Ben Rosenblum and the Nebula Project Highlight Global Influences for Feb. 24 Jazz Concert

The University of Tampa will host the Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project, a six-piece, genre-bending ensemble featuring some of New York City’s most in-demand jazz musicians.

Rosenblum has led bands at prestigious venues around the world (Ravinia Festival in the Chicago area; the Library of Congress; Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz, CA) and has toured with several Grammy- and JUNO-recognized artists across various genres, including Rickie Lee Jones, Kiran Ahluwalia, Curtis Lundy, Nêgah Santos and Laura Anglade.

With the Nebula Project, Rosenblum digs deeply into his cosmopolitan roots in NYC to create a truly global sound, drawing from influences as diverse as Brazilian forró, Irish reels and jigs, Bulgarian folkloric songs, Dominican merengue and Middle Eastern traditional rhythms, and combining them with an extensive rooting in American jazz and traditional music. Rosenblum leans on personal experiences working with master musicians from these and other areas of the world to write explorative, emotional, narrative-driven compositions that have garnered awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Downbeat Magazine and beyond.

The Nebula Project includes Wayne Tucker on trumpet; Jasper Dutz on saxophone, bass clarinet and flute; Rafael Rosa on guitar; Ben Rosenblum on piano and accordion; Marty Jaffe on bass; and Ben Zweig on drums and percussion. The group’s first album, Kites and Strings, was released in 2020, and the Nebula Project was voted runner-up for Best New Artist in JazzTimes' 2020 Readers' Poll.

The group’s newest release is A Thousand Pebbles (2023). Downbeat Magazine featured the Nebula Project in its May 2023 issue in an article that highlights the adventurous spirit of the ensemble.