August 2015

Jazz guitar pioneer, Larry Coryell, and Kevin Mahogany, a masterful jazz vocalist, are set to headline the 2015 Amelia Island Jazz Festival, it was announced this week by AIJF Artistic Director Les DeMerle. A hugely influential guitar player, Coryell is a major figure in the jazz fusion movement of the 1970s and continues to turn out highly regarded recordings. He will appear on Friday, October 9, at the Omni Resorts Amelia Island Plantation.

Starting in September, 2015, The Garcia Project start their fall tour and start the celebration of their 5 year anniversary! On the opening night of fall tour on Sept. 11, The Garcia Project will perform at Trinity On Main in New Britain, CT (with The Remnants opening up) and then they will perform a full, classic Jerry Garcia Band show set list on Sept. 12 at Historic Memorial Hall in Wilmington, VT!

Boston, MA bred band Lake Street Dive delivered a high energy 21-song set to a sold out crowd at the Outdoor Beer Garden behind Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, MI on Sunday evening, August 23.

Originally formed in 2004 while studying at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music, they are named after a popular strip of bars in trumpet/guitarist Mike “McDuck” Olsen’s hometown of Minneapolis, MN.

Natalie Cressman is a beautiful trombone player, composer, and vocal prodigy that has a long history already in her short life. As a longtime Phish fan, I started seeing her perform with Trey Anastasio Band many years ago. From that, I discovered her individual talents, and learned about her rich music history. Both her mother and her father have successful careers in music.

It’s a little bit strange that in 2015, almost twenty years since drummer Dave Watts began holding impromptu free form improvised funk jams under the moniker Motet, that now the band is finally getting the national recognition it’s due. Maybe it really isn’t so surprising. They spent their formative years developing original material and finding the right full-time players and much of the 2000s throwing impressive tribute shows to the finest icons of rock, funk, soul, jazz and disco.