Austin trumpeter Rachel Spencer previews her debut album The Next Right Thing with her quintet in a live-taping concert.
Rachel Spencer brings her quintet to Monks Jazz Club on Wednesday, August 12, for a set that previews her debut album as a leader, The Next Right Thing. The show is part of the 'AJS Presents: Midweek @ Monks' series, a collaboration between the Austin Jazz Society and the club to keep a regular performance schedule going for jazz musicians in town.
Spencer is an Austin trumpeter known for an expressive tone and a stylistic agility that works as well when she's leading her own group as when she's playing sideman. She's toured internationally and most recently held the lead trumpet chair on the North American Broadway tour of The Addams Family: A Musical Comedy. When she isn't on stage, she runs a private studio and a masterclass schedule as an educator.
She describes her own music as soulful and honest, drawing from the post-bop tradition and figures like Blue Mitchell, Kenny Garrett, Roy Hargrove, and Bobby Shew. The quintet for the night is Matt Maldonado on saxophones, Ben Irom on piano, Liam O'Dell on bass, and Mati Soto on drums. The Next Right Thing won the 2025 Presser Foundation Award and is pending release in early 2027, so this is a chance to hear the material before the record is out.
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One practical thing to keep in mind: this is a live-taping, listening-room concert with a whisper policy in force, so it's a night for sitting and listening rather than chatting. Doors open at 7 PM, and the music runs from 7:30 PM to 9 PM at Monks, 310 East St. Elmo Road.
