The Quartet
Formed in 1995, the Doug Talley Quartet has performed at numerous festivals, concerts, clubs and schools throughout the Midwest. There has been only one personnel change during that time, which is part of the quartet’s secret to success. All four members of the quartet compose and arrange music, and contribute to the group’s repertoire for recordings and live appearances.
Doug Talley – saxophones
“Talley has absorbed the post bop traditions of Coltrane and Rollins, added the warmth of Dexter Gordon and the flourishes of Stan Getz, and developed his own harmonic and wonderfully melodic approach.”
MARK E. GALLO, JAZZREVIEW.COM
Doug Talley has performed with such jazz luminaries as Jay McShann, Clark Terry, Bob Mintzer, Claude “Fiddler” Williams, Bobby Watson, Karrin Allyson, Byron Stripling, Ignacio Berroa, Randy Brecker, Scott Robinson and Gary Foster. He is a familiar face throughout the Midwest as a jazz performer and educator. Talley has also appeared at the 18th & Vine Festival, the Kansas Jazz and Blues Festival, the Kansas City Spirit Festival, the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival, Mayport Jazz Festival, and in Las Vegas with The Four Freshman, The Platters and The Diamonds.
Doug Talley is the recipient of the 2010 Kansas Governor’s Arts Award and the 2009 Johnson County Library Pinnacle Award for arts in education. Talley is a Selmer saxophone artist and clinician and has served as a clinician with numerous college and high school musicians, including the University of Minnesota, Coe College, Kalamazoo College, Kansas State University, University of Nebraska, University of South Dakota, Central Missouri State, Emporia State and Kansas University, among many others. Talley was a faculty member of the Great Plains Jazz Camp for twelve years, and was featured at the 1996 MENC convention in Kansas City directing the Shawnee Mission (Kansas) Honors Jazz Band. He was a clinician at the 1997 International Association of Jazz Educators conference and a faculty member of the 2003 IAJE Teacher Training Institute.
Honored by Kansas City magazine as one of the “40 Under 40 Who Move and Shake Kansas City in Business, Politics and the Arts,” Talley was also recognized in Downbeat magazine “Auditions” in 1986. His discography includes four recordings on the Sea Breeze label for the Trilogy and Boulevard Big Bands as well as the Doug Talley Quartet’s four CDs, Town Topic — “…reminiscent of the Modern Jazz Quartet.” (Jam magazine), Night and Day – which received national airplay, Kansas City Suite – a musical depiction of the quartet’s hometown, and By Request, an offering of the quartet’s most requested music.
TJ Martley – piano
T.J. has quickly become one of the top call pianists in Kansas City. Since graduating from William Jewell College in 2007, he has shared the stage with national icons of jazz Bobby Watson, Sean Jones, Javon Jackson, Brad Mason, Elliot Mason, Dave Pietro, Matt Otto, Mike Metheny and Wycliffe Gordan. Known for his eclectic be-bop style, the pianist’s improvisations are reminiscent of Lennie Tristano, Bud Powell, and Keith Jarrett. The pianist can be seen regularly at local jazz hot spots with Kansas City jazz artists such as The Goombahles Crosscurrent, Megan Birdsall, Steve Lambert Quartet, Rich Wheeler Quartet, Shay Estes, Bryan Hicks Quartet, Stan Kessler and Stephanie Laws.
Tim Brewer – bass
A graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Tim is a gifted composer and performer. He has appeared with many artists, including Bobby Watson and Eddie Harris. Locally, he performs with the Doug Talley Quartet, Triology and Boulevard Big Bands, the New Kansas City Seven and Trinity Jazz Ensemble.
Tim is an accomplished composer and arranger, and his compositions, Carolyn and Transcending have been recorded by the Doug Talley Quartet.
Keith Kavanaugh – drums/cymbals
Keith is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston and has performed with Diane Schuur, Phil Wilson, Joshua Breakstone, Scott Robinson, Ritchie Cole and many musicians on the Kansas City jazz scene. He is also a graduate of Park University where he studied Art and Graphic Design. He has paintings in many corporate and private collections, and has designed hundreds of CD packages for musicians from coast-to-coast. See his work at keithkavanaugh.com and bauwau.com.