The Saul Lubaroff Quartet at Rivermont Collegiate -- December 18.
Sunday, December 18, 5 p.m.
Rivermont Collegiate, 1821 Sunset Drive, Bettendorf IA
Continuing the organization's run of exhilarating Third Sunday Jazz Workshop & Matinée Series concert events held in Bettendorf's Rivermont Collegiate, Polyrhythms presents a December 18 engagement with the gifted Midwestern musicians of the Saul Lubaroff Quartet, with saxophonist and Eastern Iowa mainstay delivering jazz hits and seasonal tunes alongside guitarist Andy Parrott, bass player Scott Barnum, and drummer Paul Cunliffe.
Lubaroff began his musical journey when he was eight years old. As a little boy in Philadelphia, he took private piano lessons, and after his family moved to Iowa, he played the viola for one year before switching to clarinet in 5th grade. Two years later, Lubaroff's love for jazz took over, and he added saxophone to his musical arsenal. He studied jazz improvisation from the time he was 13 years old, attended summer band camps, and took private lessons; organized his own combo at the age of 16; and soon afterward played his first gig at the Hillel House. Having studied with Dan Yoder, then the jazz-studies director at the University of Iowa, Lubaroff was playing in big bands before he was old enough to drive.
Excelling as a saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist, Lubaroff stands as a great cog in the Eastern Iowa Music scene. He has released two CDs as the leader of the Saul Lubaroff Quartet, and in addition to performing at local jazz clubs with his group, Lubaroff is accomplished freelance woodwind artist, his credits including collaborations with Orchestra Iowa, Theater Cedar Rapids, and Revival Theater Company. Lubaroff has also shared the stage with New York City pianist and former Cannonball Adderley sideman Michael Wolff; Blues legend Rico McFarland; Austin-based band Tomar & the FC’s; and George Clinton & Liquid Soul. A full-time member of The Fez, Eastern Iowa’s popular Steely Dan Tribute band, Lubaroff is also a 29 -year member of the soul band Shade of Blue, as well as a 25-year member of the Johnny Kilowatt Band. Outside of his stage appearances, Lubaroff is private music instructor and adjudicator teaching woodwinds and jazz improvisation, plus a music producer for KCCK jazz radio in Cedar Rapids.
The Saul Lubaroff Quartet plays Bettendorf's Rivermont College's Becherer Hall on December 18, with the musicians' 5 p.m. engagement preceded by an all-ages 2 p.m. demystifying jazz workshop ($5 for adults, free for kids) presented as part of the Polyrhythms Third Sunday Jazz Matinée & Workshop Series. Admission to the concert is $15-20, and more information and reservations are available by calling (309)373-0790 and visiting Polyrhythms.org.
