The Glass key trio

Based in Santa Fe, NM and led by Jeremy Bleich’s eclectic guitar and compositional style,

The Glass Key Trio produces and explores compositions inspired by Americana, Balkan, Arabic

and contemporary classical music and film noir.  Each composition is a vehicle for spirited dialogue between the players ushering the listener into a narrative exploration of musical landscapes. 

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GKT has been nominated for two 2023 New Mexico Music Awards including Best Jazz Album and

Best Instrumental Song.

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​​Formed in 2019, The Glass Key Trio has performed in several cities in the US including:

Austin (Butler School of Music), New Orleans (Carnaval Lounge, Zeitgeist), Nashville (Random Sample), Knoxville (The Pilot Light), NYC (The Rockwood Music Hall),

Rochester (The Bop Shop), Cleveland (Treelawn), Ithaca (Downstairs), Pittsburgh (Con Alma), Chicago (Constellation), Albuquerque (The Outpost), and in hometown Santa Fe (San Miguel Chapel). 

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<--------- Press: ------------------------------------------->

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​"The thing about knowing rules in music is that you can then break them in creative and purposeful ways. That’s been key to Jeremy Bleich’s wide-ranging musical practice for decades.

The New Mexico-residing educator, composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist brings a ton of traditions to the table with Glass Key Trio, including Arabic, Balkan and American folk music, as well as contemporary art music and the particular elegant strain of blues-schooled music that soundtracks film noir. Bleich plays guitar with the group, which also includes bassist Paul Brown and percussionist Milton Villarrubia III. The sounds are cool, but the group interaction, in and around the interstices of the compositional framework, is what really makes it come alive — the music is almost like a fourth player whom the other three are playing off of as they conjure it into being."

Stephen Trageser - Nashville Scene

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"The Glass Key Trio... has conceived a strange combination of folk, gospel, spirituals, jazz and experimental curiosities, all without adhering too intensely to any one, and without an easymeans to genre-fy." - Santa Fe Reporter

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Review of Apocalypse Fatigue​

 

 

 

Band Bios: --------------------------------------->

Jeremy Bleich is a composer and multi-instrumentalist who incorporates a wide palette of sound and culture into the process of creating music. He has toured extensively across Europe and the U.S playing bass and electronics with critically acclaimed trio Birth, award winning Kodama Trio and oud with Zevk Ensemble and Trio Andaluz.  He resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he is involved with presenting new music on his Grasshopper Music record label, producing House Concert Chamber Music events, and teaching Orchestra at Los Alamos Public Schools. Jeremy has played and/or recorded with musicians as diverse as Count Vu, Joe Maneri, Chris Jonas, Carmen Castaldi, Jason White, Keven McCarthy, and Rick Elias.  Jeremy has composed, conducted, and produced a variety of musical theatre works including "Love and Emma Goldman" A Rock Opera made possible by a generous grant from The California Foundation for Peace and Justice.

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Ben Wright from Dixon, New Mexico plays double bass. He cut his teeth in Philadelphia punk rock, and has since been working the bass for 40 odd years, bolstered by intense spats of incidental formal training. A lover of the lowest frequencies, Ben has explored many disparate forms of music through the bass, yet always returns to the wellspring of improvisation. Currently, Ben plays with Glass Key Trio, Santa Fe Avant Jazz Workshop, Irksome Trio, Radio Free Bassanda, Jack Wright, and assorted eclectic partners locally and nationally.

"I play music for the bliss of that instant when I lose consciousness of my surroundings, my instrument, and myself… there is only music. That is the crux where spontaneous creation between performers and audience is conceived."

 

Milton Villarrubia, III grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana and has been crafting his music art in Santa Fe, New Mexico since 1996. Milton has performed with EllisMarsalis, Myra Melford, Anthony Braxton, Peter Bernstein, Steve Masakowski, The University of New Orleans Jazz Studies Program,
The Santa Fe Opera, New Mexico School for the Arts, William A. Thompson, IV, Circus Luminous,
The Academy for Technology and the Classics, Candyman Strings and Things, Ray Francen's Drum
Center and Drummer's World. In 2016 Milton and the Santa Fe based group Kodama Trio won best Jazz Album as well as Best Jazz Song in the Prestigious New Mexico
Music Awards.