Blues & Jazz Festival

PERFORMERS

Beatrix JAR
Have you ever heard something visual? Well, you will when the Minneapolis-based musical duo Beatrix JAR returns to Erie to perform in this year’s Festival lineup. Beatrix JAR—which is Bianca Pettis and Jacob Roske—entertained crowds in 2007 when they performed as part of the Erie Art Museum’s Contemporary Music Series. They eschew normal instruments, creating songs from sound collages of unique beats, noises, radio signals and samples. While it seems they are standing over a DJ table, there are no turntables to be seen. Instead, there is an array of old kids’ toys, cheap keyboards, and other sound-emitting devices for “circuit bending”.

According to Roske, “Circuit bending is a do-it-yourself sound art which allows you to discover new hidden organic sounds in battery-powered electronic toys recycled from homes, thrift stores, secondhand shops and garage sales.” Like many experimental musicians, Beatrix JAR has found its audiences in art galleries and other unconventional, alternative spaces.

Circuit Bending WorkshopBeatrix JAR will conduct a week of workshops for kids ages 12 to 18 years old at the Erie Art Museum, 411 State Street, daily from Tuesday, July 29 to Friday, Aug 1, from 3 to 5 p.m. Beatrix JAR will teach participants how to make electronic sound collages and “hot-wire” old toys to make new sounds. Participants will perform with Beatrix JAR at the Festival on Saturday, Aug 2. Cost for the workshop is $20 and attendance at all five workshop sessions is mandatory.

Funded in part through Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program.

The public also can catch Beatrix JAR in mini-performance at 12 p.m. during the Erie Art Museum’s Mid-Day Art Break on Wednesday, July 30 on the Museum’s front steps, 411 State Street or come to their FREE kid's concert at the Museum Annex, 423 State Street at 1 p.m. on Thursday, July 31st.

Rodger Montgomery Blues Band
Rodger Montgomery got his first guitar at ten years old, when his mother bought it for him with the Green Stamps she had saved. He began playing in local bands in his hometown of New Castle, Pa. He played different styles of music until one of his uncles, an accomplished blues harmonica player, instilled in him his lifeong love of the blues. Montgomery would later move to Meadville, where he played in many bands, including the legendary Zipper City Blues Band with Dave Steele, practically the house band at the old Docksider Tavern. In the early nineties he started the Rodger Montgomery Blues Band and has opened for B.B. King, Otis Rush, Dave Mason and others. His current lineup includes longtime bass player Richie Kowalczyk, who has played in many bands including Lincoln, Reds and Jakes Blues, and on drums is Ron Sutton who has toured with Bernard Allison, Jason Ricci and others.

Rod Nickson Project
Buffalo, NY’s Rod Nickson Project returns to Erie for their debut performance at the Erie Art Museum’s Blues & Jazz Festival. Son of blues legend Matt Guitar Nickson, Rod grew up with the Blues in his veins. “My dad brought home blues friends like B.B. King...I tried to stay away from the music as a younger guy and concentrate on football. Then I started playing music, but I didn’t want to play the blues. I didn’t want to be like my father. You want to be anyone but your father back then.” A turn of life events led Rod to jamming at Buffalo’s Green Ghetto on weekends with his father and local Buffalo legends Johnny Soul and Denny Fox. Rod is one of the few singers who can cross over from Blues to Rock and Roll to R&B – the mark of a true singer. Voted “Top Male Blues Vocalist” at the Buffalo Music Awards in 2005, 2002 and 2001 and Entertainer of the Year from western New York’s Blues Beat in 2006, Rod proudly shares the spotlight with his band: Chris Marziale on keyboards and sax, Ray Barry on lead and slide guitar, Nik Georgaki on bass and John Larson on drums.

Wallace Coleman Project
Wallace Coleman’s eastern Tennessee roots and the country radio he grew up with brought him to the harmonica; he heard Wayne Raney and Lonnie Glosson, harmonica stars who mixed country and blues on their King Records releases and high-powered radio broadcasts out of southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky. As he moved around the radio dial, it was the pioneering R&B disc jockeys who really got the young man interested in music. Playing a series of clubs in Cleveland, OH, and meeting blues legend Robert Junior Lockwood, led Coleman to a 10-year post in Lockwood’s band, traveling throughout the United States, Canada and Japan. Coleman left Lockwood’s band in 1999 to form his own and has since received critical acclaim for three CDs on his own label, has been twice-nominated for a Living Blues Award, and has been named an Ohio Heritage Fellow for his masterful musicianship on mouth harp. Coleman embodies an American music artform that has all but disappeared from the African American musical landscape. His clever and poignant songwriting skills create exciting new works and his choice of covers has something for everyone. His work spans many eras of blues music and ranges from folk/country to Chicago/electric with a taste of R&B.

Mem Shannon & the Membership
Mem got out of New Orleans before Katrina. It was a simple decision. He can’t swim. It was coming back that was tough. But come back he does, with a renewed resolve and intensified energy on a self-produced album recorded live on February 9, 2007 during Mardi Gras. In the 12 years since Mem Shannon broke onto the scene, he’s expanded the definition of blues. He came to popular attention with his standout 1995 CD A Cab Driver’s Blues, and the immediate critical acclaim allowed him to trade in cab driving for a career in the blues. He’s earned two Blues Music Award nominations for Soul Blues Album of The Year and Soul Blues Male Vocalist of the Year in both 2006 and 2008. He’s toured the world, performing at prestigious festivals such as the San Francisco and Pocono Blues Festivals and the Montreal Jazz Festival. He’s shared the Kennedy Center stage with Gregg Allman, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor and John Hiatt. His recent album, Live (A Night at Tipitina’s) is not just a chalk mark on a timeline, it’s a defining moment for an artist pouring his pain—and his joy—into a performance that raises the bar. Mem declares now and for all time to come that Katrina didn’t kill him. It made him stronger, his music and his reverence for America’s musical taproot a lot stronger, and this album is his declaration of independence from all the suffering.

Mary Alice Brown Trio
Erie’s beloved Mary Alice Brown returns to the Festival for an unforgettable performance on keyboard and vocals, accompanied by Cyn Manus on congas and Jim Bauman on drums. Brown has performed with such names as Anita O’Day, John Poole, Ron Carter, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and Archie Shepp. After enjoying a successful performance career in Hollywood and on the islands of Hawaii, Brown returned to Erie in 1992 with a commitment to keeping jazz alive. She is currently doing casuals at private clubs and has devoted much of her time to providing music education to the youth of Erie through Mercyhurst College and the Erie School District. She also founded a community music school at the John F. Kennedy Community Center. Her unique style has won her loyal fans, making her one of the most popular jazz entertainers in the region

Torn Curtain
Inspired by Kafka and James Bond, Torn Curtain was originally conceived as a jazz band one might see in a surrealist film. Alethea Bodine and Rick DiBello have crafted a sound coined “Spy Exotica.” Bodine’s eerily haunting vocals ebb and flow with the fluid angularity of DiBello’s quirky guitar passages, creating a dance-like, transfixing dialogue of sound and movement. Erie Times-News reviewers remark: “Bewitching, beguiling music that’s as atmospheric as a David Lynch movie.”  “They radically convert standards, taking them into a spellbinding, trip-hop realm that’s deliciously adult, classy, hip. DiBello also writes originals that are equally transfixing.”

Torn Curtain is Alethea Bodine on vocals, Rick DiBello on guitar and computers, Ron Yarosz on Hammond B3, Doug Russell on electric and acoustic bass and Tom Kitchen on drums and computers. Visit online at www.torncurtain.net.

Hudson
Erie native Matt Hudson has been a staple of Chicago’s music scene since his arrival in 2003. Hudson began studying his chosen instrument in high school, with area bebop legend Frank Singer. Later, in the University of Pittsburgh’s jazz program, he studied under Nathan Davis, Joe Negri and Matthew Rosenblum, each contributing to an aspect of Hudson’s artistic development. An accomplished guitarist of true character and lyrical depth, he has won over audiences worldwide. Whether he’s playing contemporary jazz with the William Kurk Enterprise, producing music with Anthony Nicholson and QBeans, strumming the beautiful Caribbean sounds of the Pantastic 4, or laying down smokin’ grooves with the John Stiles Band, his diverse knowledge of music and the guitar are always apparent. Hudson includes drummer Anthony Reid, bassist Will Baggett, keyboardist Dave Holloway, and guitarist Matt Hudson.

Bobby Zankel & the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound
Brooklyn-born composer/saxophonist Bobby Zankel first began attracting attention in the early 1970’s for his work with Cecil Taylor’s Unit Core Ensemble (Downbeat 9/71), as a “skillful young altoist with a powerful music at his fingertips.” Moving to Philadelphia in 1975, Zankel performed as a sideman with such greats as Hank Mobley/Sonny Gillette Quintet, Jymmie Merritt’s Forerunners to the Dells, and NRBQ. Zankel’s tenure in Philadelphia has been marked by a series of acclaimed collaborations with choreographers, writers, and visual artists that have resulted in three ballets and one opera. Zankel leads a 14-member “little big band” dedicated to playing thoroughly modern and original 21st century jazz. Their sound combines the intricacy and virtuosity of bebop with the soul propulsion and blues depth of Ellington, Basie, and Mingus, enhanced by the energy and spirituality of the avante garde. Zankel’s compositions, which are characterized by a stunning blend of rhythmic layers, a highly personal, complex, chromatic harmonic language, and a hauntingly beautiful melodic lyricism, have been performed by such diverse musicians as Johnny Coles, Odean Pope, Ralph Peterson Jr. and Marilyn Crispell.

Bobby Zankel and his band, the Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, will give a workshop at 3:30 pm on Sunday, August 3 in Frontier Park's gazebo. They will demonstrate how they approach improvisation and the composition process. Bring an instrument for a fabulous opportunity to work with these great musicians, or just come listen and learn.

This project is partially supported by a grant from the Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, a program developed and funded by The Heinz Endowments; the William Penn Foundation; the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency; the Pew Charitable Trusts; and administered by Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. Also funded in part through Meet The Composer's MetLife Creative Connections program.

Winard Harper Sextet
Drummer Winard Harper is passionate about jazz. “This music is powerful,” he says. “It can do a lot of good for people. If they’d spend some time each day listening to it, we would see many changes in the world.” Inspired by the musicianship of greats such as Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Jackie McLean, Cannonball Adderley, Art Blakey and Billy Higgins, Harper learned the ropes during a long stint with the late jazz diva, Betty Carter, and as a sideman for Dr. Billy Taylor, Ray Bryant, Abdullah Ibrahim, and many others. He came to prominence in the band he co-led with his brother Philip: “Man for man, The Harper Brothers Quintet ... is the most brilliant new jazz group of the new decade,” declared Leonard Feather in his review of the band’s Los Angeles performance in early 1990. For the past decade Winard has been the leader and musical inspiration for a vibrant sextet, and in the process has become one of the most celebrated drummers in jazz. He is a virtuoso on the drum set as well as the balafon, the West African equivalent of the marimba. Harper is one of the hardest working drummers in jazz today, not only leading this very exciting and hard-swinging sextet, but also continuing as an in-demand sideman. The band is gaining increased airplay around the globe, frequently appearing in festivals, on jazz cruises, in concert halls and in top jazz clubs. The Winard Harper Sextet is doing their part to bring the power of jazz to audiences everywhere.