Honolulu Jazz Quartet

Formed in Honolulu during 2001, the four-piece ensemble rapidly gained recognition as a standout group within Hawaii’s local jazz community. Bassist John Kolivas, saxophonist Tim Tsukiyama, pianist Dan Del Negro, and drummer Adam Baron together demonstrate both a disciplined extension of the islands’ post-bop lineage and a broad palette shaped by each player’s distinct background and tastes. Performing collectively as the Honolulu Jazz Quartet, the musicians have absorbed the jazz tradition through sideman work alongside many of its leading figures. Their combined experience as music educators and as pit musicians for symphonic ensembles, Broadway productions, and touring musical-theater companies yields a vigorous, forward-looking blend that stems directly from their instrumental mastery and sustained commitment to the art form.

Bandleader, composer, and bassist John Kolivas entered the world in Hawaii in 1961. Across more than twenty-five years as a professional acoustic bassist he has shared stages with an extensive roster of jazz notables that includes Larry Coryell, Makoto Ozone, John Pizzarelli, Don Grusin, George Benson, Robin Eubanks, Eric Marienthal, and Keola Beamer. During the 1980s he spent eight years in New York City as the original bassist for the Broadway production The Tap Dance Kid, later joined the company of Big River, and toured in The Pirates of Penzance and The Gregory Hines Show. Since 1997 he has served as bassist with the Honolulu Symphony; his recorded work appears on albums by slack-key guitarist Keola Beamer and on Keali’i Reichel’s Grammy-nominated Ke’alaokamaile. In his teaching role Kolivas instructs double bass, electric bass, and jazz improvisation while assisting with orchestras at Honolulu’s Punahou School and leading clinics tied to the Hawaii International Jazz Festival.

Pianist and composer Dan Del Negro grew up on Chicago’s south side, where the city’s jazz environment shaped his approach; among the artists with whom he has performed are Herbie Mann, Vinnie Colaiuta, Tiger Okoshi, and Nestor Torres. His résumé also encompasses extensive musical-theater credits, including tours of Les Miserables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and Miss Saigon. Berklee College of Music graduate Tim Tsukiyama handles soprano and tenor saxophone duties in the quartet and holds a concurrent position with the Royal Hawaiian Band; his collaborators have included vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bunky Green, John Pizzarelli, and the Hawaiian group Klapana. Kansas City native Adam Baron took up drumming at age fifteen, pursued studies at the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music and Berklee College of Music, and has worked professionally with Jovino Santos Neto, Shelly Berg, and Carlinhos de Oliveira; he earned a degree in cultural anthropology from the University of Washington.

Although foundational influences such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Wayne Shorter informed certain aspects of the group’s early identity, the Honolulu Jazz Quartet has, from its outset, cultivated a distinctive sonic signature through inventive methods and the members’ accumulated personal histories. The ensemble’s first national release, Sounds of the City, appeared in 2004 and registered multiple weeks on JazzWeek’s National Jazz Radio Top 50 Chart. Tenacity, issued in March 2007, further chronicles the quartet’s artistic development and its connections to listeners beyond Hawaii’s jazz audience.