harmonic and rhythmic possibilities in a tune." Twin Cities' jazz audiences heard Hazeltine most recently at the Artists' Quarter . If you missed him there, don't make that mistake again!

Neal Miner (bass) is a native New Yorker who was immersed in jazz by his father, an avid jazz discographer. First studying music with drummer Eddie Locke at the Day School, Miner graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy, and briefly attended the Manhattan School of Music; his primary teachers were bassist Orin O'Brien of the New York Philharmonic and jazz bassist John Webber. In New York, Miner has played with many of the best of his generation, including Ryan Kisor, Brad Mehldau, and Eric Alexander, and for two years, had a weekly gig at Smalls. Know for his composition as well as his playing, "Neal brings the bass up front and makes it the focus of a relaxed but rhythmic musical universe… he allows the melody to sing, embellishing it inventively but not losing its essence in a flurry of irrelevant notes" (Sten Grynir, New York Stringer).

Like Tuey Connell, drummer Joe Strasser has considerable experience working on TV and radio jingles. Since settling in New York, he has served as timekeeper for many of the young lions, including Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, and Eric Alexander, as well as such veteran titans as Ron Carter, Eddie Henderson, Jon Hendricks, and James Moody. Also known for his eclecticism, Strasser is co-leader of the funk band Hot-Pants and has taught at the New School University and the Stamford Jazz Workshop. His other groups have included a quartet with Etta James and trio with Ronnie Matthews and Walter Booker.

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