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A follow-up to his 2021 album Out of Focus and spiritual successor to his 2020 sextet recording Characters, Dreams, Visions, Illusions represents the ultimate expression of his long-running sextet, which features tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist Lucas Pino, guitarist Alex Wintz, pianist Glenn Zalenski, bassist Dave Baron and drummer Jimmy Macbride.

The inspired album was the result of a New Jazz Works grant courtesy of Chamber Music America, an American not-for-profit that provides a variety of resources to small-ensemble practitioners. The program is funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, which directly supports the performing arts via generous grants.

"It had been a goal of mine for a long time to get that particular grant; I'd written five records' worth of music beforehand and tried with all those different ones to try to get the grant," Finzer says. Happily, the trombonist succeeded, and pledged to push his sextet format to find new inspirations.

Running with the creative possibilities as bestowed by this boon, Finzer crafted a thematically and psychologically penetrating work - one that explores the role of the muse in creative inspiration. As per Dreams, Visions, Illusions' title, Finzer trisected this concept and shone it through the lens of creative and professional labor.

"At one point, it's just a Dream - a thing you think maybe you can do," he says. "And that's the Visions part: 'You're playing with people; you're getting closer." As for Illusions: "There's a circular nature to the journey."