HfK Jazzclub: Pat Martino Tribute Quartet

Joel Frahm, ts
Staffan William-Olsson, g
Pat Bianchi, org
Joris Dudli, dm

The legendary guitarist Pat Martino had a great influence on the Swedish-Norwegian guitarist Norwegian guitarist Staffan William-Olsson, and when he met the drummer Joris Dudli, who was working in New recorded with Joel Frahm in New York in the early nineties and played with Pat Bianchi during the Frauenfeld Generations Jazzfestival, the idea was born to bring Joel and Pat - who had both been Pat Martino's band for years - for a PM tribute tour and to play his music and the standards he and the standards he influenced. 

Joel Frahm, tenor saxophone
Joel was born in Racine, Wisc. in 1969 and began playing the tenor saxophone at the age of 14. Thanks to his versatile musical sensibility, Frahm has worked with icons such as Maynard Ferguson, Betty Carter, Lee Konitz and Pat Martino as well as contemporaries Larry Golding, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ingrid Jensen and Kyle Eastwood and vocalists Dena De Rose, Diane Schuur and Jane Monheit. He has released a number of recordings under his own name and his recordings as a sideman now exceed the 100 track mark. In 2018 Joel was nominated for 2 Grammys: Freddy Cole's "My Mood Is You" and Dafnis Prieto's "Back To The Sunset". In 2020, he won the Grammy as a soloist on Brad Mehldau's "Finding Gabriel".

Pat Bianchi, Hammond organ
Pat Bianchi is a Grammy-nominated organist, winner of Downbeat Magazine's 2016 poll and Hot House Magazine's 2019 poll, and has established himself as one of the leading organists on the international scene today. Pat officially joined Lou Donaldson's quartet in 2009 and Pat Martino's working trio in 2011. Bianchi can be heard on numerous recordings including Tim Warfield's "Sentimental Journey" and guitarist Chuck Loeb's release, "Plain and Simple". His 2018 CD, "In The Moment", featuring guests such as Pat Martino, Kevin Mahogany, Joe Locke and Peter Bernstein, rose to #1 on the Jazzweek Radio Charts and "Something To Say", The Music Of Stevie Wonder reached #5. 

Staffan William-Olsson, guitar
Staffan William-Olsson was born in Gothenburg (SE) and during his teenage years Pat Martino and George Benson were his gateway drug to jazz. In 1986 he moved to Oslo (NO), where he performed mainly with the organ-soul-jazz group "The Real Thing". He worked for many years with the singer Karin Krog and was active in the fusion group Mezzoforte from 2001-2003. He has recorded with international jazz greats such as Lew Soloff and Horace Parlan and leads his own trio, the nonet Sharp Nine and the group Babylon Brothers.

Joris Dudli, drums
Joris was a permanent member of the Vienna Art Orchestra and the Art Farmer Quintet from 1979 to 1985. After moving to the USA in 1986, he played and recorded with many of the world's greatest jazz musicians: The Zawinul Syndicate, Benny Golson, Curtis Fuller, Johnny Griffin, Mullgrew Miller, Clifford Jordan, Joe Lovano, Joe Henderson, Harold Mabern, Sonny Fortune and many more. The most impressive aspect of his career is probably his long-standing collaboration with the
Vincent Herring, with whom he has toured worldwide for the last 20 years and with whom he received 4 stars for the album SOUL CHEMISTRY in the renowned magazine Downbeat.