Nasar Abadey is reviewed by the Buffalo News

Jazz warrior

On Saturday, we’ll have the opportunity to welcome back one of our own, as jazz drummer, composer and theoretician Nasar Abadey returns for an 8 p. m. show in the Tralf Music Hall (622 Main St.).

Abadey grew up in Buffalo, studied music at the University at Buffalo and went on to become a first-call session player and touring musician. Abadey’s resume is absolutely ridiculous, a who’s who list packed to the brim with jazz luminaries such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Rouse, Gary Bartz, Cyrus Chestnut, Sonny Fortune, Ella Fitzgerald and Eartha Kitt.

The project nearest and dearest to his musical heart, however, is surely Supernova, the band he has led for more than a decade, and the progenitor of a musical form he calls “Multi-D”— a reference to the trans-idiomatic nature of the music’s structure, and also to its post-Bop and modal aspirations.

The Tralf show marks the release of the band’s new disc, “Diamond In the Rough,” an inspired collection of pieces that display the lasting influence of Abadey’s initial musical idols — Miles Davis, Tony Williams and Wayne Shorter.

Supernova boasts another Buffalo native, in the form of alto/soprano saxophonist Joe Ford, and is rounded out by bassist James B. King and pianist Allyn Johnson.
Tickets are $20 (box office, Ticketmaster.com).