Cousins Trio will bring its blend of Latin jazz, pop, bossa nova and straight-ahead jazz to St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts in a performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 10. 

 

This is the seventh presentation in the 2022-2023 Friends of Good Music performance season. 

 

Cousins Trio is composed of bassist and arranger Marc Cousins, Paris-born founder of the trio; pianist Jim Gardner; and Abdul-Raman Qadir on drums.

 

“Whether it’s the virtuosity of Gardner’s piano solos, the artistry of Quadir’s drumming or the versatility of Cousins’ bass playing, this concert will transport the listener to an alternative reality,” said Ludwig Brunner, director of the Quick Center. “Their repertoire includes compositions by Gershwin, Hank Mobley, Stevie Wonder, Phil Collins and more.”

 

Cousins started his musical studies in Brussels, Belgium. He received his bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from Arizona State University and attended North Texas State University for graduate work in music. He has toured the United States and Europe with a variety of musical groups and has lived in Orlando, Florida; Dallas, Texas; and New York City. 

 

He now lives in Buffalo, where he has performed with a variety of local ensembles including Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, French ConeXion, Buffalo Tango Orkestra and many others. He records with his trio and is equally at ease playing all styles of music, from jazz to classical, world music, Latin, pop and rock.

 

Gardner was born into a family of musicians and studied classical and jazz piano and music theory at the Westchester Conservatory of Music. He also studied with Johnny Morris, longtime pianist for Buddy Rich and later house pianist at Jimmy Ryan’s in New York City. In college, Gardner was a member of the Yale Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Willie Ruff, a former member of the Miles Davis Orchestra. For the last 12 years Gardner has performed around Western New York, often with Cousins.

 

Qadir’s drumming career spans more than 40 years and he has worked in a variety of national and Western New York venues, playing with such musical luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Cole, Regina Carter, Dakota Staton, Dodo Greene, the legendary Al Tinney, and many others. He has taught and performed in Buffalo public schools and the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo, and has been a teaching artist with the Arts in Education Institute of WNY, an affiliate of The Lincoln Center Institute in New York City. He also appeared in the movie “Marshall” as a member of the band.

 

Known for his distinctive swing style of jazz drumming, Qadir has also performed in musical theater, opera productions, and with Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, and administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.

 

Single tickets for this performance are $20 at full price, $16 for senior citizens and St. Bonaventure employees, and $5 for students. For tickets and information, call the Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

For each Friends of Good Music performance, the Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. 

 

Museum admission is free and open to the public year-round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.  

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.