Saxophonist/pianist Brad LindeOver the past five or ten years, the District has seen an infusion of talented young jazz musicians, with many players being products of the fine music programs found at the area’s universities. Saxophonist/composer/educator Brad Linde is part of this new crop, and in a relatively short period of time he has become a familiar face in the local scene.
Linde began his formal jazz training at Elon College and the University of North Carolina, where he immersed himself in jazz history by studying the greats. Legends such as Sonny Stitt, Coleman Hawkins, Miles Davis, and Thelonius Monk are all among his numerous influences. After three years of study at UNC, and a summer of study in New York, he relocated to this area to study for his master’s degree at the University of Maryland. In College Park, he taught courses, founded the school’s repertory jazz ensemble, managed the Take Five concert series (a hidden gem) at the UMD’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. During this time he also began studying with Lee Konitz, the great alto saxophonist who was a member of Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool sessions and went on to become a driving force in the “cool jazz” movement during the 50s and 60s.
As a professional, Linde has played throughout the east coast, Europe, and regularly appears at the area’s best clubs. The groups he leads include a nonet that recreates the Birth of the Cool experience and an octet that specializes in 1950s bebop. While rooted in tradition, Linde is not interested in simply preserving the music of the past. Rather, he explores the classic jazz repetoire and finds a way to present it in a new light.
Linde’s career is now in transition and 2009 holds much in store for the up-and-comer. He is launching several projects which stand to increase his stature locally, and in the broader jazz community. DCist interviewed Linde to find out more about his plans for the upcoming year and beyond.
