Ryan Keberle Catharsis: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Even if you ve never been to a jazz concert in your life, it s likely that you ve heard Ryan Keberle play trombone. He s toured with Sufjan Stevens, backed up pop stars like Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake, recorded for a Woody Allen film, played in Broadway pits and directed music for a church in Manhattan. Left to his own devices, though, Keberle likes to put himself into improvising situations. You ll see him wherever jazz musicians want trombones read: he s in a lot of big bands and, increasingly, leading the groups himself. He s hit upon something with his working band, a quartet called Catharsis consisting of Keberle s trombone, Michael Rodriguez s trumpet, Jorge Roeder s bass and Eric Doob s drums. That lineup indulges the intersecting parts of his tunes, but preserves the melodic throughlines and swinging undertow. Here, as on their new record, Into The Zone, they re joined by Camila Meza, who came from Chile to study guitar and applies that training to her largely wordless vocals. All five dr