Biography
Adam Kolker, a performer on tenor and soprano saxophone along with clarinet and flute, entered the contemporary jazz arena during the mid-1990s and established a reputation for both leading his own projects and contributing as a sideman. Raised in Philadelphia after his birth in Manhattan, he completed a B.A. at the University of Miami-Florida and an M.A. at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston before relocating to New York City in 1989, where he had already performed in pit ensembles for multiple Broadway productions during national tours.
His profile rose sharply through a sustained association, lasting from 1994 to 2002, with Ray Barretto’s New World Spirit Latin jazz ensembles, a period that brought the group two Grammy nominations. The documented sessions from those years comprise the 1995 release My Summertime, the 1997 Blue Note album Contact!, Barretto’s 1999 RCA Victor masterpiece Portraits in Jazz and Clave, and the 2000 Circular Moves recording Trancedance. Additional credits encompass work alongside Orange Then Blue, the Pittsburgh Collective, Gunther Schuller, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Kenny Wheeler, Bruce Barth, Rick Margitza, Luciana Souza, Judi Silvano, David Berkman, John Hebert, Peter Herborn, Ben Sher, Billy Hart, Brian Ales, Allan Chase, Bobby Previte, Bruce Saunders, Frank Carlberg, Matt Haimovitz, Marc Cohn, and Lucia Pulido.
Kolker’s debut as a leader, the 1999 Challenge/A Records album Crazy Bird, featured Tim Hagans, Kevin Hays, Jeff Ballard, and Doug Weiss. Subsequent Satchmo releases included the 2003 co-led project Meditaciones with Catalonian drummer Xavi Maureta and the 2004 date Sultanic Verses, which reunited him with Barretto. The 2008 Sunnyside recording Flag Day, widely praised, showcased John Abercrombie and Paul Motian, while the Omnitone collective session Change of Time explored Béla Bartók’s “Mikrokosmos.” Kolker served on the full-time faculty of the University of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2007 and joined the pit orchestra for the 2008 stage production Gypsy. He reunited with Abercrombie for the 2011 duo album Reflections and led the 2014 quartet date And Them, which featured trumpeter Scott Wendholt. In 2017 he issued the trio recording Beckon with guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Billy Mintz.
His profile rose sharply through a sustained association, lasting from 1994 to 2002, with Ray Barretto’s New World Spirit Latin jazz ensembles, a period that brought the group two Grammy nominations. The documented sessions from those years comprise the 1995 release My Summertime, the 1997 Blue Note album Contact!, Barretto’s 1999 RCA Victor masterpiece Portraits in Jazz and Clave, and the 2000 Circular Moves recording Trancedance. Additional credits encompass work alongside Orange Then Blue, the Pittsburgh Collective, Gunther Schuller, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Maria Schneider Orchestra, Kenny Wheeler, Bruce Barth, Rick Margitza, Luciana Souza, Judi Silvano, David Berkman, John Hebert, Peter Herborn, Ben Sher, Billy Hart, Brian Ales, Allan Chase, Bobby Previte, Bruce Saunders, Frank Carlberg, Matt Haimovitz, Marc Cohn, and Lucia Pulido.
Kolker’s debut as a leader, the 1999 Challenge/A Records album Crazy Bird, featured Tim Hagans, Kevin Hays, Jeff Ballard, and Doug Weiss. Subsequent Satchmo releases included the 2003 co-led project Meditaciones with Catalonian drummer Xavi Maureta and the 2004 date Sultanic Verses, which reunited him with Barretto. The 2008 Sunnyside recording Flag Day, widely praised, showcased John Abercrombie and Paul Motian, while the Omnitone collective session Change of Time explored Béla Bartók’s “Mikrokosmos.” Kolker served on the full-time faculty of the University of Massachusetts from 1999 to 2007 and joined the pit orchestra for the 2008 stage production Gypsy. He reunited with Abercrombie for the 2011 duo album Reflections and led the 2014 quartet date And Them, which featured trumpeter Scott Wendholt. In 2017 he issued the trio recording Beckon with guitarist Steve Cardenas and drummer Billy Mintz.
Albums
