Presented as part of the Music Performance Program, by the Department of Music and Maison Française. For program, visit www.maisonfrancaise.org.
Dylan Band is a 22-year-old saxophonist based in Philadelphia. While growing up, he studied privately with the Philadelphia saxophonist Larry Mckenna. He also performed with groups devoted to jazz education at the Philadelphia Clef Club and the Kimmel Center. This has allowed Dylan opportunities to perform with ensembles such as Pennsylvania All State Jazz Ensemble, the Mid Atlantic-Collegiate Jazz Orchestra and the Temple University Big Band. Dylan has performed in venues such as the Kimmel Center, The Appel Room in Jazz at Lincoln Center, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Smalls Jazz Club, The Philadelphia Art Museum, and the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. He has also worked with musicians including Rodney Green, Warren Wolf, Terell Stafford, Brian Lynch, Peter Beets, and Byron Landham. Currently, Dylan studies at Temple University. He leads the Dylan Band Quartet and co-leads the Philadelphia Ambassador Big Band with Joe Block.
Joe Block is a jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Originally from Philadelphia, he now lives in New York where he studies at both the Juilliard School and Columbia University. Joe has had the opportunity to play and work with many renowned musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Jaleel Shaw, Terell Stafford, Eric Alexander, Joe Farnsworth, Robin Eubanks, Seamus Blake, and Hannibal Lokumbe. He is an active bandleader and sideman in New York and Philadelphia and has performed at venues and festivals such as Chris’ Jazz Café, South Jazz Parlor, Dizzy’s Club, Birdland, the Kimmel Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Symphony Space, Alice Tully Hall, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Belize Jazz Festival, Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival, and Telluride Jazz Festival. He leads his own trio and quintet, and co-leads the Philadelphia Ambassador Big Band with Dylan Band. In 2017 he was hailed by Jazz at Lincoln Center as one of "jazz's most promising young composers", and has been commissioned to write music for large ensembles including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra.