For more than 20 years, guitarist Christine Tassan has led her boat with brio, aplomb and an absolutely contagious dynamism. One of the rare female jazz guitarist and gypsy jazz soloists, also singer, composer, author, director and producer, she takes part in numerous musical projects in Quebec and on the international scene, both as a leader and as a guest musician.

In 2003, she founded her gypsy jazz and swing songs group, Christine Tassan et les Imposteures, which was immediately successful and became a must of the gypsy jazz scene. Unique in its kind, this feminine ensemble performed in more than 600 festivals and venues in Quebec, Canada, Europe, United States and China.

This new show On the Road revisits twenty years of adventures and tours, taking you from the Great Wall of China to Stanley Park in Vancouver, from snow-covered Rockies to the charming Samois-sur-Seine of Django Reinhardt. A captivating musical journey through magnificent landscapes and delightful anecdotes!  

Christine Tassan et les Imposteures Website

• Christine Tassan on Facebook

• Christine Tassan YouTube Channel

  • videos  https://youtu.be/Ga3cSObQA70?si=K7uQG6zduSV26br- : https://youtu.be/32xOb_Ta_YI?si=sbaMoUDYoY__WX-Z

  • another good Video

• Tickets are $20 in advance or at the door.
  Doors at 6:30 show begins at 7:30pm

From now on, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our store every Sunday. Yes, you heard that right—everything is included in this special promotion. This is a fantastic opportunity to snag some of our rarest and most sought-after records at a reduced price. Be sure to take advantage of this awesome oppertunity!

Please join us for a special recording event; a live and intimate live set with Finger Lakes favorites The Travis Prinzi Band!

After over 20 years of playing together, the music made by Travis Prinzi (guitar, vocals), Brad Prinzi (bass, vocals), and Abbey Gebel (fiddle) will keep people around the pub, listening and even dancing.

Tickets are $20 at the door, or online. Doors open at 7pm, and recording will begin at 8pm.

All ticket sales are reinvested into this this recording project.

Doors open at 7pm, and recording will begin at 8pm.

FREE FOR:
Students with valid ID!

From now on, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our store every Sunday. Yes, you heard that right—everything is included in this special promotion. This is a fantastic opportunity to snag some of our rarest and most sought-after records at a reduced price. Be sure to take advantage of this awesome oppertunity!

From now on, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our store every Sunday. Yes, you heard that right—everything is included in this special promotion. This is a fantastic opportunity to snag some of our rarest and most sought-after records at a reduced price. Be sure to take advantage of this awesome oppertunity!

From now on, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our store every Sunday. Yes, you heard that right—everything is included in this special promotion. This is a fantastic opportunity to snag some of our rarest and most sought-after records at a reduced price. Be sure to take advantage of this awesome oppertunity!

The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble was formed in 1974 shortly after Sir Kahil El’Zabar graduated from Lake Forest College, with the goal “To combine concepts of African American music with its earlier roots in traditional African music, to produce new motifs and sounds true to their origins yet firmly pointed in a new artistic direction ”of enlightenment and deep listening.” Half a century later and the rich, compelling, ever-evolving sound they are known for, is still going strong. Together with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is one of the two remaining original groups active in the world today that were nurtured in the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians).

“I knew in my heart, this band would endure,” El’Zabar attests. “My concept was based in logic as it pertains to the history of Great Black Music.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOfq6F6BxSA

In other words, the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble has a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and polyphony among the players for highly developed ensemble dynamics. They are strong individual soloists with an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness and deep spirituality. Alongside multi-faceted El’Zabar, the EHE’s current line-up includes Corey Wilkes on trumpet, who has worked with numerous jazz masters, including Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling, and Kevin Nabors on tenor sax, who has performed with Roy Hargrove, Fred Anderson, Hamid Drake, Oliver Lake, and KRS-One. They whip up an electrifying mix of spiritual jazz and African rhythms built around fundamental brass improvisations and a swing-induced groove. The resulting trance-like fervor, transports one into a mind opening journey of spiritually enlightened deep listening.

Sir Kahil El’Zabar was Knighted by the Council General of France for his Global contributions to the Arts. He has performed with luminaries like Dizzy Gillespie, Cannonball Adderley, Pharoah Sanders, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Archie Shepp, Eddie Harris, Donny Hathaway, Paul Simon, Ntozake Shange, Nona Hendryx, Neneh Cherry, Lester Bowie, Hamiet Bluiett, Malachi Favors, Billy Bang, and Gene Ammons, to name a few. Dr. El’Zabar holds a PhD from Lake Forest College in Inter-Disciplinary Arts. He taught music at the University of Nebraska/Lincoln, and University of Illinois Chicago. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the National Task Force for Arts Presenting in Education.

Corey Wilkes, one of the most sought after trumpeters in the world today, is an alumnus of the famed Berkley School of Music. He’s a former associate professor of jazz trumpet at Roosevelt U., 2008-2016. He is a current member of the world famous AACM. Mr. Wilkes had the honor of being chosen to replace the late, great Lester Bowie in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. He is currently starring in a reoccurring role in the hit TV show,”Empire”. Wilkes has played with the greats— Roy Hargrove, Dr. Lonnie Liston Smith, James Carter, Bilal, Roscoe Mitchell, and Nona Hendryx.

Alex Harding was the most sought after baritone saxophonist in New York City. In recent years, Alex has moved back to his hometown of Detroit and still is one of the busiest musicians in the world. He studied privately for many years with the legendary baritone saxophonist, Hamiet Bluiett. Alex was the band director of the Tony Award winning Broadway hit, ”Fela”. He has worked with legends such as Dollar Brand, Sun Ra, Hamiet Bluiett, James Carter, Roy Hargrove, Oliver Lake, Joe Bowie’s Defunkt, and Aretha Franklin.

Ishmael Ali is a dynamic cellist, guitarist, improviser, and composer based out of Chicago. His work centers on exploring sound through improvisation, experimentation, composition, and collaboration, focusing on a wide array of idiomatic approaches in an ever-changing, always-growing list of projects informed by diverse influences. Though varying drastically from group to group, a common thread in his work is the juxtaposition of seemingly disparate elements to create something new: both foreign and familiar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoQZmiJgNc

Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

Mihaly Borbely- Saxophone and Tarogato
Michael Jefry Stevens -Piano
Balazas Bagyi -Drums
Joe Fonda- Bass

The EASTERN BOUNDARY Quartet is a collaborative quartet featuring the Hungarian master musicians drummer Balazs Bagyi and saxophonist Mihaly Borbely and the long-standing bass/piano partnership of New York City bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens (co-leaders of the Fonda/Stevens Group).  Since 2007 the quartet has toured Europe three times and the United States twice.  The Quartet will be touring Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee in November, 2014.  The group has released three CDs.  Their latest CD “Live at DeWerf” was recorded at a live concert in Brugge, Belgium in September 2011.
In 2007 Hungarian musicians Balazs Bagyi and Mihaly Borbely and USA musicians Joe Fonda and Michael jefry Stevens formed the Eastern Boundary Quartet. The group uses Hungarian folk rhythms and melodies in combination with Jazz harmonies and rhythms to form an original "hybrid" improvised music.

The Eastern Boundary Quartet performs original music by all members of the group. The band was formed with the imagination of connecting two worlds of the jazz scene today. This unique collaboration is a mixture of avant-garde jazz and ethno music from Hungary, like a cultural bridge between the USA and Eastern-Europe. This bridge is made of talent, respect, brotherhood and friendship, built by the common language of jazz and improvised music.

For more information check the following links:
http://www.balazsbagyi.com/ - Balazs Bagyi
www.mihalyborbely.hu - Mihaly Borbely 

Tickets $20 in advance on-line or at the door.
Half price for students with valid ID
SHOWS START AT 8PM, DOORS AT 7PM

From now on, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering a 10% discount on everything in our store every Sunday. Yes, you heard that right—everything is included in this special promotion. This is a fantastic opportunity to snag some of our rarest and most sought-after records at a reduced price. Be sure to take advantage of this awesome oppertunity!

Born of a session in Paisley, Scotland and named for the town’s historic weaving industry and local poet laureate Robert Tannahill, the group has made an international name for its special brand of Scottish music, blending the beauty of traditional melodies with the power of modern rhythms. The Tannahill Weavers began to attract attention when founding members Roy Gullane and Phil Smillie added the full-size highland bagpipes to the on-stage presentations, the first professional Scottish folk group to do so. The combination of powerful pipe solos, Roy’s driving guitar backing and lead vocals, and Phil’s ethereal flute playing breathed new life into Scotland’s vast repertoire of traditional melodies and songs.

Over the years the Tannies have been trailblazers for Scottish music, and their tight harmonies and inventive arrangements have won them fans from beyond the folk and Celtic music scenes. In 2011 the band was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame, and in recent years released their highly acclaimed 50th Anniversary album Òrach (“Golden” in Gaelic) and were nominated for Folk Band of the Year in the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards. Roy and Phil are joined by renowned fiddler Alistair McCulloch, and piper/fiddler Iain MacGillivray, who is a fluent Gaelic speaker and also Scotland’s youngest Clan Leader.

Thursday March 12, 8 pm, tickets $35

Many species use sound to communicate. Elsa Nilsson, Santiago Leibson, Marty Kenney and Rodrigo Recabarren asked themselves; what is the line that makes sound music? If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then isn’t music in the ear of the listener? As they listened to words around them they became enchanted with the subtleties in the sounds of voices. It began with Rodrigo playing rhythms along with speeches where he wanted to accentuate the meanings of what was being said. He sent Elsa Maya Angelou’s “On the Pulse Of Morning” full of rocks, rivers and trees. Elsa fell in love with the deep musicality present in every sound. She listened and heard echoes of Ornette Coleman in how Maya Angelou ended her phrases. She heard thematic development and musical build in the pitch materials. 

Together this band took the time to hear the musical communication in the sounds of Maya Angelou’s words. They play with her voice, enhancing the music that is already there and bringing to light the full depth of her sonic brilliance along with her poetic brilliance.

John Cage heard music in every sound. Groove in a tin can. Humor and art co-existing. This band takes a similar approach to communication. Intentionality does not require a plan, directionality does not imply rigidity. With the wide open space of the music ahead they stand together with their toes over the edge and jump.

Pulses - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_7RXmm9C7w

Tickets $20 in advance on-line or at the door.
Half price for students with valid ID
SHOWS START AT 8PM, DOORS AT 7PM

Electrifying chamber-folk band MEDUSA QUARTET returns to Rochester! Wielding forgotten fiddles that could turn classical music scholars to stone, these four folk musicians are reimagining the Western string quartet. Medusa cross-pollinates music from the Celtic, Scandinavian, Middle Eastern, European, and American traditions with original music, engaging stories, and their one-of-a-kind stringed instruments to create a must-see live show.

Medusa is: Georgia Hathaway (violin), Lea Kirstein (violin, viola, cello), Marta Solek (suka, plock fiddle, cello) and Saskia Tomkins (violin, viola, cello, nyckelharpa). For these four seasoned string players, whose collective experience as side players in successful bands spans decades, Medusa is a refuge for natural creation. Their immediate and electrifying connection is transmuted through a common string language, a love of enigmatic and obscure folk fiddles, and their personal stories of navigating society’s liminal spaces. 

Wednesday March 25, 8pm, tickets $25

Phil Haynes, tunes and drums

A concert + recording debut by 2 HORNS & WHAT? - presenting nearly 50 years of original compositions by Haynes in a spirit driven setting with two unique voices, creating a raw sound unearthed for us all, HEAR & NOW.

Phil Haynes (b. June 15, 1961, OR) is a 25 year veteran New York based artist/author now teaching at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University. Haynes is featured on more than 100 LP, CD and video releases by numerous American and European record labels. The international media have compared his drumming to masters Jack DeJohnette, Roy Haynes and Elvin Jones, and his compositions to Duke Ellington, Charles Ives, Charles Mingus and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. 

"The perfect middle between tradition and avant-garde, between power and sophistication, between accessibility and adventure."

~ Stef, www.freejazzblog.org

Haynes' recording credentials include many of the seminal musicians of this generation, notably saxophonists Anthony Braxton, Ellery Eskelin, and David Liebman; trumpeters Dave Douglas, Herb Robertson, and Paul Smoker; bassists Mark Dresser, Ken Filiano, and Drew Gress; pianists David Kikoski, Denman Maroney, and Michelle Rosewoman; guitarists Ben Monder, Steve Salerno, and Jim Yanda; vocalists Theo Bleckman, Nicholas Horner, and Hank Roberts; violinist Mark Feldman, and the composers collective Joint Venture.

Contemporary Haynes ensembles include: his Americana string band, Free Country, featuring vocalist/cellist Hank Roberts; Two Brass Hit, w/trumpeters Thomas Heberer, Nate Wooley, and bassist Ken Filiano; Terra with guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Peyton Plenninger; his new originals trio, 2 Horns & What?, as well as the romantic piano trio, Day Dream, featuring Yamaha artist Steve Rudolph and bassist Drew Gress.   

philhaynesmusic.bandcamp.com/music

www.chasingthemasters.com

Nate Wooley

Hailed as making “… the most progressive campfire music ever” by The New York Times, Nate Wooley has been a quiet force in reshaping contemporary American music. Born in Clatskanie, Oregon, Wooley began playing professionally in his father’s big band at age twelve. He is now an internationally recognized performer, a leading-edge composer, and a champion of the wonderful strangeness of American experimentalism.

As a trumpet player, Wooley has been an important interpreter of experimental composition, making his premiere as a soloist with The New York Philharmonic in 2019. His For/With series has led to the commissioning, premiere, and documentation of new works for trumpet from composers such as Christian Wolff, Wadada Leo Smith, Sarah Hennies, and others. As an improviser, he has been a part of a movement to redefine the technical possibilities of the instrument. His solo performances have been described as “exquisitely hostile” by Massimo Ricci of Touching Extremes, and he has worked with such iconoclasts as Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Evan Parker, Annea Lockwood, and Éliane Radigue.

Wooley’s compositions are evolving amalgams of improvisation, folk music, text, and immersive experiences that communicate an arc of human experience from the fragility of being alone to the ecstasy of collectivity.

https://natewooley.wordpress.com/

Composer-arranger-saxophonist, Jonathan Ragonese is the Director of Jazz Studies and Saxophone Professor at the Wells School of Music at West Chester University. As a saxophonist he has performed and recorded with a wide array of musicians including Steve Wilson, David Liebman, Jon Faddis, The Sirius Quartet, Gideon Alorwoyie, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Tim Warfield, Tin Can Buddha and Steve Rudolph. 

As a composer his works have been commissioned and premiered by The New York Film Festival, saxophonist Steve Wilson, Jazz@Lincoln Center, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, the The Righteous Girls, Bucknell University, Messiah University, West Chester University and the Harrisburg Youth Symphony. Pandora’s Box, a new film score for G.W. Pabst’s iconic film, was commissioned by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and premiered at Alice Tully Hall in October of 2017, with Jonathan conducting a 17-piece ensemble. In 2014 Ragonese premiered his ‘Not-this’ for two saxophones, at Carnegie Hall. His Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble was premiered in 2021, and in April of 2022 portions of letters from an unknown woman to an unknown people, a double concerto for Trumpet and Marimba was premiered by William Stowman and the Messiah University Symphony Orchestra. 

Active educational endeavors include lectures, writings, and the development of Music Before Words, a music program for infants with educator Renee Bock. His first recording, Ardent Marigolds, was released in 2013, a duo with musical father Steve Rudolph. He has many other recordings to his name since that time, including pale blue flowers and two men singing, with four new recordings released in the past year. 

www.jonathanragonese.com

Tickets $20 in advance on-line or at the door.
Half price for students with valid ID
SHOWS START AT 8PM, DOORS AT 7PM

Alice Howe & Freebo have undeniable chemistry. Rock bass legend Freebo weaves his fretless stylings into Alice’s soulful, impeccably-tuned vocals for a harmony-driven performance showcasing two uniquely compelling songwriters.

Best known for his ten years playing bass with Bonnie Raitt, Freebo has toured and recorded with some of the greatest artists of his generation, including John Mayall, Ringo Starr, Crosby Stills & Nash, Maria Muldaur, Joe Walsh, and Dr. John. For the past twenty-five years, he’s been writing, recording, and performing his own original music. To hear Alice Howe sing is to be enraptured by the natural, unaffected beauty of her voice. There’s no artifice, no histrionics — just honest, authentic, emotionally resonant singing in the tradition of the roots music that shaped her. She recently had the honor of being named Best Female Artist at the International Acoustic Music Awards. 

Freebo and Alice have been working as a duo since 2017, and he produced her latest record Circumstance, recorded at iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Their latest album Alice Howe & Freebo Live is their first release as a duo, and it debuted as the #1 Most Played Album on the Folk Radio Charts.

“When these two get together, prepare yourself for an extraordinary evening of song and smiles, and maybe a tear or two. Powerful songwriting, mesmerizing vocals, outstanding musicianship, and a palpable camaraderie make for an experience unsurpassed on the contemporary acoustic scene.” - Ron Olesko, The Folk Music Notebook

Live Album https://youtu.be/WhQrphrdPcw?si=5--JXSR_L7ll5AjN

Videos:

https://youtu.be/lKm0dsHc3M4?si=pVpuSZCS3o9REB2f

https://youtu.be/WhQrphrdPcw?si=Yl6Ww9VGQP7RPl5m

Tickets - $25 in advance on-line or at the door provided we are not sold out

Stick Men is a powerhouse progressive rock trio featuring legendary musicians Tony
Levin, Pat Mastelotto, and Markus Reuter. With a combined experience of over 100 million
records sold worldwide, this supergroup brings unparalleled musicianship and innovation to
every performance.

Tony Levin, renowned for his work with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson, is one of the most
recorded bass players in music history. His mastery of the Chapman Stick, from which the band
takes its name, allows him to cover both bass and guitar parts simultaneously.

Pat Mastelotto, drummer extraordinaire, is known for his tenure with King Crimson and chart-
topping success with Mr. Mister. His unique setup combines acoustic drums with electronic
elements, creating a rich tapestry of rhythms and textures.

Markus Reuter rounds out the trio with his self-designed touch-style guitar, pushing the
boundaries of what's possible on a stringed instrument. His innovative approach complements
the group's progressive sound.

Stick Men's music defies easy categorization, blending elements of Art Rock, Progressive
Rock, and at times Progressive Meta. Their live shows are a testament to their improvisational
prowess, featuring extended jams that showcase each member's virtuosity. The band also pays
homage to their King Crimson roots by performing select pieces from that legendary group's
catalog.

Tickets: $40 in advance $50 at the door

Detroit born baritone sax extraordinaire ALEX HARDING and Transylvanian expat pianist LUCIAN BAN have been at the forefront of contemporary jazz for more than two decades, collaborating and founding several groups together, releasing a handful of diverse albums for American and European labels, performing countless concerts and tours all the while documenting an amazing body of music. From their debut duet Somethin’ Holy  (Cimp 2001) to their Premonition quintet (Cimp 200), from the Tuba Project (Cimp 20065) featuring legendary Bob Stewart to Mr. Harding’s own Blutopia (Jazzaway 2006) featuring master drummer Nasheet Waits, from The Romanian – American Jazz Suite sextet led co-led with soprano saxophonist Sam Newsome, the two musicians have developed an extraordinary musical partnership. In 2003 their co-lead ensemble Lumination featuring drum legend Barry Altschul was voted BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR by All About Jazz NY Magazine among shows by Cecil Taylor, Joe Lovano and others.

https://www.lucianban.com/media/dark-blue/

Tickets $25 in advance on-line or at the door.
Half price for students with valid ID
SHOWS START AT 8PM, DOORS AT 7PM

The trio of Kenny Wessel, Ken Filiano and Lou Grassi explores the boundaries between freedom and structure. With a keen sense of musical interplay and open ears, the group reinterprets the standard jazz repertoire (and original music) with a playful and exploring sense, discovering new musical territory with each journey. All leaders and composers in their own right, Kenny, Lou and Ken bring that sensibility into their collaboration, each player having a strong voice, but being flexible enough to follow. With their combined experience encompassing straight ahead jazz, free jazz, Indian music, dixieland, tango and classical music, these three musicians negotiate musical intersections, finding exciting and surprising tangents along the way.

Reviews      

Tickets $25 in advance on-line or at the door. 
 Half price for students with valid ID
 SHOWS START AT 8PM, DOORS AT 7PM

Arco Belo is:

Simone Baron, piano & accordion
Carrie Frey, viola
Minnie Jordan, violin 
Raphael Boden, cello 
Eli Heath, double bass
Patrick Duke Graney, percussion
Lucas Ashby, percussion

ARCO BELO is a group of high-energy improvisers dedicated to redefining the concert form. Drawing its name from the words bow and bellow, the GenreFluid ensemble captures an irreverent sound melding reeds, strings, and percussive timbres. Led by pianist, accordionist, and composer Simone Baron, their adventurous compositions reimagine a sound at the junction of avant-garde chamber music, creative jazz, Brazilian music, and Jewish diasporic music. Together, they skip effortlessly from long-form Neo-baroque string counterpoint to sludgy hip-hop pads. Post-romantic cadenzas collide in moments of spontaneous noise with reedy prepared piano; guttural bow noises and cascading plectrum bring color to plush hypnotic grooves and sharply angled linear phrases.

Since 2016, the ensemble has performed for audiences across the US, including at the Kennedy Center, Strathmore, and Brevard Music Center. Arco Belo has toured the West Coast and Southeast to critical acclaim, and won grants from South Arts / Jazz Roads, the Maryland State Arts Council and Chamber Music America’s inaugural Performance Plus grant, working with internationally acclaimed bassist and composer Linda May Han Oh. Their debut album, The Space Between Disguises was released in November 2019 and lauded as editor’s pick in both Downbeat and JazzTimes magazines. In 2023 they will release their long-awaited second album, featuring collaborations with bassist Petros Klampanis, violinist Sara Caswell, percussionists Keita Ogawa and John Hadfield, and Christylez Bacon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMWy2i_IHt0

Since forming in 1988, Tempest has delivered a globally-renowned hybrid of high-energy folk rock, fusing Irish reels, Scottish ballads, Norwegian influences and other world music elements. The last 30-plus years have seen the San Francisco Bay Area-based act release eighteen critically acclaimed albums, and play more than 2,500 gigs.

The current line-up of the band features all the original members, performing a variety of selections from the band's extensive repertoire, sparkling with vitality and energy.

Hailing from Oslo, Norway, founder and lead singer/electric mandolinist, Lief Sorbye, is recognized as a driving force in the modern folk-rock movement. He started Tempest after years of touring and recording on the folk circuit. He is joined by Bay Area native Rob Wullenjohn on guitar and San Diego's Ian Butler on bass. Rob and Ian rejoined the band after performing an impromptu reunion concert in Berkeley, California, that rekindled the original spirit of Tempest. Vermont-born fiddler Jon Berger first joined the band in 1993. He is now back, bringing his passion for Celtic and British Isles traditional music. Audience favorite, Cuban-born drummer Adolfo Lazo, thickens the band's sound with inventive rhythms, and rock-steady drumming. After more than three decades Adolfo has never missed a Tempest gig!

Tempest is regularly featured at prestigious festivals such as The Philadelphia Folk Festival, and has also appeared at Denmark's Skagen Festival, Britain's Cropredy Festival and The Winnipeg Folk Festival in Canada. The band is also a mainstay at countless American Celtic festivals. 

Wednesday April 15, 8pm, tickets $25

Tempest Wed Apr 15  - https://www.ticketweb.com/event/tempest-lovin-cup-tickets/13988064?pl=lovincup

Phil Haynes, tunes and drums

A concert + recording debut by 2 HORNS & WHAT? - presenting nearly 50 years of original compositions by Haynes in a spirit driven  setting with next gen saxophone whizzes Pleninger & Ragonese - a raw jazz SAXrUS 'Colossus' unearthed for us all, HEAR & NOW

Phil Haynes (b. June 15, 1961, OR) is a 25 year veteran New York based artist/author now teaching at Pennsylvania’s Bucknell University. Haynes is featured on more than 100 LP, CD and video releases by numerous American and European record labels. The international media have compared his drumming to masters Jack DeJohnette, Roy Haynes and Elvin Jones, and his compositions to Duke Ellington, Charles Ives, Charles Mingus and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. 

"The perfect middle between tradition and avant-garde, between power and sophistication, between accessibility and adventure."

~ Stef, www.freejazzblog.org

Haynes' recording credentials include many of the seminal musicians of this generation, notably saxophonists Anthony Braxton, Ellery Eskelin, and David Liebman; trumpeters Dave Douglas, Herb Robertson, and Paul Smoker; bassists Mark Dresser, Ken Filiano, and Drew Gress; pianists David Kikoski, Denman Maroney, and Michelle Rosewoman; guitarists Ben Monder, Steve Salerno, and Jim Yanda; vocalists Theo Bleckman, Nicholas Horner, and Hank Roberts; violinist Mark Feldman, and the composers collective Joint Venture.

Contemporary Haynes ensembles include: his Americana string band, Free Country, featuring vocalist/cellist Hank Roberts; Two Brass Hit, w/trumpeters Thomas Heberer, Nate Wooley, and bassist Ken Filiano; Terra with guitarist Ben Monder and saxophonist Peyton Plenninger; his new originals trio, 2 Horns & What?, as well as the romantic piano trio, Day Dream, featuring Yamaha artist Steve Rudolph and bassist Drew Gress.   

philhaynesmusic.bandcamp.com/music

www.chasingthemasters.com

Peyton Pleninger (b. April 7, 1996,  NJ) is a saxophonist, improviser, bandleader, astrologer and guerilla contractor(!), forging a personal path that challenges the boundaries of what it means to be a musician. Pleninger’s experience involves a variety of disciplines centered around music, which also includes astrology, painting and sculpture, botany, construction, massage and medical inquiry.

Pleninger worked as a mentee of artist/musician Milford Graves, from spring 2019 until Graves’ passing in early 2021, helping Graves prepare artwork and archival materials for his retrospective exhibit A Mind Body Deal at the ICA Philadelphia; Heart Harmonics: Sound, Energy and Natural Healing Phenomena at the Fridman Gallery; as well as Fundamental Frequency at Artist's Space.

Pleninger leads his group, Biotonic, which has recorded the live album alive (2019), plus 2 EPs. He has also released two solo saxophone recordings Post Human Folk Dances (2022) and Wind Music (2023). Pleninger has performed with Henry Threadgill’s "One" and "The Other One", which resulted in the recording The Other One (2023); drummer Phil Haynes’ Terra, with guitarist Ben Monder; John Benitez’ Latin-Bop; Roy Ben Yosef's Moringa; Colin Hinton’s Glassbath; Michel Maurer’s Meridian and Quinn Bachand’s Brishen, among numerous others.

www.peytonpleninger.com

Composer-arranger-saxophonist, Jonathan Ragonese is the Director of Jazz Studies and Saxophone Professor at the Wells School of Music at West Chester University. As a saxophonist he has performed and recorded with a wide array of musicians including Steve Wilson, David Liebman, Jon Faddis, The Sirius Quartet, Gideon Alorwoyie, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Tim Warfield, Tin Can Buddha and Steve Rudolph. 

As a composer his works have been commissioned and premiered by The New York Film Festival, saxophonist Steve Wilson, Jazz@Lincoln Center, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, the The Righteous Girls, Bucknell University, Messiah University, West Chester University and the Harrisburg Youth Symphony. Pandora’s Box, a new film score for G.W. Pabst’s iconic film, was commissioned by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and premiered at Alice Tully Hall in October of 2017, with Jonathan conducting a 17-piece ensemble. In 2014 Ragonese premiered his ‘Not-this’ for two saxophones, at Carnegie Hall. His Concerto for Saxophone and Wind Ensemble was premiered in 2021, and in April of 2022 portions of letters from an unknown woman to an unknown people, a double concerto for Trumpet and Marimba was premiered by William Stowman and the Messiah University Symphony Orchestra. 

Active educational endeavors include lectures, writings, and the development of Music Before Words, a music program for infants with educator Renee Bock. His first recording, Ardent Marigolds, was released in 2013, a duo with musical father Steve Rudolph. He has many other recordings to his name since that time, including pale blue flowers and two men singing, with four new recordings released in the past year. 

www.jonathanragonese.com

Tickets $20 in advance on-line or at the door.
Half price for students with valid ID
SHOWS START AT 8PM, DOORS AT 7PM

Bill Kirchen - the Titan of The Telecaster

Upon tallying how many decades he’s worked as a professional guitar slinger, Telecaster master Bill Kirchen quips, “Well, they don't make 50 years like they used to.” They don’t often make careers like his, either.

From performing with his Who Knows Pickers jug band in Ann Arbor High School’s senior talent show (also on the program: the future Iggy Pop), to birthing the Americana genre with the original “hippie country band,” Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, this affable Austinite has been everywhere, man, flying alongside some of the planet’s coolest cats — including the Jesus of Cool, Nick Lowe, and Lowe’s old protégé, Elvis Costello.

Kirchen has toured the world with Lowe, who produced an album by Kirchen’s post-Airmen band, the Moonlighters, and Costello recruited Kirchen for high-profile gigs like the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival — and even named his festival band after Kirchen’s Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods album. Lowe appears on that 2006 album, and its 2010 follow-up, Word to the Wise, along with Costello, Maria Muldaur, Dan Hicks and other luminaries.
Thursday, May 14, 2026...Doors 4pm, Music 7pm
Abilene Bar and Lounge
153 Liberty Pole Way, Rochester, NY 14604
Tickets: $30 advance, $35 day of show
Sponsored by Bop Shop Records

Stein / Smith / Shead Trio is a long-standing working ensemble featuring Jason Stein (bass clarinet), Damon Smith (double bass), and Adam Shead (drums). The trio is dedicated to extended collective improvisation, long-form development, and a deep commitment to listening, allowing form and structure to emerge organically through duration, density, and group decision-making. Their work has been featured in The Wire, Point of Departure, Free Jazz Collective, All About Jazz, The Chicago Reader, and The New York City Jazz Record.

Across four albums, the trio has developed a sustained practice rooted in continuity rather than isolated projects, cultivating a shared language that privileges risk, restraint, and structural clarity. This approach is especially evident in their ongoing collaboration with NEA Jazz Master Marilyn Crispell, which has resulted in two acclaimed recordings. The trio has also worked with Roscoe Mitchell, situating their work within a lineage closely connected to the Midwest’s history of creative music while maintaining a distinctly contemporary voice.

At the center of the ensemble’s sound is Jason Stein’s bass clarinet, marked by physical engagement with the instrument, an expanded timbral palette, and the ability to sustain narrative over extended durations. Damon Smith and Adam Shead complete the trio with a rhythm section defined by elasticity, precision, and acute responsiveness to subtle shifts in time, texture, and density. Together, the Stein / Smith / Shead Trio creates music that reflects a commitment to exploratory practice, lineage-aware experimentation, and artist-driven music-making.

Jason Stein is an internationally recognized bass clarinetist and composer and is among the handful of jazz musicians who play the bass clarinet exclusively. Stein leads the acclaimed trio Locksmith Isidore as well as his own quartet, and he is an indispensable contributor to several of the leading bands on Chicago’s jazz and improvised music scene. Stein has been named on both the Downbeat Critics Poll and the El Intruso International Critics Poll, having won the latter from 2017-2020. Stein’s playing showcases an extraordinary expertise on the bass clarinet, ranging from powerful post-bop lines to ear-grabbing wails in the altissimo range. Stein is based in Chicago and has recorded for such labels as Leo, Delmark, Not Two, Atavistic, 482 Music, Clean Feed, Astral Spirits, Sunnyside, Eremite, and Northern Spy.

“Stein is the most emotionally present bass clarinet player since Eric Dolphy.” — THE WIRE

“During a career that’s propelled him to the upper echelon of Chicago’s vibrant improvised music scene, Jason Stein is doing for the bass clarinet what Steve Lacy had done for the soprano sax. By looking forward while never losing sign of tradition, he’s modeled himself after the paths of jazz innovators before him to forge his own track.”
— SOMETHING ELSE!

“Stein has perfected a style of focused yet incendiary sonic exploration.” — DOWNBEAT

Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson’s Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra’s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Keith Rowe, Jaap Blonk,Roscoe Mitchell, Weasel Walter, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Weasel Walter, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald. After many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, and six great years in Houston, Texas working regularly with Alvin Fielder, Sandy Ewen, Thomas Helton, David Dove & Chris Cogburn. Damon moved to the Boston area in the fall of 2016 and began working with Jeb Bishop, Pandelis Karayorgis, Joe McPhee and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses and many others. Damon has run Balance Point Acoustics record label since 2001, releasing music focusing on transatlantic collaborations between US and European musicians.

Adam Shead is an accomplished percussionist, composer, improviser, and performance curator based in Chicago. He frequently performs with the Stein/Smith/Shead trio, microplastique, and Cellular Chaos, and is a sought-after percussionist in the Chicago jazz and improvised music scene. For nearly a decade, Shead has curated performances at notable Chicago art galleries such as Slate Arts & Performance and Comfort Station, where he helps promote both emerging and established artists, enriching the local cultural landscape. Shead has collaborated with prominent figures such as Marilyn Crispell, Roscoe Mitchell, Jason Stein, Damon Smith, John Dikeman, Angel Bat Dawid, Mary Oliver, and Molly Jones, amongst others. He has released music through various record labels, including Amalgam, Ears & Eyes, Scripts, Balance Point Acoustics, Shifting Paradigm, and Irritable Mystic. Shead is the founder and composer of the Adiaphora Orchestra, microplastique, and Adam Shead Quintet and works regularly as a sideman in such groups as Ben Zucker’s Fifth Season, the Jake Wark Quartet, and Undisclosed Sims.

https://www.jasonsteinmusic.com/

https://www.adamsheadmusic.com/

https://balancepointacoustics.com/

Live at the Hungry Brain (2025) w/ Marilyn Crispell (Trost Recods)

spi-raling horn (2024) w/ Marilyn Crispell (Irritable Mystic Records)

Hum (2023) - (Irritable Mystic Records)

Volumes & Surfaces (2022) - (Balance Point Acoustics)