Grant Stewart tenor sax · Joan Fort guitar · Michael Weiss piano · Joey Rainieri bass · David Puime drums
Joan Fort — Contemporary Jazz, Straight-Ahead, New York Heritage
‘Hangin’ In’ is Joan Fort’s second album as a bandleader and works as a personal narrative: that of a musician from a small town who, fascinated by jazz history, followed its echoes to New York and there found a community of musicians embodying the tradition from within. It’s not just a record of maturity, but the result of persistence and the decision to keep going when giving up seemed like the easiest option.
The album brings together nine tracks, six of them original compositions, born from the experience of living and training abroad. Distance, uncertainty, daily effort, and the small victories that accompany a young emerging artist are transformed here into music. “Hangin’ In” represents both the struggle and the reward, and the pieces trace this journey with honesty and narrative depth.
To shape this vision, Fort surrounds himself with a quartet deeply connected to the New York jazz lineage: Grant Stewart on tenor sax, Michael Weiss on piano, Joey Rainieri on bass, and David Puime on drums. Musicians with solid careers alongside major figures of the genre, bringing historical weight and unquestionable musical authority.
The result is a sound that balances intimacy and strength: straight-ahead and hard-bop jazz infused with swing, rooted in tradition, yet filtered through Fort’s personal voice as a composer and guitarist. ‘Hangin’ In’ looks to the past with respect while moving forward decisively toward its own identity.
Why shouldn’t you miss it?
Because this project naturally connects life experience and jazz heritage, showing how tradition stays alive when it passes through the hands of a new generation with something to say.
