Neil Welch
"Welch connects again with a past which one might have though was gone forever, but entirely in his own style and without a single cliche."
-P. Dulieu, French jazz critic of Dragon Jazz
Neil Welch’s music has been called “powerful, genre-defying, and spiritual” by All About Jazz and Jazz Police. His new release, Narmada, “explores the yearning of creating spiritual music, and exemplifies (his) mode of playing jazz to anarchic expressions.” -Bhasker Gupta, Muse’s Muse. Neil is creating the music representative of a new generation of musicians on the jazz scene today. With one foot humbly rooted in the tradition of those who have preceded him, he fuses artistic influences from the past and present, using jazz as a reflection of his own endless search for new artistic directions.
Neil’s debut record, Narmada (2008) released on the Belle Records label, achieves a level of extraordinary musical freedom. Maxwell Chandler of Jazz Police has said of Narmada: “What makes this such a compelling album is the interplay of the band. It never sounds as if someone is biding their time until a solo, there is never any slackening of tension—there is an organic feel of unity.” Narmada features world-renowned Indian sitarist Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee, and master tabla player Tor Dietrichson, along with a host of the Seattle jazz scenes most revered players.
With his bands Narmada, Trio Concept, and Nada Brahma, Neil has mesmerized audiences with his exploratory, yet highly accessible music throughout the United States and the world. He has performed nationally in such venues as Jazz At Lincoln Center, Benaroya Hall, the Paramount Theatre, Jazz Alley, and BB King’s, among many others. Internationally, Neil and his ensembles have performed in England, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Belgium at events including the North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festivals. He has performed on the bandstand with Wynton Marsalis, Phil Woods, John Clayton, Brian Lynch, Bobby Shew, Terrell Stafford, Ingrid Jenson, Terri Lyne Carrington, and Scott Wendholt, among others.
