Carol Liebowitz & Nick Lyons Duo
Pianist Carol Liebowitz and Alto Saxophonist Nick Lyons have a highly personal duo concept that has developed through nearly two decades of playing together (their collaboration began in 2007). Their original music possesses a natural and beautiful sound and incorporates wide ranges of repertoire, texture, dynamics, mood, rhythm, and form. Through a shared drive to express their musical imaginations spontaneously and intuitively, and through their instrumental virtuosity, Carol and Nick create music of intrinsic character and feeling, each piece unique to its moment and setting. Their range on standard tune repertoire stretches from the momentum and expansive exploration of a hard-swinging jazz band to the poignancy of pure song, and their music created through “free” improvisation (with no set song form or structure) emerges through the discovery of each next note and musical gesture. The music flows seamlessly through these dimensions in a continuous exchange. In the words of Bruce Lee Gallanter of the Downtown Music Gallery, “This is a great duo…”
CAROL LIEBOWITZ brings a uniquely expressive and personal sound to the jazz and free improvisation scene. After studying classical repertoire through college, she turned her focus entirely to improvisation, studying with celebrated pianist Connie Crothers. She has been part of New York’s creative music community since the ’90s and has toured Europe frequently over the past decade. She has several highly-regarded albums on Line Art and Leo Records. Her 2024 quartet release Ephemeris—on the Danish Marsken label with Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Tom Blancarte and John Bernard Wagner—was called “a blissed-out masterstroke of 21st century improvised music” by The New York City Jazz Record. Another NYCJR review described her trio date with Adam Lane and Andrew Drury, Blue Shift, as “a feast of dynamics and color,” further remarking “Liebowitz’s pianism knows no boundaries.” Carol lives in NYC.
Carol Liebowitz—Long Bio
NICK LYONS (b. 1982) can be heard in a variety of musical contexts in New York and abroad. His 2025 release "The Inner Senses" with pianist Carol Liebowitz was described by writer Mel Minter as "going from the brainy and mathematical to the gut bucket to the otherworldly." He leads the Nick Lyons Trio and has worked and/or toured in bands led by bassist/composer Adam Lane, guitarist/composer Adam Caine, drummers Roger Mancuso and Sam Ospovat, bassist/composer Théo Girard, and vocalist Cheryl Richards. His recording credits include sideperson work with William Parker, Ospovat, and Richards, and a trio, "Triple Exposure," with bassist Gene Perla and drummer John McCutcheon. He was mentored by pianist/improviser Connie Crothers, with whom he performed at The Stone (NYC).
Nick Lyons—Long Bio
“there is a remarkable attunement to one another, a joyous feeling of interplay resulting in unified expression.”
—“New Standard Time,” by Scott Gutterman
The Brooklyn Rail, May 2025
Enthusiastic response for The Inner Senses, on SteepleChase/ LookOut:
“This intimate meeting of inventive minds is a multilayered work that makes for a rewarding listening experience.... a superb example of synergistic creativity.”
—Hrayr Attarian, The Free Jazz Collective
FULL REVIEW
“riveting.… brxing[s] an exquisite level of detail to improvisation.… a dazzling rhythmic illusion of shifting perspective depending on which player holds the listener’s focus.”
—Elijah Shiffer, The New York City Jazz Record
FULL REVIEW
“enticing.... A first-rate reunion between two accomplished improvisers.”
—Troy Dostert, All About Jazz
FULL REVIEW
“music composed on the fly that is as coherent as any composed on paper.... going from the brainy and mathematical to the gut bucket to the otherworldly.”
—Mel Minter, Musically Speaking
FULL REVIEW
“There’s never a moment when either loses sight of the other’s line.”
—Kevin Whitehead, Point of Departure
FULL REVIEW
“at once complex but also direct and engaging”
—Simon Adams, Jazz Journal
FULL REVIEW
“perfect mutual understanding.... captivating from the first to the last track of the album.”
—Leonid Auskern, Jazz Quad
FULL REVIEW (translated from original Russian)
“more fascinating with every listen, highly recommended!"
—Jan van Leersum, rootstime.be
FULL REVIEW (translated from original Dutch)
"they rely musically on a form of telepathy.”
—Georges Tonla Briquet, jazzhalo.be
FULL REVIEW (translated from original Dutch)
“Such ease, Carol & Nick have a gem here”
—Mark Weber, poet, DJ
“Well into the 21st century, we are still uncovering original ways to find the truth of the moment in sound. With their personal expression displayed on The Inner Senses, Carol Liebowitz and Nick Lyons help open our ears to the past, present, and future of jazz.”
—Vinnie Sperrazza, October 2024 (from the liner notes for The Inner Senses)
For their debut release, First Set, on Line Art Records:
“This improvisational pair recalls the duo performances of Steve Lacy and Mal Waldron in style and intensity…. almost telepathic… hypnotically engaging…”
—Roger Farbey, All About Jazz
“sublime and filled with subtle spirits…. This is a great duo…”
—Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
“refreshingly unburdened by influence”
—Joseph Neff, thevinyldistrict.com