Noah y Maurizio – January 30th - REGISTER HERE

Noah y Maurizio's Acoustic Nomads (NyMAN) is a Boston-based band of virtuoso musicians on the cutting edge of progressive roots-fusion music. The individual members of the group are widely recognized as emerging artists in the acoustic music scene, but come from varied musical backgrounds: traditional and contemporary, Appalachian and Venezuelan, Brazilian and Jazz influences combine to give The Acoustic Nomads a unique sound and broad appeal. 

Noah Harrington - Upright Bass
Maurizio Fiore Salas - Venezuelan Cuatro & Guitar
Sofia Chiarandini - Violin
Ethan Setiawan - Mandolin
Parker Ousley - Cello

By age 17 Trevor was playing drums professionally five nights a week with a regionally successful rock band, one of whose members went on to lead the Saturday Night Live studio band and serve as band director for David Bowie, Bob Dylan and George Harrison (GE Smith). After a year of steady gigs, it was on to study and record jazz with a big band at Johnson State College, now Northern Vermont University, and following that a period of freelancing back in central Connecticut when he played live and studio sessions and with dozens of different bands at every imaginable venue from clubs to country clubs to country western clubs, and the full range of private social events. During this period he also played with Michael Bolton, and later managed and played with a leading Connecticut band, Fountainhead. He currently plays with multiple jazz and Dixieland bands, and for the Baby Grand Jazz Series will be focussed on beautiful melodies, using Connecticut’s own Doug Schlink on piano, Steve Bulmer on double bass, John Smayda on reeds and Ricky Alfonso on trumpet.

 

Doug Schlink - Piano

Steve Bulmer - Double Bass

John Smayda - Reeds

Trevor Davis - Drums
Ricky Alfonso - Trumpet

A native of Connecticut, Colin Walters is a dynamic and innovative saxophonist, woodwind doubler, composer and educator. Colin discovered his passion for the saxophone at an early age and credits his exposure to listening to jazz, classical, gospel, R&B and reggae while growing up. Colin tours and performs regularly in a wide variety of ensembles and genres, including the Funky Dawgz Brass Band, Victor Rendon and the Bronx Conexion, Scott Wenzel Big Band, New London Big Band, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, Juilliard Jazz Orchestra, Earl MacDonald 10tet and the Colin Walters Quartet. Through performance, education and diverse community engagements, he strives to inspire others to appreciate the cultural aesthetic experiences of music. He is an active clinician and performer advocating music and its importance to the next generation of musicians. He is an elementary band director in the Darien Public Schools. Colin was most recently a Morse Teaching Artist Fellow, Gluck Community Service Fellow, Samuel L. Jackson, Jr and Irene Diamond Scholarship recipient at The Juilliard School. He holds dual degrees in jazz saxophone performance, music education and earned an MA in curriculum and instruction from UConn. In June 2021, Colin completed his MM in jazz studies from The Juilliard School

Colin Walters- Alto Saxophone
Joe Block- Piano
Corentin Le Hir- Bass
Jerome Jennings- Drums

 

Mary DiPaola’s Trio features the world-renowned Nat Reeves on bass. Mary and Nat have worked together for more than 25 years and along with drummer Kirk Woodard are closely linked to the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School. The trio is looking forward to returning to the piano jazz series at the Hartford Public Library and will present a variety of arranged jazz standards and original compositions of the featured performers. Mary DiPaola began her musical career at the Hartt School, where she received degrees in piano performance: jazz studies (BMus) under the direction of the legendary Jackie McLean, and music education (MMusEd). She has been performing music throughout Connecticut since, and has recorded twice as a bandleader ("Cat's Cradle" and "Seventh Sign"). In addition to performing Mary is an educator, having taught private piano lessons, on faculty at the Hartt School and in East Hartford Public Schools at Sunset Ridge Academy. She currently teaches at Aiken Elementary School in the West Hartford Public Schools district where she teaches music in grades K-5 and conducts the grades 4-5 choir.

 

Mary DiPaola - Piano

Nat Reeves - Bass

Kirk Woodard - Drums

The collaboration of Hartford-based pianist Matt DeChamplain and Boston-based violinist Jason Anick started as a tribute to the great Stephane Grappelli and Oscar Peterson. It soon blossomed into a quartet that plays works by various composers such as Horace Silver, Hank Mobley and John Coltrane and original compositions that explore the sonic depths of this unique instrumentation. At 16 years old, Matt was a featured guest in two concerts with jazz legend Dave Brubeck at the same piano. He has performed at venues across the United States such as the Monterey Jazz Festival, Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, Birks Jazz Festival, New York’s JVC Jazz Festival, the Berklee Jazz Festival, The Kennedy Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has played at renowned jazz clubs such as The Regatta Bar, Smalls, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, The Met Room and Yoshi’s and has played in Europe and the Caribbean. He has been both a sideman and a leader in ensembles that opened for Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones, Dave Brubeck and The Duke Ellington Orchestra. In 2008, Matt was selected for the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead Program at The Kennedy Center under the direction of Dr. Billy Taylor which allowed him to study with Taylor, Curtis Fuller and Winard Harper for two weeks. In 2010, he competed in the Martial Solal Jazz Piano Competition in Paris and in 2018, he was selected as a runner-up in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jason Anick - violin

Matt DeChamplain - piano

Nat Reeves - bass

Kirk Woodard - drums

Carl Testa (b. 1984, Chicago, IL) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer at the intersection of improvised music, jazz, electronics, experimental music, and new media. As a performer/improviser, he is equally comfortable on string bass, electronics, lighting, and combinations thereof. As a composer, he has written acoustic and electronic music for configurations ranging from solo to chamber orchestra, including multimedia pieces that incorporate electronics, lighting, dance, and theater. His work has been performed throughout the US and Europe, and is documented on many recordings, most recently "Iris (for solo bass and electronics)" (Lockstep Records 2013), and "Sn (for prepared guitar and electronics)", a collaboration with guitarist Christopher Riggs (Gold Bolus Records 2015). In addition to his work as a leader/collaborator, he performs regularly with composers Anthony Braxton, Mario Pavone, and Tyshawn Sorey. He serves as the Archives Manager for Braxton's Tri-Centric Foundation where he manages all facets of the production of digital and print scores for the organization. He is an instructor in music composition at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven teaching Audiovisual Live Coding. He also organized The Uncertainty Music Series from 2007-2017, which was a monthly concert series in New Haven, CT featuring improvised, electronic, and experimental music. He has received support from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the State of CT as a 2018 Artist Fellow, from the New Haven Department of Cultural Affairs, and from NewMusicUSA.
 

Louis Guarino Jr. - Trumpet

Adam Matlock - Piano

Anne Rhodes - Voice

Carl Testa - Bass and electronics

Yuma Uesaka - clarinets