Endangered Blood

Innovative Jazz Quartet

NYC-based jazz group. An acoustic jazz supergroup of sorts featuring Claudia Quintet saxophonist Chris Speed, multi-reedist Oscar Noriega, and a rhythm section of drummer Jim Black and bassist Trevor Dunn. Endangered Blood formed in 2008, to play a benefit concert to help pay for fellow musician Andrew D'Angelo's medical bills (the quartet feature a brief and intense tribute to D'Angelo; "Andrew's Ditty Variation One"). For the performance, drummer Jim Black and bassist Trevor Dunn—two of the saxophonist's band mates—enlisted saxophonists Chris Speed and Oscar Noriega. As happens so often in modern groups, familiar players in different combination produce compelling results.