Don Braden Quartet Bio

Don Braden Quartet is an exciting, creative, and versatile modern jazz ensemble, consisting of pianist/keyboardist Miki Hayama, bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Jeremy Warren, with Don on saxes and flutes. Having worked together for many years, they've developed a tight, cohesive, and powerful sound that is as enjoyable and energizing on large concert stages as it is in intimate nightclubs. The primary repertoire comes from Don's “Contemporary Standards Plus” concept, which extends the classic jazz standards songbook by featuring unique modern-jazz arrangements of songs by more recent popular artists, along with creative original compositions. Their current musical adventure is “Earth Wind and Wonder”, focusing on the music of Earth, Wind, & Fire and Stevie Wonder. The band has released two award-winning albums of this repertoire, with Earth Wind and Wonder Volume 2 reaching #1 in the JazzWeek.com national radio airplay chart.

The band members are young masters and bandleaders in their own right. Originally from Kyoto, Japan, a GRAMMY-nominated pianist Miki Hayama (mikihayama.com) has performed and recorded with a stellar lineup of jazz legends including Kenny Garrett, Ralph Peterson, Sean Jones, Tia Fuller, Michael Dease, Vincent Herring, Roy Hargrove, Gary Thomas, and many others. Chicago native Kenny Davis (KennyDavis.net) has toured with such notable jazz artists as Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves and Art Farmer and Kevin Eubanks among others, and was the bassist of The Tonight Show Band (with Eubanks) from September, 1999 thru March, 2002. Born and raised in North Little Rock, Arkansas, Jeremy Warren (JWarrenMusic.com) has performed and/or recorded with artists such as GZA-Wu-Tang, Deanna Martin (Daughter of Dean Martin), Andy Milne, Lenny Pickett, John Scofield, Tom Scott, NYU Combo Nuvo, and many more.

A world-class saxophonist, flutist, composer and educator, Don Braden (DonBraden.com) has a jazz career that has spanned over 45 years. He has toured with jazz greats Betty Carter (appearing prominently on her GRAMMY-Award-winning album, Look What I Got), Wynton Marsalis, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes and many others, and has performed in locales as diverse as Carnegie Hall, Saturday Night Live, Harvard University (where he studied engineering as an undergrad) and at countless jazz festivals and clubs around the globe. He has played on more than 100 CDs as a sideman and has produced 25 as a leader, the most recent being his critically acclaimed Earth Wind and Wonder Volume 2 and Joris Teepe/Don Braden At PizzaExpress Live – In London.

Don is a highly experienced educator. Currently, he is the Director of the Harvard Jazz Combo Initiative, teaches part-time at the Prins Claus Conservatoire in the Netherlands, and is the Music Director of both the Litchfield Jazz Camp (since 1998) and the Texas Jazz and Blues Camp (since 2016). He has toured as “Guest Jazz Master” with the Herbie Hancock Institute. He ran NJPAC’s Wells Fargo Jazz For Teens Program for 15 years, the jazz program at Montclair State University for several years, and led the Harvard University Monday Jazz Band for three years. He has had several articles published over the years, including “Take Excellent Care: Health and Fitness for Musicians”, in the June 2018 issue of Downbeat magazine.

For more info, see www.DonBraden.com