grand piano provided by Darrell's Music Hall

we serve coffees and teas from Big Cat!

Wednesday
04Nov2009

Uncle Fran's Breakfast brings its bluesy style to the Studio November 13

Uncle Fran's Breakfast

Friday, November 13

8:00 pm

tickets $5.00 at the door 

Uncle Fran's Breakfast, a trio based in Wilton, NH, features a sound built around blues, funk, and sometimes even rockabilly.  

Fresh from their recent popular appearance at the center stage of the Pumpkin Fest in Milford last month, Uncle Fran's Breakfast (Shea Vaccaro, bass and vocals; Jonah Tolchin, guitar and vocals; and Seamus Conley, drums) will bring their trademark energy to their debut performance at Studio 99.  

Wednesday
28Oct2009

PianoFrets: a Halloween night of jazz

a Halloween night of jazz with 

PianoFrets

Saturday, October 31

8:00 pm

no cover / donations only

 

PianoFrets: guitarist Mike Loce and pianist Matt ZimmernPianoFrets is a piano/guitar duo that never fails to leave its listeners satisfied. 

PianoFrets’ improvisational, fluid style suggests a mastery of jazz classics, a sense of humor interpreting modern pop and rock tunes, and a comfort with avant-garde soundscapes. All these elements can be blended during a typical performance.  The duo consists of two local talented performers:

MATT ZIMMERN, piano, is a recording engineer, producer, keyboardist and music instructor living in West Newbury MA. Matt teaches piano and ensemble performance. He is currently finishing his masters degree in sound recording technology from UMass Lowell. He is constantly working with local bands and artists and is always creating new music.

MIKE LOCE, guitar, is originally from the Boston area and now resides in Merrimack, NH. He has been networking the New England music and guitar scene since finishing college at UMass Lowell in 1994. He works as a guitar/ensemble teacher, professional session player, and composes music in a variety of styles. Mike is a proud Associate Director of Studio 99.

Sunday
25Oct2009

Rebecca Jeffreys flute masterclass, 10/18/09

Massachusetts-based flutist and music educator Rebecca Jeffreys gave a flute masterclass last weekend.  The attendance was excellent, as were the energy and musicality!

Flutist Marjorie Hogan (pictured, center) and pianists Henry Kopczynskie (pictured) and Joy Iaquinta assisted Rebecca (pictured, right) in making the afternoon a wonderful one.

More pictures in the Gallery.

Wednesday
14Oct2009

Americana guitarist/vocalist Jon Shain, November 7

Jon Shain

Saturday, November 7

8:00 pm

tickets $10 at the door or online via Brown Paper Tickets

 

Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who's been turning heads for years with his words, his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style - combining improvised piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. Shain's latest CD, Army Jacket Winter, self-produced along with Jackson Hall and Scottsburg Jonze in 2007, quickly garnered the best reviews of his career. A new release is planned for fall 2009. Shain's musical partners include FJ Ventre on upright bass and vocals, and John Currie on dobro and guitar, and Bill Newton on harmonica. 

Jon grew up in Haverhill, Massachusetts, a Merrimack River mill-town that had already seen its better days by the time he was a child in the 1970s. His family’s business was a small textile dyeing company, and he worked in the factory during the summers throughout his teens. At the same time, Shain began to discover his love of American roots music and songwriting, specifically drawn to the narratives about regular people and themes of social justice. 

Shain headed south to North Carolina in 1986, to study American History at Duke University and to continue his musical journey, as well. In addition to studying with jazz professor Paul Jeffrey, he also had the good fortune to learn the piedmont blues tradition firsthand by playing in Big Boy Henry‘s backing band. It was at this time that Shain also got to meet and play with John Dee Holeman and a number of the great older NC blues players. Shain's classes in school were heavily concentrated in southern history, English, and world religions. That mixture of the academic environment and the real-world blues music is what has most informed his musical direction. 

Shain cut his touring teeth from 1989-1998 founding the Chapel Hill, NC folk-rock group, Flyin' Mice and their spin-off group, WAKE. While sharing stages with luminaries such as David Grisman, Tony Rice Unit, Hot Tuna, Leon Russell, Dave Matthews Band, and the Dixie Dregs, the band released four CDs and played clubs, schools, and festivals up and down the East Coast, building a legion of fans.

After his band's breakup, Shain went solo, returning to his roots in the folk and blues circuit. He released Brand New Lifetime in 1999 to positive reviews and solid airplay in the US and abroad. Spring 2001 brought the release of Fools and Fine Ladies, which garnered reviews from papers such as the Washington Post to national magazines like Relix and No Depression. 2003 saw the release of Shain's acclaimed album, No Tag, No Tail Light. The CD was produced in Boston, MA by Dave Mattacks and Tom Dube, and marked a watershed in production values, performance, and writing, winning great reviews in Sing Out!, No Depression, Relix, The Boston Phoenix, and meriting a full page article in Dirty Linen. The critically acclaimed follow-up, Home Before Long, was also produced by Mattacks and Dube and released in 2005. The self-produced Army Jacket Winter followed in 2007.

In addition to festival slots and headlining club dates, the last few years has seen Shain playing esteemed listening rooms such as The Living Room in NYC, Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY, and Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem, PA and opening sold out theatre shows for John Hiatt, Keb’ Mo’, Little Feat, and others.

When Shain is not recording or performing, he stays busy giving private instruction in Piedmont blues fingerstyle guitar, and teaching group workshops in songwriting and blues guitar. Whether in the one-on-one atmosphere of the teaching studio or onstage sharing a song with a roomful of strangers, Jon Shain is a natural communicator, keeping students and fans coming back for more.


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Wednesday
07Oct2009

Michael Bellar and the AS/IS ENSEMBLE, November 6

Michael Bellar

and the AS/IS ENSEMBLE

Friday, November 6, 2009

8:00 pm

tickets $12 / seniors and students with ID $8

available at the door 

or online via Brown Paper Tickets

 

Michael Bellar has performed music on six continents but being a native of North Carolina, stands by his slow, southern roots. Along with creating music and touring with his group, the AS-IS Ensemble, Michael has also toured and/or recorded with Amos Lee, Art Garfunkel, Howie Day, Wheatus, Jump Little Children, Teddy Geiger, Euro pop superstar Giorgia and Jay Clifford’s Rosebud. His national TV appearances include Late Night with David Letterman, the Late Show with Conan O’Brien, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Ellen Degeneres Show, TRL, Good Morning America, Regis and Kelly and the CBS Morning Show. Michael has produced and scored music for CUT Music (LA), Fluid (NYC), Bang Music, and Razorhead.

Michael is the founder, composer and keyboardist of the AS-IS Ensemble. This highly excitable alt-jazz group has opened for John Scofield, Tea Leaf Green, Medeski Martin & Wood and JFJO. They have performed at such venues as Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the JVC and Bell Atlantic Jazz Festivals and were formerly the house band at the world-famous Blue Note jazz club in New York City.

In a review of their first ever performance in New York City, they were hailed as “Generation Next” by Billboard Magazine. Michael and the group have been named the UNSIGNED ARTIST OF THE MONTH in KEYBOARD Magazine  and were the focus of a special feature produced by the BBC Radio network in London, England.  The group has recorded three studio CDs: Turned On Turned Up (2009), Like It Is and REACT!

“GENERATION NEXT"... "Close your eyes, and you can (almost) imagine them playing an outdoor festival for tie-dye kids one day and a New York jazz club the next.”

Steve Graybow, BILLBOARD MAGAZINE

“Their swing is pop savvy, their mainstream is avant flecked, and their whimsy has an earnest base.”

“It takes chutzpah - this electrocoustic quintet has as much ambition as it does chops.”

Jim Macnie, THE VILLAGE VOICE

"...the AS-IS Ensemble is moving the concept of the jazz trio into some interesting and exciting new territory…... easily and quickly take their place alongside jam jazz favorites like the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey and Medeski, Martin and Wood."

Dave Terpeny - Kynd Music Review

“The AS-IS Ensemble is, in a world of wannabe jazz outfits, the real thing”

Marsha Barber, ASHEVILLE MOUNTAIN XPRESS

 


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