Wiening/Varela/Nilsson Collective Featuring Jon Cowherd

This collective features the music of Jon Cowherd, Elsa Nilsson, Marcos Varela and Mareike Wiening. A smorgasbord of musical influences await you!

The Kentucky-born, New Orleans-schooled, New York-based pianist Jon Cowherd is best known for his long-running partnership with drummer/bandleader Brian Blade, with whom he co-founded the Brian Blade Fellowship, The Fellowship’s highly acclaimed albums showcase Cowherd's stellar keyboard work and singular compositional skills. When not recording and touring with the Fellowship, Cowherd has worked extensively with a broad array of musicians from the jazz, pop and rock worlds.

Swedish-born flute player Elsa Nilsson's music is profoundly playful and widely influenced. Nilsson has built a solid career and reputation upon her belief that all folk music (including jazz) has a common thread, and that by weaving those threads together, a deeper, more complete understanding among varying cultures can be reached. She highlights this in her compositions by mixing cultural elements to create a sound that is distinctly her own.

Bassist Marcos Varela began his musical career in his native Houston, TX. He has studied at New School University/Mannes School of Music, was one of the top honorees of the NFAA International Jazz Award and an IAJE Clifford Brown/Stan Getz All-Star Fellow. Varela has also attended the Betty carter jazz and ravinia steans institute. Varela has collaborated and/or performed Billy Hart, The Mingus Big Band, Jason Moran, George Cables, Logan richardson, Dayna stevens, Mike Moreno, Robert Glasper, and Kendrick Scott to name a few.

Drummer Mareike Wiening was born in Germany. She studied Jazz in Mannheim, Copenhagen and New York and received her degree, a Master of Music in 2014 from New York University. She won several competitions and awards in both Jazz and Classical and is a former member of the German Youth Jazz Orchestra. She is a cultural laureate of her hometown Herzogenaurach as a well as the county Erlangen- Höchstadt. Mareike released her first album “Crosswalk” in 2014. She endorses MEINL Cymbals exclusively.