Left to right:  Phillip Johnston, Joel Forrester, Don Davis, David Hofstra, Mike Hashim, Richard Dworkin, Dave Sewelson

THE MICROSCOPIC SEPTET, recognized in the 2011 Downbeat Critics Poll as one of the top 5 jazz groups in the world, is widely agreed to be one of the most important and unique bands to come out of the New York downtown scene of the 1980s and 1990s. Co-led by soprano saxophonist Phillip Johnston and pianist Joel Forrester, who also are the band's principal composers/arrangers, the band entertains audiences with its unusual combination of swing, energy, and humor, recently described by Downbeat Magazine as “seminal, brilliant post-modern jazz” and as an "arrow-through-the-head celebration of the music's history...gloriously, delightfully and inappropriately right."

THE MICROSCOPIC SEPTET's new CD, "Friday The 13th: The Micros Play Monk" (Cuneiform Records) features original arrangements of 12 Thelonious Monk tunes. The Micros, as the band is alternately known, make clear their line of descent from Monk. The humor and angularity of Monk’s compositions mesh easily and joyfully with the elaboration and juxtaposition of Micros-style arranging.

In addition to Johnston and Forrester, THE MICROSCOPIC SEPTET features Don Davis (alto sax), Mike Hashim (tenor sax), Dave Sewelson (baritone sax), David Hofstra (bass) and Richard Dworkin (drums.)