Anthony Wonsey with Billy Edwards

Hard bop pianist Anthony Wonsey leads a stellar quartet through modern mainstream jazz, bringing his distinctive voice and technical command to Mr. Tipple's intimate recording studio setting. A Berklee graduate who earned his stripes in Elvin Jones' Jazz Machine for five years, Wonsey has collaborated with jazz luminaries including Roy Hargrove, Nicholas Payton, Wallace Roney, and Vincent Herring across multiple decades.

Known for his crisp, clean technique and authoritative approach, Wonsey brings both swing tradition and modern sensibilities to classics and originals alike. JazzTimes praised his album "The Thang" as "about as impeccable as spirited jazz gets," noting his "impressive growth to a new level of technical command" and ability to tackle diverse musical challenges from fresh interpretations of standards to knockdown funk hooks and exhilarating speed.

Bassist Billy Edwards represents the next generation of jazz talent, trained in the Bay Area by The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol, who connected him with masters like Buster Williams and Calvin Keys. Since relocating to New York, Edwards has been working steadily with established artists including Ralph Moore and Roy McCurdy, and performs weekly at Eve's Lounge as part of saxophonist Steve Carrington's Infinity Trio.

Completing the quartet are drummer Sylvia Cuenca, a hard-swinging powerhouse who earned NEA jazz performance grants and worked extensively with trumpet legend Clark Terry and tenor great Joe Henderson, and alto saxophonist Ivan Polyanskiy, a versatile musician who has performed internationally with Kenny Wheeler, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Lalo Schifrin.

Expect sophisticated hard bop and post-bop that balances reverence for the tradition with fresh interpretations, featuring the kind of tight, cohesive playing that comes from musicians who understand both the language of jazz and each other's musical voices.