Sistine Criminals

Seating times: 7:00pm & 8:30pm. Doors open 30 minutes early.

TICKET AVAILABILITY:  IF SELECTED TICKETS ARE “SOLD OUT”, PLEASE CHECK AVAILABILITY FOR ANOTHER TIME AND ANOTHER SEATING TYPE

Black Cat JAZZ@theEDGE!! Presents: Sistine Criminals

Aaron Burnett – tenor sax, keys
Carlos Homs – keys, synth
Nicholas Jozwiak – bass
Greg “Torch” Sgrulloni – drums

Aaron Burnett began to study classical saxophone at the age 9. After attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for Classical and Jazz Performance (1999-2001), he relocated to Berklee College of Music in Boston for Classical Composition (2005-2008), graduating with a degree in Professional Music. Shortly after graduating from Berklee, Aaron toured in 3x GRAMMY winner Esperanza Spalding’s Radio Music society from 2012 – 2013, performing on Jay Leno, David Letterman, The Daily Show, Jimmy Kimmel, and in 40 countries around the world. Aaron has since been awarded 2 Grammy certificates for his contributions on Spalding’s 2020 album “12 Little Spells” and 2021 album “Songwrights Apothecary Lab”.

Burnett has always stressed the importance of establishing a unique sound for himself while in college, studying classical Baroque composition techniques, advance harmony, world music, and atonal composition. He has performed with many renowned musicians such as Vijay Iyer, Teri Lyne Carrington, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Michelle Rosewoman, Jeff Tain Watts, and Kim Thompson. Burnett retains true nature of jazz in his music and his playing, always searching for new ways of interpreting the music while remaining modern and consistent with the times we live in.

Aaron Burnett and the Big Machine released their debut album in 2013 with “I Thoth So”, followed by 2018’s “Anomaly”, and 2020’s Jupiter Conjunct, the latter two of which were both released by Fresh Sound Records and received a 3.5 star rating from DownBeat. Aaron also received a 4 star review from Jazziz Magazine.

Carlos Homs is a keyboardist/composer/producer from New York City. As an alumnus of Berklee College of Music and New School University, Carlos has gone on to perform, tour and record with hip-hop, pop and jazz artists including Reggie Workman, Steve Lehman, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Bernard Purdie, DJ Premier, Peter Evans, Brady Watt, The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Esperanza Spalding and many others. He is a featured performer Peter Evan’s Ghosts, Steve Lehman’s Sélébéyone, Kim Thompson’s Treasures Abound and others as well as having an album with his trio ARK under the same name. Carlos was also the keyboardist for former local jam-band MUN playing festivals and venues such as Farm Fest, The Catskill Chill, Brooklyn Bowl, the 8×10 (Baltimore), Garcia’s and others. He also has credits in theatre, working as a music director for Rock of Ages and Burn the Floor on the Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Ship and performing in small theatre and off-broadway productions such as The Black Nativity and Bach and Bleach. His debut album will be released on Fresh Sounds New Talent Records in 2020 with his trio, ‘The Theory Conspiracy’. He is currently working with producer/bassist Brady Watt on an album for Papoose and with DJ Premiere for an album with Jill Scott.

Nicholas Jozwiak studied classical piano at a young age followed closely by the double bass. His first teacher was young bassist educator Virginia Dixon, followed by the enigmatic former principle of the Honolulu Symphony, Tony Monaco. Discovering jazz and improvisation in high school, Nick was invited to study at the Dave Brubeck Summer Jazz Colony, (under Ingrid Jensen and Geoffrey Keezer), the Vail, Colorado Jazz Workshop (under John Clayton) and the Berklee Summer Jazz Workshop (under Terri Lynne Carrington). He also performed as principle bassist for the Chicago Youth Symphony’s 2006-2007 season, performing Brahms, Strauss and Barber in Eastern Europe. In 2007 Nick moved to New York City to attend the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. There he studied with William Parker, Mark Helias, Ben Street, Richard Boukas and Ron Petrides, developing a strong appreciation for abstraction, experimentalism, free jazz and improvisation. Meanwhile, Nick participated in a rich DIY scene in the Bushwick, Brooklyn area, centered around two sister venues, the Freedom Garden and 1012 Willoughby, performing and organizing shows. Performances range from live collage art, conductions, free improvisations, experimental ensemble compositions and drone-based, throat-sung solos. As a prolific sideman he has made acid-country music on tour with Jolie Holland, burning straight ahead jazz with Kimberly Thompson, bubble gum folk with Oh! My Blackbird, pop-rock on tour with Dylan Gardner, improvised performance art with Jay-Zee Sushi Car and Muyassar Kurdi, neo-soul/r&b with José James, and forward-thinking contemporary jazz with Aaron Burnett.

ThisisTorch may be best known for his dynamic live performances and signature drumming style with live electronic acts, Sistine Criminals and Conspirator(featuring members of the Disco Biscuits).  As a touring musician, he has performed extensively throughout the U.S. as well as internationally.  Throughout his career, he has shared the stage with artists such as Carnage, Prodigy(Mobb Deep), Hannibal Buress, DJ Jazzy Jay, Method Man, Esperanza Spalding, KJ Sawka(Pendulum), Johnny Rabb, Adam Deitch, and many mor.  Stylistically, his drumming is influenced largely by electronic music genres such as Jungle/DnB, Trap, House as well as some of their respective subgenres: most notably Drill, IDM, Tech House, Chicago Juke and more.  His sound and stlye of drumming could be described as :Squarepusher meets Billy Cobham meets Metro Moomin”.