TRIPLE TREAT
Kadish, Gagan, Bartlit Trio to perform at Outpost
Kirk Kadish immerses himself in music every chance he gets. The Santa Fe-based musician is a renaissance man of sorts — he composes, produces and plays keyboard.
Yet when he teams up with Jon Gagan and John Bartlit, magic happens.
“We’re all pretty busy guys,” he says of the trio. “We have to carve out time to play these shows.”
The Kadish, Gagan, Bartlit Trio will perform a show at the Outpost Performance Space at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23.
The musical relationship among the three has grown over the years.
Kadish moved to New Mexico in 1980 and met Gagan almost immediately.
He then met Bartlit, and the rest is history.
The trio, formed in 2015, released “Still Here,” which won best jazz CD at the 2016 New Mexico Music Awards.
Kadish says that when it comes to writing, there is a compatibility to it all.
“Jon (Gagan) and I are the writers,” he says. “We’re still trying to get Bartlit to write more original music. When Jon and I are writing, there’s something complementary about it.”
The trio is no stranger to performing at the Jazz Under the Stars Series at the Albuquerque Museum, Glen and Bev Salas’ House Concert Series, as well as at all the major jazz venues in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
Kadish says the trio tries not to wear out its welcome at any of the venues.
“It’s difficult enough for us to find the time to perform together,” he says. “We all have careers outside of this trio. Jon is the music director for Ottmar Liebert, and that has him traveling the world performing. When we get the time to all perform together, we take it.”
As far as new music is concerned, Gagan is optimistic there will be another album.
The trio needs to find the time, he says.
“We’ve been supported by the local community, which has been great,” he says. “There’s nothing like being onstage performing. It’s what we all love to do.”