Recipient Information
Location
New York, New York
Year of Award
2026
Grant or Fellowship
Jazz Road Tours Grant
Grant Amount
$8,080
Straight Up! is a jazz trio founded by guitarist Reed Miller and drummer Andrew Kushnir, joined by bassist Sam Trapchak. Guitarist and bandleader Reed Miller originally hails from Upstate South Carolina. Reed's artistic concept is rooted in swing, bebop, and southern soul.
Formed in Brooklyn in the summer of 2021, Straight Up! performs overlooked compositions from mid-century modernist composers and improvisers. Eclectic and challenging repertoire rarely heard arranged for the guitar trio yields a new voice on the modern jazz scene.
The trio has spent the past five years refining its sound performing in venues in NYC. Our style honors the timeless energy of bebop and hard-bop while exploring the harmonic and rhythmic complexity of mid-century composers like Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Randy Weston, and Bud Powell. With a guitar trio format reminiscent of the legendary Poll Winners trio (Barney Kessel, Ray Brown, Shelley Manne), Straight Up! brings a fresh, expressive voice to NYC's modern jazz scene.
Whether interpreting standards from the Great American Songbook or diving into overlooked repertoire from the 1950s and 1960s, Straight Up! crafts performances that are at once nostalgic, exploratory, and deeply personal.
In the spring of 2025, Straight Up! released its debut EP and live-in-the-studio video series.