{moszoomthumb imgid=959 itemid=74 style_m=2}The University of New Hampshire’s Traditional Jazz Series will continue on Monday, Feb. 2, with a performance by Derry-based vibraphonist and pianist Ed Saindon and his quartet, featuring renowned saxophonist Dave Liebman. Joining Saindon and Liebman will be Dave Clark on bass and Mark Walker on drums. The group will perform music from its CD “Depth of Emotion,” on the World Improvised Music label. This should be a superb show featuring music of varied colors and textures rendered by a group of musicians who can take the music in numerous directions. The show also marks the Seacoast debut of Liebman, one of the most prolific and imaginative musicians in jazz today.

To use a cliché, Dave Liebman is a “musician’s musician.” Fluent on tenor and soprano saxophones as well as flute, alto flute, keyboards and drums, Liebman has carved a highly creative career that has spanned more than 40 years and has crossed genres from contemporary rock with Ten Wheel Drive to the bands of jazz greats Elvin Jones, Miles Davis and Chick Corea in the 1970s.

Strongly influenced by the spirit and music of John Coltrane, Liebman has recorded dozens of albums under his own name and has appeared on albums by Jones, Davis, Bob Moses and John McNeil, to name a few of many. Today, Liebman is involved in several group projects, including his ongoing bands Quest and the Dave Liebman Group as well as the cooperative band Saxophone Summit with saxophonists Joe Lovano and Ravi Coltrane. He is also active as an educator and author, having written several books on the art of improvisation. I spoke with Liebman via phone recently and touched on a wide range of points from his career.

So, how did you become involved with Ed Saindon’s CD project?
Ed called me a few years ago and mentioned he had recently recorded a project with (pianist) Kenny Werner. Ed wanted to know if I would be interested in a quartet project he was working on with new music he was writing. I knew of Ed’s ability as a vibes player, so I told him that I would be up for taking part. He called me again about a year ago and I went up and we put the recording down in one day of work.

The music has a very open sound, especially with the use of the vibes and soprano sax.
Yeah, I really liked the sound of the two instruments together. It’s the first time I’d recorded with a vibes player, yet the music came together very naturally. And when Ed switched to the piano on some of the tracks, the music took on a different character.

The reworked versions of “On Green Dolphin Street” and “Moon River”—were those Ed’s specific arrangements or were they conceived by the group as a whole in the studio?
They were Ed’s arrangements, and they were very imaginative.

Do you like rearranging older tunes?
Definitely. I know there are those who frown on the idea, who think that standards should be played the way they always are played. Personally, I think that reworking standards gives them a renewed freshness and liveliness that allows for new modes of creative expression for the player.

In light of what you said about recording the CD in one day, I have to say that there is a high level of interaction throughout the disc. It sounds as if the band had been on the road playing the tunes for a long time before you went into the studio.
Thanks. There was very little that needed to be said in terms of the music. Ed gave us a general idea of the vibe of each piece and we all took it from there. It just came together in a very creative and positive way.

The spirit, if I can call it that, of John Coltrane informs your approach to jazz. Do you still consider Trane to be a significant influence on your approach to jazz?
Definitely. To me, Trane’s music is so life-affirming. You still see and hear new things in his music to this day. Quite frankly, if it hadn’t been for the chance to hear Trane perform several times in the ’60s, I wouldn’t be doing this. He’s been my model throughout my career.

What was it like to hear him live?
It was incredible. The energy and the creative inventiveness as well as the interaction between Trane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones made a deep impression on me as an aspiring musician.

Over the years, you’ve incorporated a variety of styles into your music. Would you say that this comes from your varied experiences? And does it give your music even more depth?
Yes. The ’60s were such a transformative decade and musicians of my generation were the first to witness this eclectic age. And we were the first to experience rock and roll music. So that partly informed what we were trying to do with music when we were coming up. In an ideal world, music should have no boundaries and musicians should be free to explore and incorporate various styles into their music, allowing those styles to inform their music and for their music to inform other styles of music.

Could you talk a little about your experience with (drummer) Elvin Jones and how it shaped your approach?
Playing with Elvin’s band was a dream come true. And he was such a gracious person, very warm and generous. He, along with Tony Williams and Max Roach, was one of the singularly most influential drummers in modern jazz. Working with Elvin allowed me to play and record with a number of other great saxophonists like Joe Farrell, Frank Foster, George Coleman and Steve Grossman. Elvin was not one to dictate to a person about how to play. Rather, he let the music that we played draw out our creative impulses and he allowed us to explore a variety of different approaches in terms of how we expressed ourselves musically.

How about your time with Miles?
Playing with Miles was like going to grad school. For me, playing with Miles was the top of the line for a saxophone player. Miles always gave 150 percent on the stage. At the time I was with him in the early ’70s, his music was very colorful and had a variety of rich rhythmic textures. There was something intuitive about playing his music, where you looked for the right places to play and make a musical statement. And he was a very supportive person as well. He would only offer advice if he felt you truly needed it, but like Elvin, Miles would encourage you to develop your own thing.

You’re very active in jazz education. How did you become involved?
I fell into it more than anything else. I like to explain how things work, especially in jazz improvisation, and teaching and writing about the music and how to approach it are a way for me to give back to the music, to help prolong it and keep it viable. So I give clinics, teach lessons, etcetera. And for the past 20 years, I’ve also been active with an organization that I helped to create called the International Association of Schools of Jazz, a group that advocates for jazz education at all levels. Being involved in this way is something I enjoy doing very much.

What’s on the horizon for you this year?
After the gig at UNH, I’m off to Europe to tour with a group that includes the pianist Bob Stenson. Then there will be a tour with the Dave Liebman Group in the spring and summer. I’ll also be performing in March with Pierre Boulez’s Ensemble Contemporain. So, I can’t complain. I have a full life doing what I love to do and being with my family. That’s what it’s all about.

The Ed Saindon Quartet with Dave Liebman performs at 8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 2, in Johnson Theatre in the Paul Creative Arts Center at UNH. Tickets are $8, or $6 for students and seniors. To order tickets in advance, call 603-862-2290.