PETER FURLAN PROJECT, Live at Maureen's Jazz Cellar

Considering the wildly eclectic professional resume composer/saxophonist Peter Furlan has amassed over the past 30+ years – Dizzy Gillespie, Aretha Franklin, Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Temptations, 10,000 Maniacs, et al – it’s hardly surprising that when he got around to leading a large top flight ensemble in a live setting, he’d make it a delightfully freewheeling blast of stylistically all over the map adventures.

Leading this tightly knit group on Peter Furlan Project Live at Maureen’s Jazz Cellar – culled from a two night stand in June 2025 at a venue billed “the coolest jazz club in the Hudson Valley – the multi-talented musician and bandleader shapes a program where composition and improvisation feel equally essential – each piece unfolding like an intense, expansive story of its own with its own shifting moods and motivations.

The punchy, brass fired and ultimately soaring opener “Return to the Be-Bop Tango” (inspired by the dual influence of Chick Corea and Dizzy Gillespie) sets the tone with a clever fusion of ensemble playing and powerhouse solos by Furlan, trumpeter Vinnie Cutro, trombonist Erick Storckman, alto saxman Andrew Beals and bari saxophonist Andrew Hubbard. From there, the material unfolds like a series of emotional revelations, starting with the boisterous, funkified “The Ice Committee” (inspired by a David Means short story and featuring a fiery piano solo by Neal “Nail” Alexander) and evolving with gems like the breezy (yet intensifying on the solos) Gentle Giant influenced “The Raconteur,” the whimsical, high spirited “The Crawl Too” (inspired by memories of Furlan’s infant daughter) and the rousing closing, rock guitar fired jam “Mrs. Clean Freak,” dedicated to his mom. The balance of personal and literary inspirations (John Irving, Martin Amis and James Ellroy) elevates the aesthetic beyond just a well-played ensemble date throughout.