Andy Reiss and Jimmy Sullivan Quintet

Grammy awarded guitarist Andy Reiss is a member of the Time Jumpers and a prolific recording session musician in Nashville (Slim Pickens, the Jordanaires, Pete Wade, Charlie McCoy, Pig Robbins, Bob Moore, and Drake, Reba McEntire and Linda Davis). Andy has now been an active member of the Nashville community for more than 35 years. He left his hometown of San Francisco to pursue his passion for music as a career in 1980. He was brought up in a household listening to mainly traditional classical music (he even has an ancestor that was a German composer and guitarist in the 1700s!) He began his formal music education with the piano at age 7, moving to the guitar at 10. Being lucky enough to have grown up in in San Francisco during the 1960s, he would forever be influenced by the thriving music scene of the time. Some of the many concerts that were complete eye-opening experiences were B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and of course, pyschedelic luminaries such as The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane. This is also when he discovered jazz, and his guitar work became heavily influenced by greats such as Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, and Kenny Burrell.

After arriving in Nashville, he was fortunate enough to have two influential A-Team advocates, the legendary producer and steel guitarist Pete Drake, and the visionary Harold Bradley, the guitarist who, along with his brother Owen, built the first recording studio on Nashville’s Music Row, and served as a long time President of the local Musician’s Union. Andy’s first recording session was for the actor Slim Pickens, a session that was an overwhelming initiation, involving many A-Team pickers such as Drake, Charlie McCoy, Bob Moore, Pete Wade, Pig Robbins and the Jordanaires.

He has since become a studio mainstay, playing on hundreds of records, with artists including Miranda Lambert, John Oates, Amy Grant, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers and Leon Russell. Returning to his early jazz influences, he also has recorded with many jazz greats, including Pete Christlieb, Beegee Adair, Benny Golson, and as a member of “Bad Rhythm“, an exciting trio with drummer Danny Coots and pianist Brian Holland. He has also toured extensively with both the legendary Slim Whitman and Reba McEntire, and is a member of the Time Jumpers, a Western Swing Super Group on Rounder Records. The Time Jumpers have enjoyed a 20 year Monday night residency at various night clubs in Nashville, and have been nominated for six Grammy awards, winning one in 2017, for Roots Song of the Year. The band has also toured internationally, playing venues as diverse as Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa and Carnegie Hall.

Harmonic adaptability and rhythmic flexibility are the key attributes of any first rate bassist. Though a native born Virginian, Jimmy Sullivan has ascended to the top ranks of Music City's rhythm section comrades, proving himself a versatile and imaginative bassist on multiple occasions. He's excelled in numerous idiomatic sessions, though jazz remains a priority and key musical love. Still, he's flourished while working, recording and/or performing with such top country, rock and pop stars as Lee Ann Womack, Mandy Barnett, Mark Collie, Jason Petty, Becky Warren, Anne McCue. Calbe Caudle and Ben De La Cour among others. But most recently he's become an area favorite backing one of Nashville's most popular and beloved jazz vocalists, Stephanie Arlington.

Sullivan grew up in Reston, Virginia. Despite not having any musicians in the family, Sullivan still became enamored with music at an early age. Teaching himself to play by ear, his early apprentice came as both a singer and instrumentalist. He performed in a choir while also playing piano and clarinet. But his primary instrument became bass at 15, where he began on electric. Soon came formal jazz studies at Northern Virginia Community college, where he obtained a two-year degree before transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). At VCU not only did Jimmy receive the seasoning and grounding from an exceptional program founded by the late, great, pianist/composer Ellis Marsalis, he was required to master the acoustic. That was the final step in Sullivan becoming a full-time bassist. Over the next six years, while living in Richmond, he worked in multiple settings and with a host of bands playing the full musical spectrum from classical and jazz to soul, gospel and hip-hop.

Interestingly, upon initially moving to New York, Sullivan didn't initially immerse himself in jazz like many new arrivals. Instead, folk and the gamut of styles known as Americana were how he made his livelihood for much of the next decade, while also getting married. It wasn't util 2017 that he arrived in Nashville, still married and not really even contemplating being a full-time musician much longer. But while his then wife was pursing a singer/songwriting career, a funny thing happened to Jimmy Sullivan. He moved from trying to decide whether to sell his bass to attending jam sessions, meeting fellow players and re-discovering his love for music. The flexibility that he had previously acquired made it easy for him to fit into all the contexts and situations that one encounters in a city like Nashville. Not only did he begin attracting attention from the country and western swing world, but also discovered a growing and intense jazz scene.

Jimmy Sullivan's now acclaimed not only in Nashville but throughout the region and state as a topflight player. He's already won one Nashville Music Industry Award as Best Jazz Instrumentalist in 2018, and others are sure to follow. But most importantly, Jimmy Sullivan's ferocity on the bandstand, and joy and love of playing music are infectious, and anyone who sees and hears him will immediately discover it as well as the inspiring and motivational power of great performance.

All patrons are required to provide proof that you are vaccinated for Covid-19, OR proof of a negative Covid-19 test that was administered within 72 hours of the date on which you are attending a show at Rudy’s Jazz Room. Proof of vaccination and test results must bear a name that matches the government-issued identification for the patron that is seeking entry. We accept a picture or scan on your cell phone, photocopy, or original document of your CDC-issued vaccination card. We will accept a printed, or digital copy of a negative Covid-19 test result from a test given within 72 hours of the date of the show you are attending.

This show is 21 and over only. All sales are final and we unfortunately cannot offer any refunds. Additional tickets may be available at the door on the day of the show even if it is sold out online.

Please try to arrive 15 minutes prior to the show start time. If you do not arrive within 45 minutes after the show start time on your ticket your seat may be resold to other patrons at the door. If you arrive after 45 minutes from the start time of the show and your ticket has been resold, although we cannot guarantee it, we will try our best to make space for you to attend the show.

Host or Publisher Rudy's Jazz Room