Trumpeter and composer Markus Rutz brings a melodious pen to his original compositions and plays with a tone that has been called gorgeous. For this trio performance at The SoapBox Gallery he leads the trio along with Amina Figarova and Keala Kaumeheiwa in the band and ready to present music representing standards, original music and tunes from an album that is scheduled for release in early 2023.  

Markus released two volumes of Blueprints on Origin Records from his last studio recording project along with Chicago contemporaries and guest saxophonist Brice Winston.  This project organically evolved into his most recent project as Composer-in-Residence for The Rose Theatre based out of Washington DC.  The collaboration features music arrangement and performances on monthly episodes of The Rose Rhapsody.  

Pianist Amina Figarova is in the band for this engagement. Amina is an Azerbaijani jazz pianist. Trained as a classical pianist in Baku, she became interested in the local folk music, later specializing in jazz. Since the late 1980s, together with her husband, the flutist Bart Platteau, she has performed in jazz festivals around the world.

Keala Kaumeheiwa is bassist contributing his pulse and groove to round out the ensemble. Keala is active on the Boston scene. His formal music education took him from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied both jazz and classical music with renowned bassist Richard Davis to New York City, where he performed with the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Keala later also studied with legendary bassist Ron Carter as part of the inaugural class of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at New England Conservatory.