Up-and-Coming Young Jazz Artist Quinn Rehkemper – Finding His Voice
The first time I heard alto saxophonist Quinn Rehkemper was at a concert at An die Musik on February 22, 2024 with the Derrick Michaels Quartet. He played Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan.” I was impressed by the expressive sweetness and silkiness of his tone and the fluidity of his improvisation.
I heard him again playing with the Monday night Django jazz jam in Hampden. And it struck me that this was a young, up-and-coming player worthy of attention. His former teacher, Chris Young, a Towson University graduate who taught him from 2017 to 2022, has warm praise. He remarks that Rehkemper is “an admirer of melody” and is impressed by the way that his young student focuses on finding his own voice while “understanding of the big picture or ‘band as one unit’ mentality.”
Saxophonist Derrick Michaels, Rehkemper’s current teacher, writes: “Quinn consistently emanates love and respect for his instrument and the musical lineage — with a sound, phrasing, vocabulary, and dynamic sensitivity that belie his years. He is a self-directed musician with an insatiable creative drive and a voracious appetite for learning…already commanding a keen ear, strong jazz vocabulary, and a penchant for dynamic and lyrical performance. He is at once studious, passionate, and emotionally connected with this musical calling, and I hear growth in each lesson and performance.”
Just graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA), Rehkemper has built an impressive resume of honors and tours. He was one of some 20 top-level jazz students chosen from around the country to participate in a weekly Zoom class with Dr. JB Dyas, VP of Education and Curriculum Development at the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. In this class, students would critique each other’s performance via video recordings.
This led to his being selected, in his sophomore, junior, and senior years, as one of two BSA seniors to participate in the prestigious Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz National All-Star Peer-to-Peer Jazz Quintet concerts, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education. In 2022, he played with guest artist trumpeter Sean Jones, director of Jazz Studies at Peabody Institute —and was thrilled to rehearse one song with the legendary Herbie Hancock, although Hancock was ill for the concert itself. In 2023, the guest artist was Terell Stafford, Grammy award-winning trumpeter, composer, arranger, and Chair of Temple University’s Jazz Department. In 2024, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, the quintet gave a concert April 10, 2024 at the Potomac Center Plaza in Washington, DC. They were accompanied by Sean Jones. The group’s rendition of “Cantaloupe Island,” “Blue Bossa,” and “A Night in Tunisia” can be heard on YouTube (with BSA jazz director Ed Hrybyk on bass).
In his senior year, Rehkemper was selected to go on the National Endowment for the Arts/Herbie Hancock Institute’s “Peer-to-Peer” tour to Cheyenne, Wyoming with guest artist Terell Stafford. These tours are a combination of performance and education, presented by gifted music students from all around the country. The Peer-to-Peer Quintet would visit the local high schools and perform with Terell Stafford and Lisa Henry. Following the performances, they would then lead clinics with each school’s jazz ensemble alongside Stafford. Rehkemper says that this tour taught him a great deal about professionalism and strengthened his passion for performing and especially teaching.
Rehkemper’s musical journey began with the study of piano in second grade, and he continued with serious study of the piano while taking up saxophone in fifth grade school concert band. In seventh grade, he was introduced to jazz by Chris Young. Young introduced him to George Garzone, who became a big influence because of his tone, contrasting with the more “abrasive” tone of Sonny Rollins, another one of Rehkemper’s influences. Other favorites and major influences were Lee Konitz, Charlie Parker, Johnny Hodges, Antonio Hart, Kenny Garrett, Joshua Redman, and Cannonball Adderly.
As high school approached, he auditioned for both BSA and The George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology schools and was accepted by both; he chose BSA because he heard that Gary Thomas, ground-breaking Baltimore-born saxophonist and former Director of Jazz Studies at Peabody Institute, was teaching there. He did study under Thomas for two years and says he “built a very solid foundation for everything I play and do in jazz that I continue to build on…without his guidance, I would never be the player that I am today.” He has been studying with Derrick Michaels, who he says has been helping him develop his tone and inner voice.
Rehkemper’s first experience playing jazz in public, other than in the Herbie Hancock Institute touring groups, was during COVID, at one of Eddie Hrybyk’s pop-up jam sessions, held in local parks. Since then, he has played all over town. At the end of his freshman year, he had the opportunity to play with BSA alumni Ephraim and Ebban Dorsey, now highly regarded and prolifically performing brother and sister saxophonists based in Baltimore. He has played at more of Hrybyk’s pop-up jam session; at Clarence Ward II’s Monday night session at R House; at the Monday night Django jam sessions at The Bluebird Café–where he “loves the vibe;” at cocktail hour at Everyman Theater and Center Stage; and, as mentioned, with the Derrick Michaels quartet at An die Musik. He played with Peabody pianist Hannah Mayer for his senior recital and duo with pianist Savino Palumbo for BSA’s Armstrong Honors Recital. He also plays saxophone with the Tom Starr Rock band at weddings and bar gigs, as well as venues such as the 8×10, Ottobar, and the Recher. Currently, he plays jazz mostly with other BSA seniors, including drummer Julian Frazier, bassist Ben Murray, and guitarist Odelia Elliott.
An important aim for Rehkemper is to find his own voice while playing what he hears – to be able to reproduce someone else’s melody or riff – and also play his own melodies that he “hears” in his head. He plays piano every day for an hour, working out melodic and harmonic ideas, just exploring. Improvisation, he says, is like extemporaneous speaking – you know the words, and you know what you want to say, and you improvise your speech, but with intention and purpose, not just rambling. Certainly that’s what I heard in his improvisation on “Isfahan” that night at An die Musik.
Rehkemper is excited about the prospect of going to the Village Vanguard this summer, where he was invited by Terell Stafford to sit in the front row to hear saxophonist Dick Oatts – “to hear how to make a note really pop!” In fall, Rehkemper will be heading to Berklee College of Music in Boston on a full scholarship – hoping to be able to study under George Garzone.
Although Boston will be the setting for the next phase in his career, we can hope that Rehkemper will eventually bring his great talent back to Baltimore—a place he says he loves and will always consider home.
- By Liz Fixsen
Liz Fixsen is a part-time jazz pianist and vocalist and jazz aficionada who is regularly seen at jazz happenings around Baltimore. She serves on the board of the Baltimore Jazz Alliance and edits and frequently writes for the BJA newsletter. She is also a part-time church musician and ESL teacher.