Evening Jazz welcomes Natalie Cressman

Natalie draws inspiration from a vast array of musical currents. A prodigiously talented trombonist, she’s spent the last 14 years touring as a horn player and vocalist with Phish's Trey Anastasio, while also performing around NYC with jazz greats Wycliffe Gordon, Nicholas Payton, Anat Cohen, Dave Douglas, and Peter Apfelbaum.

Deeply versed in Latin jazz, post-bop, pop, and Brazilian music, Natalie has released three albums under her own name as well as three acclaimed duo albums with Ian Faquini, her primary musical partner for the past decade.

Cressman’s trombone prowess has earned her widespread recognition. In both 2019 and 2023 Downbeat awarded her “Rising Star Trombone” honors in the magazine’s annual critics’ poll.

Drawing on her love of groove, cool R&B and jazz, she released the solo albums, Unfolding (2012) and Turn the Sea (2014), followed by Etchings in Amber (2016), a gorgeous duo album with guitarist Mike Bono that introduced Cressman as a formidable musical force without her horn. She released The Traces EP in 2017, which expanded her creative reach into post-production with meticulously crafted soundscape tracks inspired by R&B and indie pop.

When she’s not performing her own music, Natalie can be found collaborating with some of the most illustrious figures in rock, funk, jazz and beyond such as Carlos Santana, Phish, Big Gigantic, Escort, Phil Lesh, Oteil Burbridge, The Motet, and Umphrey's McGee.