Saturday, March 9, 2013

Starting in his new role as Jazz Jam host this month, Kevin is delighted to be a part of Studio 99, and to be helping to give back to the community via the organization that provided him with a strong start in becoming a lifelong musician. 

Sunday, December 16

3 pm

Long Time

Courting

"Enchanting vocals, top-rank musicianship, and well-conceived, intelligent arrangements." 

  – Boston Irish Reporter

"An exceptionally good album... one of the best new groups playing in the Celtic genre." 

– Times Argus

Take four individually accomplished traditional musicians and singers with fresh attitudes. Combine them, and you have the rich, soaring four-part vocal arrangements and high energy dance tunes that are Long Time Courting. Bringing together the talents of Sarah Blair on fiddle/vocals, Liz Simmons on guitar/vocals, Shannon Heaton on flute/vocals, and Valerie Thompson on cello/vocals, this Boston-based band shares a love of traditional Irish, Scottish and American folk music as well as contemporary material. They bring elements of these various genres to their repertoire in a way that is seamlessly innovative, inventively arranged, and skillfully rendered. 

www.longtimecourting.com

At the early age of 25, French native singer-songwriter Violette has already released three albums. After Innervoice (2009) and Joie de Vivre  (2010), her third album Simple is Beautiful features twelve songs in both French and English. Her originals, although rooted in jazz, reflect the young artist's eclectic range of musical influences from Pop to Rock and R&B. 

Growing up on a small island off the French Atlantic coast, Violette fully embraced the beauty and unspoiled nature of her surroundings, dividing her days between sports, books and music. However, she had to trade her beloved outdoors for the urban lifestyle of big-city Paris. There she took up the study of traditional percussions at a music conservatory, followed by classical voice training.

Now calling New York home, this modern cosmopolitan has already performed internationally in locales as diverse as Paris, New York, Boston, Montreal, Senegal, Prague and Dubai in addition to slots at major festivals such as Jazz a Sete, Jazz a Vannes and Jazz a Crest. The sophisticated pop vocalist is currently working on her fourth album, set to be released late 2012.

Andrea Wolper has been described as a "giant singer" (In Tune International) with "an inventive, thrilling, appealing musical vision" (Blogcritics) who "brings songs to life, whatever their source, working in a milieu that begins with jazz and reaches out to embrace an expressive area that is uniquely her own" (International Review of Music). Mixing genres, crossing boundaries, as accomplished and at home with the Great American Songbook as she is with spontaneous improvisation, Andrea approaches all her music with an adventurous, open spirit. Her original songs, as well as her unusual arrangements of standards and music from a variety of genres and sources, reveal a dynamic, singular musical sensibility that reaches audiences beyond category.

Andrea appears in clubs, festivals and concert halls in the U.S. and internationally. New York performance credits include Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola (Jazz at Lincoln Center), JVC New York Jazz Festival, Kitano, Sweet Rhythm, 55 Bar, Cornelia Street Café, Zinc Bar, Makor, The Stone, Iridium, and more; she appeared by special invitation in "A Singers Celebration" at the Blue Note in New York, joining an impressive roster of jazz vocalists. Appearances across the U.S. and abroad include yearly tours in Germany, Donne in Musica Festival (Italy), Centro Cultural de Belem (Portugal), Jazz at the Cape (South Africa), Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, Jazz on the Plazz (CA), Dizzy's (San Diego), and performances on numerous other concert and festival stages.

"Parallel Lives," Andrea's newest recording (Jazzed Media) features her working group with guitarist Michael Howell, pianist Kris Davis, bassist Ken Filiano, and drummer Michael T.A. Thompson. Her 2005 CD, "The Small Hours" (VarisOne.Jazz), built around her trio with guitarist Ron Affif and bassist Ken Filiano, was produced by Todd Barkan, and features drummers Victor Lewis and Jamey Haddad, and guest artists Lou Marini (flute) and Frank London (trumpet and flugelhorn). One of her original songs from that album, Not Sleeping in Your Arms, is the 3rd-most downloaded track of all time at AllAboutJazz.com. Andrea's 1998 self-titled debut CD was also praised in music industry journals and has been the subject of radio feature presentations.

I've been playing since age 7, starting out on the accordian, like dad, then switching to piano at around 14. I started playing out in my mid-20s, and then played steadily from 1987 to 2007, the last thirteet in a Boston-based club/wedding band which played gigs from Vermont to Pennsylvania.

I have been doing some writing recently, and hope the creative juices will continue to flow.

Please welcome Gary in his new role at Studio 99!!!

Ken has worked with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Benny Goodman Band, Bobby Short, Mel Torme, Leon Redbone, Charlie Byrd, Peggy Lee, George Shearing, Madonna, Hank Jones, Dave Frishberg, Rosemary Clooney, Tom Harrell, James Moody, Cedar Walton, Houston Person, Steve Allen Woody Allen, & Erich Kunzel. (“Although not necessarily in that order,” says Ken).

Saturday October 6 @ 7:30

featuring Tanya Darling

Tanya Darling studied at Berklee, and soon grew into more than just the singer/songwriter she is today, but an adept storyteller. She brings the listener on a journey of personal experiences, hopes and heartbreaks.

Her first album, Pretty Poison, is filled with sultry, soulful tones, lulling and pulling you close in surprising ways with her emotional and powerful vocals. Back from a hiatus, she returns with new experiences, new songs and a new instrument as she is writing and performing with acoustic guitar in addition to her indie-pop piano music. Her newer songs sound more heavily influenced by older style blues and folk. Darling has won numerous songwriting awards over her career, including top prize in the Great American Song Contest with her song “Broken Boy.” Pretty Poison is available on iTunes.

Ari & Mia, Boston's Americana sister act, are a soulful and spirited acoustic accompanied duo exploring the traditions of Southern Appalachia, Northeastern fiddle music, and the realm where their own compositions cross paths with older traditions.

Their hearts also lie with early American swing and jazz music. Combine this with their bold approach to song and tune-writing and their interpretations of traditional music and the result will open hearts and dance floors.

Ari & Mia's "intricate arrangements, soaring harmonies, infectious grooves and intuitive improvisations combine an old-time sensibility with a truly adventurous spirit," says Hankus Netsky of New England Conservatory.

Their new album, Unruly Heart, ranked high on the national folk radio charts for 2011.

Ariel Friedman, a classically trained cellist from the Boston area, is one of few musicians to be challenging the boundaries of cello-playing. She graduated from Northwestern University in 2008 where she studied cello performance with Hans Jorgen Jensen, and received a masters of music in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory in 2011. A winner of ASTA's 2009 Alternative Styles Award, she is in current exploration of American roots traditions, early jazz and standards, and in composing songs and pieces influenced by her diverse musical tastes. She tours internationally with Scottish National Fiddle champion Hanneke Cassel, plays with New England's highly acclaimed fiddle band, Childsplay, and has taught at fiddle camps from New England to New Zealand.

Born into a musical family, Mia started playing violin and singing at an early age. She has her roots in Americana and old-time Appalachian traditions, and blends this with contemporary experimental music in her compositions. Now in her final year at New England Conservatory, she studies with Anthony Coleman and Carla Kihlstedt, and is an active composer and performer. Her song "Across the Water" won the 2011 John Lennon Songwriting Contest in the folk category. She tours around the United States with Ari & Mia, performs with Merryville Grammar School, and has her own solo act.

Featured guests on their new album, "Unruly Heart," include grammy-nominated Sarah Jarosz, fiddler extraordinaire Eden MacAdam-Somer of the band Notorious, Rebecca Wudarski and Owen Marshall on guitar, Ben Krakauer on banjo, and Ari and Mia's sister, Shoshana Friedman.