Wainapel over the past three decades has performed with masters such as pianists Kenny Barron and McCoy Tyner, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, drummer Billy Hart, and fellow reed expert Joe Lovano. He made his recording debut as a leader with 1994's At Home/On the Road (JazzMission Records), a critically hailed post-bop session exploring compositions by the likes of Woody Shaw, Sam Rivers, and Wayne Shorter. Wainapel followed up two years later with Ambrosia: The Music of Kenny Barron (A Records), featuring a suite of Barron's tunes arranged by Jeff Beal for the Metropole Orchestra and a set of Barron's Brazilian-inspired music for a sextet with Marcos Silva on keyboards. Kenny Barron himself was on hand for piano duties on Wainapel's acclaimed 1998 straight-ahead quintet session The Hang (Spirit Nectar/JazzMission), which also features drummer Kenny Wollesen and the brothers Phil and Larry Grenadier on trumpet and bass, respectively.

Julio Lemos, acts…