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Come Wednesday evening, October 1, at 7:30pm EDT, jazz lovers throughout the greater New York City environs—that includes Brooklyn—will flock to Jazz at Lincoln Center to groove to triple Grammy-nominated composer/pianist David Chesky's quintet, Jazz in the New Harmonic. Folks unable to join Stereophile editor John Atkinson and others in the audience for the first show, or the second at 9:30pm, can listen to a live stream of the initial set here.

Chesky and his two-year old ensemble—Javon Jackson, tenor saxophone; Jeremy Pelt, trumpet; Billy Drummond, drums (footnote 1); and Peter Washington, bass—will play a collection of original tunes. The music inspired Stereophile's longtime contributor and jazz pianist Bob Reina to write about the band's first release, Jazz in the New Harmonic", reviewed by Robert Baird in September 2013:

The original tunes have dark, angular, modal melodies and bass lines with infectious grooves, plenty of space, and room for first-rate solos by his band members. It reminds me of an amalgam of soundtrack music from 1950s films noirs, early-'60s Miles Davis, and late-'00s Liam Sillery.

To which I would add, don't be surprised if you hear echoes of Leonard Bernstein, and the scores to Goldfinger and other James Bond movies. At the same time, however, you'll hear music that is way cooler, and far more hip. It's music that is bound leave you feeling, not only good, but also rather special for having indulged.

Chesky would be last person on Planet Earth to deny his influences.

"Instead of basing jazz on a minor, dominant major progression, like the classic American songbook, our harmonies comes from later 20th century classical music, as in Messiaen and Ligeti meet Harlem," he explained by phone just days before the concert.

"Jazz has its groove, and we've been doing the old kind of harmonic language for quite a while. It's time to kick it up a little and add some spice. But it still has to convey an organic sense that it emanates from the street. When music doesn't have an organic connection to society, people can't relate to it."

The evening will combine tunes from the quintet's lauded freshman release with three or four new pieces from a second album, tentatively entitled Primal Scream, due out this spring.

"It's new and improved, like Tide with Extra Bleach," Chesky quips. "It's my little breakdown thing; there's some intense rage there. In New York, you have this continual rage kind of thing. I just got off the subway, riding back to Manhattan from the New York Audio Show in Brooklyn, and it was a constant fight and struggle. It's like walking into a movie. All this energy creates energy. If you can tap into it, it's very creative. But it's not like being in Zen Land."

Chesky believes his art reflects the whole West Side of New York City, from the upper West End all the way down. "I'm not a Madison Avenue/Park Avenue person," he says. "Where I live, and what I play has a quickness and edge to it. When you walk through Central Park and hear Latin players and African drummers and bongo players, there's something organic about it. Bartók and Stravinsky made music from peasant songs. I try to do the same with these things I hear in the street.

"When you listen to Gershwin or Bernstein, you hear New York as well. I just want to update it a bit. There's a visceral organic connection. You smell it; you soak it in and it goes right through your body. This is applicable to my classical music as well. I did a symphony with some rappers that is the most unrelaxing thing in the world. It has violence and rage. Some orchestras in Europe are interested, but it's going to shock the Old Guard. We live in a world of violence and shock and ridiculous wealth and gluttony and a new wave of internet railroad barons, and this is what the Rap Symphony reflects."

In the course of our conversation, I asked David if he felt rather unique in his ability to operate in both the jazz and classical universes, and create a unique cross between the two.

"I don't know of any other classical composers who also perform jazz," he said. "I look at it like Baskin & Robbins. For example, I'm currently editing my very somber Oratorio, The Wiener Psalm, for orchestra, bass singer, and men's choir. That would be like pistachio ice cream, and jazz would be like blueberry. Doing both keeps things more interesting. It's fresh all the time, and I don't stagnate. I get bored doing the same thing over and over. If I had to go on the road to play the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto 100 times in a row, I don't know how I'd make art out of it."

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Footnote 1: Billy Drummond was the drummer on Stereophile's first jazz recording, Rendezvous, now out of print.