Tony Martucci, Sarah Hughes, John Lee

Recorded on 1/16/22

With more than 65 years in music, Tony Martucci has cultivated an original and interpretive drum style that is both supportive and interactive, reflecting his deep understanding of the jazz tradition and his vast stylistic influence. Tony has performed and recorded with some of the greatest names in music. His extensive discography includes four critically acclaimed recordings under his own name. HIs most recent release on Sound Judgment Records, "Ancestral Voices '' is being celebrated for its vision and uncompromising creativity.

Martucci is an adjunct professor of music at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he teaches drum set, Latin percussion, and small jazz ensemble. He has been a teaching artist for the Washington Performing Arts Society and a founding member of The Capitol Jazz Project. He is also a teaching artist for the Kennedy Center Jazz Outreach program.

Sarah Marie Hughes is a performing artist who resides in Maryland. She plays the saxophone, flute, and clarinet and also creates on guitar and piano. Her improvising vocabulary is influenced by jazz music and contemporary improvisation. 

She received a master's degree in jazz saxophone performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston where she studied with Jerry Bergonzi, Donny McCaslin, Ran Blake, Anthony Coleman, and Ben Schwendener.She has shared the stage with an impressive list of jazz luminaries and also shared bills with great improvisers, including Joe Morris, William Parker, Hamid Drake, Daniel Carter and Fay Victor. In 2015 she traveled to Sweden with Amy K. Bormet's Ephemera ensemble to participate in their first Women in Jazz Festival.

Her 2019 second album, The Drag, includes performances of Sarah's graphic scores and improvised singing/reading of her prose. Also in 2019, she participated in an interdisciplinary collaboration at the D'Clinic Studio Residency in Zalaegerszeg, Hungry that resulted in the creation of a book of her visual art and stories and an interactive exhibition of sound, music, and performance art.

John Lee is a composer and guitarist who is active in the Washington D.C. music scene. He earned a BFA in Jazz Performance from the Mannes Jazz and Contemporary Music Program at the New School. He has performed with a host of major artists, including Cyro Baptista, Fatoumata Diawara, Hassan Hakmoun, Matisyahu and Keller Williams.  

As one of D.C.’s most sought-after musicians and as founder of the jam band Caveman, Lee can be heard on over 20 albums as sideman and on five as leader. His stylistic versatility has taken him to venues and festivals around the world.

Currently, Lee teaches for MusiCorps, a music rehabilitation program for wounded veterans at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He also serves as adjunct faculty for the Jazz and Commercial Performance program at Towson University.

Streaming cost: $15

Donations are welcomed.

Spontaneous Composition is a hallmark of this multi-generational trio. Drawing upon decades of collective creative music experience, Tony Martucci, Sarah Hughes and John Lee create sonic landscapes replete with evocative melodies, and harmonically drenched rhythms. These fearless improvisers invite you to join what promises to be a most memorable musical experience.