There’s a lot of space in Mark Dziuba’s guitar on the Professors’ new disc Intersections (Artists Recording Collective Records). That alone is a very welcome thing. It allows breathy conversations with Vinnie Martucci’s’ piano over the top of a tightly skittering rhythm section anchored by drummer Jeff “Siege” Siegel and bassist Rich Syracuse—top-flight players, all. Along the same lines, Siegel’s frequently unsnapped snare drum, with its lovely hollow tone, is a treat as well. But the fact is that all this gentility does not serve some wishy-washy new age goal. Instead, Intersections is bright with lovely jazz compositions that live up to the longtime New Paltz combo’s lofty academic moniker—from the deliciously-relaxed opening samba of “Danza Feliz,” to the airy contrapuntal repose of “Here, But Not Here,” to the mildly angular “Break Tune.” The curiously titled “Telly Savalas” steps out with more pizzazz yet loses none of the quartet’s wonderful authoritative reserve.
This article appears in April 2026.
