Ryan Keberle & Catharsis: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

Even if you’ve never been to a jazz concert in your life, it’s likely that you’ve heard Ryan Keberle play trombone. He’s toured with Sufjan Stevens, backed up pop stars like Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake, recorded for a Woody Allen film, played in Broadway pits and directed music for a church in Manhattan. Left to his own devices, though, Keberle likes to put himself into improvising situations. You’ll see him wherever jazz musicians want trombones — read: he’s in a lot of big bands — and, increasingly, leading the groups himself. He’s hit upon something with his working band, a quartet called Catharsis consisting of Keberle’s trombone, Michael Rodriguez’s trumpet, Jorge Roeder’s bass and Eric Doob’s drums. That lineup indulges the intersecting parts of his tunes, but preserves the melodic through-lines and swinging undertow. Here, as on their new record, Into The Zone, they’re joined by Camila Meza, who came from Chile to study guitar and applies that training to her largely wordless vocals. All five dr