The “Providence Cutting Sessions” is a program recently created by the Artistic Director of AS220, Bert Crenca, and a trio of local jazz musicians, Nick Sollecito, Mike Bernier, and Alex Chapman. This program’s mission is two-part. First, to give jazz musicians a venue to display their art and talent; second, to compose a new repertoire of jazz standards. “Providence Cutting Sessions” will display new and original jazz compositions by local musicians. These compositions will mainly be in the style of the “Real Book,” which contains hundreds of well-known jazz standards.

This program welcomes jazz musicians to come to performances and sit in with the house trio. All instruments are welcome. Original charts will be made available at performances and online in .pdf format. Available charts have been transposed in keys C, B flat and E flat. We welcome composers to submit original songs to be performed (email us at providencecuttingsessions@gmail.com for more info).

The goal of this program is to inspire others to contribute to and support a growing jazz community. Students of all levels can contribute to this jazz community through performance, composition, and appreciation.

What Are Cutting Sessions:

Cutting Sessions took place in the 1930’s and 1940’s in many cities around the United States. Some of these cities included Kansas City, Milwaukee, Chicago, and of course, New York City. They were held in smaller clubs where jazz was played. Musicians would come to these sessions and join the band on stage to perform well-known songs of the time, or standards. One rumor of how the term “cutting sessions” came about is if the musician did not know the song, he/she would essentially be “cut” from the stage. While this may have been true of these sessions in their time, there is another belief in how these performances got the name “cutting sessions,” and this is more our vision of the program. Cutting sessions offered musicians the opportunity to “cut their teeth.” In other words, these sessions gave musicians a chance to get their experience in a real life situation of performing jazz on stage, with professionals, in front of an audience.

"This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts."