Nick Finzer Set to Release “On Songs & Stories, Chapter One”

NICK FINZER TURNS SEVEN SONGS INTO SEVEN STORIES ON SONGS & STORIES,
CHAPTER ONE

THE TROMBONIST AND BANDLEADER REFLECTS BACK, PAIRING NEW AND OLD JAZZ CLASSICS WITH THE MOMENTS AND COLLABORATORS BEHIND THEM

NEW YORK, NY – Every song has a story, but Nick Finzer wants you to hear his. On Songs & Stories, Chapter One, out October 16, 2026 via Outside in Music, the acclaimed trombonist and bandleader brings together a collection of songs and, for the first time, puts them in context, tracing the people, places, and moments behind each one.

“Some of these tunes are well-known standards that I love to play,” Finzer says. “Some of them are me trying to put my own stamp on the jazz tradition. And some of them are tunes I played with specific people, tunes that come from a particular place and time in my life.”

That last category includes “Smile,” built on an arrangement by tenor saxophonist Lucas Pino that goes back to some of the first touring the two ever did together, trips to Pino’s home state of Arizona, where Finzer’s parents also live. Playing chordless quartet gigs with local rhythm sections out there, the two leaned on this arrangement night after night. “It’s one we played constantly,” Finzer says. “It’s been with me ever since.”

Then there’s “With Gratitude,” the collection’s lone original and its emotional center. Finzer wrote it in 2013, just days after graduating from Juilliard, as a musical thank you to the friends and colleagues who helped bring his debut album Exposition to life. Revisited here for the first time in over a decade with a new quartet, the piece has become something else entirely: a reflection on a journey that started with that gratitude and hasn’t stopped moving since.

Rounding out the collection are five more tunes that trace the arc of a developing repertoire: Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things” (coming from Finzer’s JJ Johnson Centennial Project: Legacy), Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed,” the 1934 standard “For All We Know,” Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” and the Joseph Kosma classic “Autumn Leaves.” Throughout, Finzer is joined by a new international quartet, pianist Liya Grigoryan, bassist Raul Reyes, and drummer Gary Kerkezou, an international lineup pulled from the current New York jazz scene.

“Each of these songs comes with its own story,” Finzer explains. “Who I was playing with, where I was, what it meant in that time and place… Songs & Stories, Chapter One brings those stories together for the first time.”

Out October 16, 2026 via Outside in Music

TRACK LISTING
1. My Favorite Things (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)
2. Overjoyed (Stevie Wonder)
3. For All We Know (J. Fred Coots, Sam M. Lewis)
4. A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing (Billy Strayhorn)
5. Smile (Charlie Chaplin, John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons)
6. Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma, Johnny Mercer, Jacques Prévert)
7. With Gratitude (Nick Finzer)

PERSONNEL
Nick Finzer – Trombone
Liya Grigoryan – Piano
Raul Reyes – Bass
Gary Kerkezou – Drums

Producer: Nick Finzer
Recording Engineer: E Scott Lindner
Mix Engineer: Dave Darlington
Mastering Engineer: Dave Darlington

UPCOMING RELEASE SHOWS
September 26, 2026 – Monterey Jazz Festival (Legacy Quartet featuring Lewis Nash, Rufus Reid, and Isaiah J. Thompson)
October 8, 2026 – Smalls Jazz Club, New York, NY
October 22, 2026 – Monks Jazz Club, Austin, TX
October 23, 2026 – Windmills Craftworks, The Colony, TX

Source: Higher Level Media

Image Credit: Will Von Bolton