Houston Person has spent six decades making the case that jazz belongs on the dance floor — not as a lesser ambition, but as the music’s deepest purpose. Person2Person, the collaboration he has been building with progressive alto saxophonist Eric Person since 2009, arrives at The Falcon in Marlboro on Friday, October 9.
About the Show
When the two saxophonists first shared a stage in 2009, the nearly thirty-year age difference turned out to matter less than the conversation their horns were having. Eric Person’s alto comes from post-bop’s more exploratory edge: Down Beat’s Josef Woodard described his playing as “finding a fresh path between mainstream jazz and chancier, more personalized terrain.” Houston’s tenor carries the groove-deep vocabulary of the Prestige catalog, the organ trio sessions with Johnny Hammond Smith, and more than twenty-five years producing and touring alongside vocalist Etta Jones. Houston Person has described jazz as “dance music and having fun,” and every corner of his catalog makes that case.
Their 2022 album Blue Vision, Eric Person’s eleventh as a leader, earned notice from Midwest Record Review: “Totally on the money at all times, this is a sax date not to be missed.” The quintet for Friday’s show features pianist Lafayette Harris, bassist Nate Allen, and drummer Jason Tiemann. Person2Person has performed at the Rochester Jazz Festival, Montclair Jazz Festival, Healdsburg Jazz Festival, and Dizzy’s Jazz Club.
Music historian Bob Porter once called Houston Person “the natural heir to the Boss Tenor crown worn so long and so well by Gene Ammons,” a lineage Person deepened through a chance performance with Coleman Hawkins at Hartt Conservatory and Air Force service in Heidelberg alongside Cedar Walton and Eddie Harris. At 91, he remains an active touring musician, a two-time Grammy-nominated artist with more than 75 albums as a bandleader. Eric Person spent fifteen years alongside drummer Chico Hamilton before joining the Dave Holland Quartet (1994–1997); he currently teaches saxophone at Bard College.
Venue & Logistics
The Falcon, a 150-seat jazz and blues club at 1348 Route 9W in Marlboro, is a Hudson Valley room that puts nationally recognized acts at unusually close range. Dining is available from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Music begins at 7:30 p.m. Reservations are not required; unreserved bar seating and a table wait-list are available.
Tickets
No ticket price was listed at the time of publication. The Falcon operates on a donation-based model that benefits performers directly. Buy tickets.