Music

On Saturday, November 12th at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center will present saxophonist Javon Jackson’s quartet “We Four” featuring renowned drummer Jimmy Cobb (who has had tenures with Miles Davis, John Coltrane etc.) along with Jeremy Manasia on piano and David Williams on acoustic bass. We Four’s understated promo reads “four jazz luminaries who join together to lovingly pay tribute to John Coltrane and the music of his time.”

Their CD (with a different pianist and bassist) sticks to the more accessible late ‘50s/early ‘60s era of Coltrane’s repertoire presenting choice standards like “My Shining Hour” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is” as well as familiar Coltrane compositions such as “Like Sonny and Naima.” San Francisco Jazz Collective states “Since John Coltrane’s death in 1967 at the age of 40 there has been no shortage of tributes to the saxophone titan. But tenor mastermind Javon Jackson’s project focusing on Coltrane-associated compositions stands above and far beyond the ordinary, featuring four veteran masters with close professional and spiritual ties to Trane…Coltrane’s legacy is in good hands”

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of acoustic/electric Americana music from Sleepy Hollow, NY by The Slambovian Circus of Dreams (aka The Grand Slambovians) at Next Stage on Saturday, November 5 at 7:30 pm.

The music of The Slambovian Circus of Dreams has been described as “hillbilly-Floyd,” “folk-pop,” “alt-country, roots-rock,” and “surreal Americana” – a clear indicator of its singularly indescribable uniqueness. The quartet taps a broad palette of styles ranging from dusty Americana ballads to huge Pink Floydesque cinematic anthems. Dancing freely between all existing religious and philosophical mythologies, featuring an exotic instrumental arsenal in addition to standard rock regalia, the music is uplifting, empowering and a lot of fun.

Samirah Evans: How the heck did I get to VT? A musical memoir to benefit Brooks Memorial Library. Please join us on Friday, Nov 4, 2016 at 7 pm to hear a spectacular voice and celebrate a Vermont – and world – treasure.

Samirah’s live performance repertoire runs the gamut from raunchy blues to jazz smooth as silk. She has often been compared to Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, and Etta James. Like many jazz and blues artists, Samirah dedicates time to perpetuating indigenous American music. She was a long time participant in the Blues Schoolhouse program sponsored by the International House of Blues Foundation. She also served as a volunteer show host on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage radio station, WWOZ, for over ten years.

Anna & Elizabeth – An evening of all new ballads and crankies

Anna & Elizabeth bring their intimate and haunting traditional music & mesmerizing multi-media show to Sandglass Theater, Sunday, November 6, 2016 to share and celebrate a new cycle of work, inspired by ballad singers of the 1930s and 1940s in Vermont and Virginia—the states where they grew up. This dynamic duo is returning to Sandglass Theater with brand new music and brand new crankies.

The pair based in rural Virginia and Baltimore, springs from the unique talents of Anna Roberts-Gevalt (fiddle, banjo, guitar) and Elizabeth LaPrelle (ballads, banjo), and their shared desire to inspire people with the beautiful soul of Appalachian roots music. Powerful harmony singers steeped in knowledge of mountain tunes, ballads and stories, the young women are gifted storytellers and visual artists reviving the lost art of “crankies,” scrolling storyboards made of sewn fabric or cut paper.

“There’s something happening here….”
The sweet ukulele is a balm for the heart, soul, and community.
Learn all the basics in this one-day workshop, taught by Certified Gateless Master Teacher, Lisa McCormick.
Sunday, December 4, 10-3, Putney, VT. 

Some wicked fun from last night’s Halloweeny Ukulele Flash Mob in Brattleboro! 

All are welcome, no need to play or sing – just come out and savor the spooky-fun scene!

Brooks House Atrium, Main St., Brattleboro. Friday Oct. 28, 6pm sharp!

Free, accessible, fun! Led by Lisa McCormick.

World renowned organist returns to Brattleboro to support the Estey Organ Museum. Hans presented a recital on the magnificent Estey pipe organ at First Baptist Church, Brattleboro, Vermont, on Saturday, October 8, 2016.

Legendary Saxophonist Chico Freeman to Perform at the Vermont Jazz Center on October 15th with Working Quartet

The Vermont Jazz Center is honored to welcome legendary saxophonist, Chico Freeman with an all-star quartet on Saturday, October 15th at 8:00 PM. He will be performing with pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Kenny Davis and Kush Abadey on the drums.

Although Freeman moved to NY from Chicago in the mid-1970s, his strong roots, family ties and openness to a variety of musical styles continue to link him to the Windy City. He embodies the Chicago sound – his playing is saturated with the history of that city’s deep, musical heritage. Freeman’s tone is breathy and full, he is open-minded and emphasizes creativity as well as precision; he approaches every tune as if his life depends on it.

Discover the joy, ease, and sweetness of playing the ukulele in this 1-day quick-start intensive for beginners. Taught by Certified Gateless Master Teacher, Lisa McCormick.

At the PEAK of Vermont foliage season, in the center of picturesque, charmingly quirky Putney, VT. Sunday, October 23, 10-5.

Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present Americana/folk quartet Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem at Next Stage on Friday, October 7 at 7:30 pm. Blurring the boundaries of American roots music, the New England based band covers everything from bluegrass barnstormers to sultry swing, from old-time gospel to bluesy folk-rock – all infused with their signature lush vocals, supple grooves, and most of all, joyous and generous spirit.

Songcrafters Brenna Sahatjian and Adhamh Roland play at The Root October 27

Folk artists Adhamh Roland from Western, MA and Brenna Sahatjian from Portland, OR are joining forces for a Northeastern US tour this fall, rolling through Brattleboro on October 27. Roland and Sahatjian performed together for several years as part of the Riotfolk Collective, a national collective of folksinger, activists and organizers. 

Acclaimed Pianist and Composer, Caili O’Doherty to Perform at the Vermont Jazz Center on October 1st

On Saturday, October 1st at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center will present the Caili O’Doherty Quartet as part of their Emerging Artist Series. O’Doherty is a young, highly acclaimed pianist who hails from Portland, Oregon. She will be performing with her working Quartet, three of whom appeared on her recent recording “Padme,” which won NPR’s 2015 Jazz Critics’ Debut Album Award. Caili is a virtuosic talent as both a composer and pianist – she has received national awards for jazz piano performance and composition from Downbeat Magazine as well as an ACAP Foundation Young Jazz Composer Award.

“Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine (also called “Tof Miriam” or “Frame Drum”) in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing”-Exodus 15:20.

Brattleboro Area Jewish Community will be hosting Marla Goldstein leading a frame drum workshop titled ‘Rhythm & Songs of the Tof Miriam Drum’. The Tof Miriam is a very special and important instrument for the Jews. Played during the splitting of the Red Sea, it symbolizes freedom, joy, and celebration.

Brattleboro, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford presents the Vermont Virtuosi Flute Ensemble, seven of the finest orchestral and solo flutists in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire, at 7:30 p.m on Saturday, October 1, in the sanctuary of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. The Barre Montpelier Times-Argus says, “Vermont Virtuosi concerts are
now among the most rewarding chamber music performances in the state.”

“Pipe Dreams 5” is the back-by-popular-demand fifth public program by Vermont’s only professional flute choir. Playing five different types of flute, from petite piccolo to colossal contrabass, the ensemble will perform transcriptions of works by Bernstein, Vivaldi, Doppler, Debussy, Gershwin, and Leroy Anderson as well as original works by Vermont composers David Gunn and Dennis Bathory-Kitsz—whose piece was commissioned by Vermont Virtuosi.

Kurt Rosenwinkel’s “Post-jazz Sonic Trio” to perform at the Vermont Jazz Center on Saturday, September 17th at 8:00 PM

On September 17th at 8:00 PM, the Vermont Jazz Center will kick off its 2016-17 season with a guitar enthusiast’s dream: Kurt Rosenwinkel and his “post-jazz sonic trio of breathtaking virtuosity.” His new group, Bandit 65, is fresh off of two European tours and performances in Los Angeles, Montreal, Philly and Boston. Bandit 65 explores the potential of combining drums with two guitarists replete with looping pedals and electronic enhancement to create a brand-new sonic landscape. Guitarist Pat Metheny has stated “I admire the musician who makes the commitment to ask the harder musical questions that transcend the everyday issues of style and idiom, such is Kurt Rosenwinkel – a thinking guitarist who is working hard to come up with answers that meet his own personal criteria of what music is and what music can be.” Never one to sit on his laurels, Bandit 65 represents Rosenwinkel’s next phase of development, a distinct move from the Standards Trio he has been touring with the past few years.

Bandit 65 is Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar and electronics, Tim Motzer on guitar, prepared guitar, loops and electronics and Gintas Janusonis on drums, percussion and “circuit bent toys.” The music they play is outer-worldly, filled with varied sounds, textures and grooves; it is exceptionally dynamic, exploring the range that exists from the “spaces in between the notes” to “sheets of sound.” The music we will be hearing on September 17th is not bebop, swing or the sophisticated, composed melodies that many of us are accustomed to hearing from Rosenwinkel. It is a new, progressive exploration of the counterpoint of never before heard sounds. Like Miles Davis, Rosenwinkel is too impatient to stand in one place for too long – his brilliant, curious mind will not be constrained to recreating his past successes. Like Metheny states, this new group is Rosenwinkel’s response to “transcending the everyday issues of style and idiom.”

Learn to play the ukulele in this new round of Ukulele-for-Beginners classes, starting mid-September, taught by Lisa McCormick. Location: New England Youth Theater, 100 Flat St., Brattleboro, with off-street parking and wheelchair accessibility. Daytime and evening options are available. Classes run for 6 weeks. For more info, visit bit.ly/UkeClass

Guilford, Vt. – As it has done for a half-century, Friends of Music at Guilford opens its annual music season with a concert in a rural barn on Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend. The Organ Barn is at Tree Frog Farm in an idyllic setting near the state line where Guilford meets Leyden, Massachusetts. The intimate Organ Barn seats about a hundred concertgoers, and on Sunday afternoon, two hundred or more people flock to the site for picnicking and an orchestra concert outside the Barn.

At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 3, what is usually billed simply as “an organ concert in the barn” will be performed on both the resident c. 1897 tracker organ and a “visiting” harpsichord with transverse flute and vocal soloist. Featured performers are the duo Les Inégales—Christine Gevert, organ and harpsichord, and Rodrigo Tarraza, traverso—with colleague Nicholas Tamagna, countertenor. Their “Music in the Age of Enlightenment” program includes works by J. S. Bach, Telemann, Corelli, Handel, and their somewhat less-famous contemporaries Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, and Johann Christoph Pepusch. The repertoire includes pieces for solo organ or harpsichord, as well as a variety of duets and trios.

https://youtu.be/-jdARw0jaVw

http://wrsi.com/monte/a-ukulele-flash-mob/

Twilight Music concludes its 14th annual Twilight On The Tavern Lawn series of folk, world beat, rock, jazz, zydeco, Celtic, swing, blues and bluegrass summer concerts on Sunday, August 21 with an evening of high energy accordion/guitar driven dance music of Louisiana by Planet Zydeco.

The seventh and final concert of the 2016 series begins at 6:00 pm in downtown Putney on the Putney Tavern lawn (bring a lawn chair or blanket) or at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill in case of rain. The series is sponsored by the Town of Putney, Soundview Paper Company, The Putney Food Co-op, Green Mountain Well, The Stockwell Brothers and many other Putney businesses and organizations. The concerts are free to the public (donations are accepted) and food will be available. For more information, call 802-387-5772 or visit www.twilightmusic.org.