Thursday, June 28
Amanda Monaco Quartet (Straight-ahead jazz) With a fluid contemporary style, Amanda Monaco is among the best up-and-coming jazz guitarists on the scene today. A professor at Berklee College of Music, Monaco has played with Milt Hinton, Steve Wilson, Rufus Reid, and the Mingus Orchestra. As a leader, the Grammy-nominated artist has five albums under her belt. (RN) amandamonaco.com
Davina and The Vagabonds (Boogie-woogie) Check out the bio here.
The Djangoners (Gypsy jazz) With guitar-picking whiz kid, Bobby Henrie at the helm, this Rochester-based foursome is slick in its elegant, and accurate, recreation of Django Reinhardt's Hot Club of Paris. It's mesmerizing and exquisite. (FD) reverbnation.com/thedjangoners
Georgia Mancio and Alan Broadbent Quartet (Vocal jazz) Grammy-winning pianist Alan Broadbent has played with everyone from jazz artists Charlie Haden and Diana Krall to pop icon Paul McCartney. Award-winning vocalist Georgia Mancio has worked with singers like Bobby McFerrin and Ian Shaw. Together the duo presents their new compositions, songs with a decidedly standard feel to them. (RN) georgiamancio.com/alanbroadbentsongbook
Ghost-Note with MonoNeon (Funk) Click here for the bio.
GoGo Penguin (Spacey jazz) Manchester's GoGo Penguin paints sonic soundscapes that don't require a compass. It's minimalistic acoustic electronica weirdness. You can listen for days. (FD) gogopenguin.co.uk
Gwyneth Herbert (Vocal jazz) Part jazz club singer, part bird, Gwyneth Herbert plays the space around her music with a smoky feel for her conventional muses. Breathtaking. (FD) gwynethherbert.com
Jazz Goes to the Movies with Mark Watters (Movie music) He wrote the scores for movies like "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2" and "Doug's First Movie" and television series like "Paradise" and "The Little Mermaid," and that's just a fraction of Grammy-winning composer Mark Watters's career. Let's just say the man knows the music of films and how to take them into the territory of jazz. (RN) markwatters.com
HEADLINER | Lake Street Dive (Retro pop) Read a feature on Lake Street Dive here.
Megumi Yonezawa (Straight-ahead jazz) Click here for a bio.
Pilc – Moutin – Hoenig (Straight-ahead jazz) When virtuoso pianist Jean-Michel Pilc teams up with bass master Francois Moutin and the exquisite and dynamic drummer Ari Hoenig the result is more than the sum of its parts. On ballads and up-tempo originals, these two Parisians (Pilc and Moutin) and an American (Hoenig) play as one gorgeous unit. (RN) motema.com/artists/pilc-moutin-hoenig
Sax-O-Matic (Saxophone quartet) Quebec's Sax-O-Matic does a cappella beautifully and in reverse. No rhythm section to tie it down; no front man to stand in the way. Just four brassy saxophones festively intertwined. Almost too much fun. (FD) sax-o-matic.com
Soul Stew (Soul, party) This is the embodiment of a classic live party band. Toronto's Soul Stew scoops its influence from all the houses of the holy, including Stax, Motown, and Muscle Shoals. If you look up "soul" in the dictionary, you'd be missing the point and wasting your time. Get down instead, poindexter. (FD) facebook.com/soulstewtoronto
The Suffers (Soul) They call it "Gulf Coast Soul." Not as busy as New Orleans soul, Houston's The Suffers plug retro and neo together, wowing the late night TV scene and NPR. Incredibly smooth and full of hooks. (FD) thesuffers.com
Quinn Lawrence Band (Straight-ahead jazz) Maybe you've caught him at an after-hours jam session, playing hard-bop saxophone with the best of them. And then the next night you think your eyes and ears must be deceiving you when you find him blasting away with equal chops on the trumpet. Eastman School of Music graduate Quinn Lawrence is that rare musician who can hold his own on those instruments and more. (RN)
Vincent Herring Quartet (Straight-ahead jazz) To say superb saxophonist Vincent Herring has taken up the mantle is an understatement. Influenced by Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Herring toured with the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band. He's also worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Horace Silver, Cedar Walton, and Art Blakey, a "Who's Who" of jazz's greatest generation. (RN) vincentherring.com
