Baby Grand Jazz

Koan

Hartford Public Library’s highly popular Baby Grand Jazz series is back for its 22nd season in 2026; with a spectacular line-up of the best jazz musicians in the region.

January 18, 2025

We are a collective of young musicians who have come together around our shared love and respect for the traditions of Black American music. This music is a powerful framework for communal storytelling, which captures the energy, beauty and poignant power of being human. Through our music we seek to tell our own stories and to bring our audiences into the expressive power of this artform. We approach each performance like a grand narrative weaving together our original music with arrangements which pay homage to the great innovators of modern jazz and its sibling genres. We hope, like any good movie, this musical narrative will be not just nice to listen to, but will immerse all in the stories we have to tell. Koan began in the fall of 2023 out of our desire to play the music of the Second Great Quintet and Contemporary artists like Ambrose Akinmusire and Joel Ross as well as workshop our own compositions. In the last two years we have become an integral part of the local musical community– founding and hosting a weekly jam session in Northampton, and collaborating with musicians of all generations from the Connecticut River Valley. In the past year we have begun playing shows in Boston, New York, and Connecticut. And we plan to continue building our connections to the jazz scene across the country and the world. As a collective, we also seek to support the projects and visions of our members. Our first album came out a year ago under the leadership of Mathew Mueller. We recently released our second album, Ian Behrstock’s Tributaries.

Ian Behrstock - Trumpet

Danny Trainor - Alto Sax

Indra Carpio-Pretel - Piano

Jameson Denyse - Guitar

Jahian Cooper-Monize - Drums

Kai Caban - Bass