The Kazzrie Jaxen Quartet bring together the elemental qualities of four creative jazz musicians: the swing of Bill Chattin'sdrums; the melodic pulsations of Don Messina's bass; the depth of Charley Krachy's tenor; and the adventurousness of Kazzrie Jaxen's piano and vocals. The program will include jazz interpretations of songs by American composers such as George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter and Jerome Kern; the band’s take on jazz compositions and solos from Lester Young, Charlie Parker and Lennie Tristano; J. S. Bach Inventions; original lines and songs, plus free group improvising of the 13th century mystic poet Rumi and other spoken pieces.

Honoring jazz tradition with straight-ahead swing and spontaneous improvisation, this band strives to express the beauty of a melodic line, deriving collective inspiration from the musical philosophies of jazz greats Lennie Tristano and Sal Mosca, as well as Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Bud Powell, Warne Marsh, Oscar Pettiford, and many others. The quartet's music includes standard tunes, jazz lines, originals and occasional excursions into the abstract. Their unusual harmonic approach stretches the music in unique and complex directions, always in service to feeling and to the pure joy of improvising.

The band recently performed at Lincoln Center for the induction of Lennie Tristano into the JALC Hall of Fame. The first band CD, "Callicoon Sessions," was released by Cadence Jazz Records in December 2013, "These recordings give new meaning to the words freedom and tradition, juxtaposing them in a way that render them useless. The recording is a no-nonsense portrait, leaving room for the playing to breathe and bloom. A great disc from an innovative ensemble,” (Marc Medwin, The New York City Jazz Record, May 2014) Their second CD, "Quaternity," a collection of live performances was released in August of 2014 on the New Artists Records. "...A hip quartet. Lemme tell ya', I wanna see them in concert! Artsy, …. jazz at its best. I want more!" (George Harris, Jazz Weekly, January 2015)

Kazzrie Jaxen (formerly known as Liz Gorrill) was introduced to jazz audiences by Lennie Tristano in a solo concert at Carnegie Recital Hall. Since then she has recorded for the Jazz Records and New Artists labels, as well as independently, and has performed in the US and Europe at venues. Also a teacher and composer, her recent creative projects include a solo piano soundtrack for the award-winning film “Beautiful Hills of Brooklyn”; a duet CD with poet Mark Weber entitled “A Million Shimmering Fish” (New Artists Records); a musical collaboration with The Drummers, a six-person conga drum ensemble; a duo with vocalist Dori Levine; a trio with saxophonist Lorenzo Sanguedolce and bassist Michael Bisio; and an ongoing exploration into the synthesis of Jazz Improvisation and Qigong.

Charley Krachy has been playing with Kazzrie Jaxen since 1984. Charley has recorded for New Artists and Zinnia Records and performs at various venues in New York City with his own groups and with musicians such as Ted Brown, Gary Levy, Virg Dzurinko, Ratzo Harris, Woody Mann, Charles Sibirsky, and Connie Crothers.

Highly respected as a rhythm section, Don Messina and Bill Chattin have been playing together since the early 1980's and have performed and/or recorded with Sal Mosca Trio/Quartet, Ted Brown Quartet, Jimmy Halperin Trio, Jon Easton Trio, Bluth Messina Chattin Trio, and the Jimmy Halperin-Chris Aiello Quintet. Don also performs with the Peter Prisco Trio