Rob Wagner is a New Orleans native who plays tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones and clarinet — a modernist in a city famous for its traditionalists. All About Jazz has counted him among New Orleans' more adventurous jazz practitioners, a player whose long, flowing improvisations arrive in smooth waves rather than jagged edges.
His record as a leader starts with Walking, Crying, Laughing, Running (2003), a trio date with bassist James Singleton and drummer James Alsanders; followed by Lost Children (2006); and Trio (2007, Valid Records), cut in December 2005 at the French Quarter's Café Brasil with drummer Hamid Drake and bassist Nobu Ozaki in the months after Hurricane Katrina.
The current trio pairs Wagner with two longtime collaborators: Alsanders on drums — the same drummer from that 2003 debut — and bassist Martin Masakowski, of the Masakowski family band. It is a working group with a standing relationship at Café Istanbul, the St. Claude Avenue room inside the New Orleans Healing Center, where the trio has held dates across 2026, including a NOLAxNOLA night on September 29.
That continuity matters in New Orleans: a bandleader, a drummer, and a bassist who keep showing up together, working out the music in front of a room.