New Jazz Underground Trio

Abdias Armenteros - tenor saxophone

Sebastian Rios - bass

TJ Reddick - drums

New Jazz Underground is an American trio that blends jazz tradition with modern influences from hip-hop, house, Afrobeat, and Afro-Cuban music. Listeners first discovered their fresh sound through viral videos filmed in their living room. Millions watched performances such as “they can hate but we still swingin’” and “sad boy jazz,” drawn to the band’s exuberant chemistry, effortless musicality, and adventurous approach.

Saxophonist and composer Abdias Armenteros, bassist and composer Sebastian Rios, and drummer TJ Reddick met while studying at The Juilliard School. They began playing together in New York City parks during the 2020 lockdown, then posted performances to a YouTube channel that has since attracted more than 85,000 subscribers. Releases including “MF Doom Suite,” “Harlem to Havana,” and “cook/swing/work/relax” demonstrate their reverence for jazz’s icons while developing a collective voice that crosses genre lines.

The trio won the 2023 DCJazzPrix™, and Rios received a 2024 ASCAP Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. Reddick and Armenteros are Juilliard graduates, and Armenteros is the youngest member of Wynton Marsalis's Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Reddick and Rios have performed with artists including Jon Batiste, Sullivan Fortner, Emmet Cohen, and ELEW. Rios is also a longtime student of legendary bassist Ron Carter.

Beyond performing, the trio brings substantial composition and production skills to its work. Rios was a featured composer for Juilliard’s 2019 “New Dances,” the first collaboration between the school’s Jazz and Dance divisions. Jazz at Lincoln Center also commissioned him to write a suite for the trio’s 2023 Caramoor Jazz Festival appearance. His compositions highlight each member’s distinctive sound, shaping their individual strengths into a shared musical identity.

New Jazz Underground produces its videos independently, handling all music and video production in-house. Playful titles and an informal presentation introduce audiences to music grounded in both tradition and modern expression. Their approach reaches listeners who might not otherwise seek out jazz, offering an accessible entry point without sacrificing depth. Through these performances, the trio has built an audience while opening new possibilities for how young jazz musicians present their work.

Education is another central part of the trio’s mission. All three members maintain private teaching studios and have experience teaching jazz history, theory, and performance to middle school through college students. Rios also developed “Creative Video in Modern Music,” a program helping intermediate and advanced jazz students produce their own music and better understand the modern media landscape.

With a strong collective identity, New Jazz Underground connects the immediacy of live jazz with the reach of independent digital production. Their work reflects a commitment to the music’s legacy and a determination to explore where it can go next.

A $20 drink/food minimum is charged per person in the party, per set, if the total for beverages purchased by the party does not meet the minimum.

Important Notices:

If you do not check in within 15 minutes of the start of the set, we reserve the right to resell your seats with no refund.

Tickets for this performance are non-refundable. If you can't attend, we will accept a one-time transfer to a future show of equal value. The transfer must be requested 24 hours before the start of the performance.