Young Saxophone Avatars Hailey Niswanger and Daniel Rotem Headline The Checkout—Live at Berklee Concert Broadcasts

Two of the most greatly admired young saxophonists to study at Berklee in the last decade are set to headline the spring season of essential New York jazz station WBGO’s The Checkout—Live at Berklee concert broadcasts, on February 21 and March 14, at the Red Room at Cafe 939.

By
Rob Hayes
February 13, 2018

Saxophonist and composer Hailey Niswanger B.M. '11

Tenor saxophonist Daniel Rotem B.M. '13

Hailey Niswanger B.M. '11 and Daniel Rotem B.M. '13, two of the most greatly admired young saxophonists to study at Berklee in the last decade, are set to headline the spring season of essential New York jazz station WBGO’s The Checkout—Live at Berklee concert broadcasts, on February 21 and March 14, at the Red Room at Cafe 939.

Hailey Niswanger

Saxophonist and composer Hailey Niswanger has been creating music, winning fans, and bending the jazz paradigm since she was a teenager in Portland, Oregon. Awarded a full-tuition scholarship to Berklee, she was later selected for the inaugural class of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute and was the subject of a Wall Street Journal profile by legendary jazz scribe Nat Hentoff, called “This Teenager Has Got It.” Annually named a Rising Star on saxophones in the DownBeat Critics Poll, Niswanger leads her audacious contemporary jazz group MAE.SUN into the Red Room on February 21. MAE.SUN also includes vibraphonist Nikara Warren, guitarist Andrew Renfroe, Axel Laugart on keyboards, bassist Aaron Liao, and drummer David Frazier Jr.

Get tickets to The Checkout—Live at Berklee featuring Hailey Niswanger.

Daniel Rotem

One of the latest in a line of incisive, soulful jazz musicians from Israel, tenor saxophonist Daniel Rotem completed his Berklee studies in 2013, and was immediately chosen for the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance, sometimes referred to as “the Apollo Space Program for jazz musicians.” The Monk Institute educates a handful of the best players in the world for two years at a time, under the tutelage of Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and other jazz legends, and Rotem took full advantage of the experience. He brings his polished and dynamic quintet, featuring five-string violinist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, pianist Miro Sprague, bassist Jared Henderson, and drummer Roberto Giaquinto, to the Red Room on March 14.

Get tickets to the The Checkout—Live at Berklee featuring Daniel Rotem.

Tickets to each concert broadcast are $10, and $5 with a Berklee ID. Both shows will also be streamed live in high definition video at wbgo.org, and will be heard in the New York City Metro area as delayed radio broadcasts on WBGO-FM Jazz88.