Hoaxer Returns! Thanksgiving Weekend, November 24 in the Dunsmore Room

© Andrea Canter

“…sure to be one of the more important collaborations of young jazz musicians to emerge from Minnesota in a long time.” –Steve Kenny (Producer) and Bill Coulter (Executive Producer), Crash Test

 

At the end of 2015, four young collegians spent their winter break playing original music together as Hoaxer. Peter Goggin, Will Kjeer, Charlie Lincoln and Edmund Catlin quickly found gigs and an audience, and have since performed at Jazz Central, the Black Dog, Icehouse, Studio Z, Vieux Carre’ and beyond — at least when on vacation from their various college programs. In summer 2016, in addition to gigs during the Twin Cities Jazz Festival and beyond, the guys took their music into the studio to make their debut recording, dubbed Crash Test, released in June 2017. Out of action since the start of fall semester, the quartet reunites for Thanksgiving break this Friday night at 9 pm in the Dunsmore Room at Crooners Lounge, part of the new “late” night Friday series.

Peter Goggin graduated from Mounds View High School, was a three-year member of the Dakota Combo,  and now is studying saxophone at the University of Michigan. In addition to Hoaxer, he has performed in other ensembles (including PipJazz Alumni) as sideman and leader at Jazz Central, the Black Dog, and during the Twin Cities Jazz Festival. Peter was a featured soloist with the University of Michigan Jazz Bands during the 2016  and 2017 Detroit Jazz Festivals. He will perform this weekend with a new trio, Friends and Neighbors (Saturday).

Pianist Will Kjeer performed for two years with the Dakota Combo and the PipJazz Youth program, attended the post-high school program at Interlochen Arts Academy, and spent a year studying jazz piano at Cal Arts before enrolling in the jazz program at McGill University in Montreal. Last spring, he participated in the famed Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program in Washington, DC.  Will has led bands around town since his mid-teens and is an original member of Steve Kenny’s Group 47. This past summer, he kept busy as a sideman and leading gigs at Jazz Central, the Black Dog, and Studio Z, as well as performing with the PipJazz alums. This weekend, he also performs with Central Standard Time at the Black Dog (Saturday).

Bassist Charlie Lincoln is into his third year of jazz studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he recently joined Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute. A South High alum, Charlie was already a busy gigging musician before graduation, playing with the Dakota Combo, Central Standard Time, the Charles Lincoln Group, and subbing with Eric Gravatt’s Source Code. In his senior year, Charlie was selected as one of two winning youth songwriters in the Eric Stokes Songwriting Contest and was on stage for the Young Performers Showcase for the Zeitgeist New Music Cabaret. Charlie served as a curator for a monthly new music series at Jazz Central Studios in summer 2016, as well as performing with the Dave Brattain Trio during the 2016 Twin Cities Jazz Festival. This past summer, Charlie was part of a 5-week tour of Asia with a jazz ensemble of Berklee-connected musicians. He’ll perform this weekend (Saturday) with Peter Goggin and Luke Peterson at the Black Dog in a new trio, Friends and Neighbors.

A graduate of St Paul Central High School, drummer Edmund Catlin is a senior at McGill University in Montreal. In summer 2016, he curated a biweekly Friday night series at Jazz Central, performing entire albums by Thelonious Monk with Charlie Lincoln and Levi Schwartzberg. He’s also been an active member of the PipJazz Youth and Alumni program and worked as an Administrative Associate at Walker West Music Academy.

 

Crash Test (2017, Illicit Productions)

Of their performance during the 2016 Twin Cities Jazz Festival at the Black Dog, festival series curator and head of Illicit Productions, Steve Kenny, noted that “Hoaxer performed a program of original compositions of such cohesion and swagger and spontaneous energy that it probably  was the best overall small group ensemble concept and delivery of the entire festival.” Kenny thus sought to document “the starting point” for the ensemble, turning to engineers Steve Wiese and Miles Hanson at Creation Audio who captured the band live in studio, “without a scrap of music or seemingly any need to discuss forms or arrangements.” The resulting 9 tracks include 3 attributed to Catlin, 3 to Kjeer, 2 to Lincoln and one to Goggin. Authorship may be somewhat arbitrary, however, given the essential collaboration that defines this ensemble. (See full review here.)

This is not just a band of young talents — this simply is a talented, creative band. If Crash Test is their starting point… we’ll wait eagerly for the full head-on collision!

 

The Dunsmore Room at Crooners Lounge is located at 6161 NE Highway 65 in Fridley, just north of I-694 and about 15 minutes north of downtown Minneapolis. For the Friday night series, there are no reserved seats; tickets at the door or reserve in advance at www.croonersloungemn.com.