Wednesday, February 3 2010

A classic piano & bass duo with a vast repertoire of tunes from the American songbook. Paul's great baritone vocals are touching, sometimes humorous, always tasteful! An intimate and romantic evening. Join us!

Come on down and be amused by the words and music of acclaimed signer songwriter Mark Stepakoff as he offers an all comedic set. Mark will be joined by host Dave Hornfischer and a cast of open miquers doing stand up, humorous folk music and storytelling

Israeli/Bostonian jazz guitarist Assaf Kehati has been performing with legendary drummer Billy Hart and up-and-coming bassist Noam Weisenberg in the past year. Recently, Kehati’s trio expanded to a quartet after renowned saxophonist Eli Degibri (Al Foster’s Band) joined the group. The quartet plays both Kehati’s and Hart’s original compositions as well as jazz standards by composers such as Arthur Altman Irving Berlin and Ray Noble

1920’s European Cabaret! Vintage Americana! Balkan Belly Dance! Neo-Classical Opera! Old World Yiddish Theater! Welcome to the six-piece, Portland, Oregon-based Vagabond Opera. http://vagabondopera.com/

Formed by former circus clown Peter Bufano, Cirkestra performs an eclectic mix of contemporary circus music, drawing on gypsy, jazz, tango, and klezmer traditions. http://cirkestra.com/

Bruce Marshall, a celebrated singer songwriter from Concord, will host acoustic open mike every Wednesday night. Musicians are invited to perform with Bruce or solo. .

The greatest challenge for any band is to create songs that are accessible enough to be instantly appealing, but original enough to be genuinely unique. Stepanian accomplishes this feat with flying colors. A Stepanian performance showcases the band members' multi-instrumental skills (between the four of them they play a dozen instruments), tight vocals, and energetic onstage persona. It's an infectious combination that always leaves audiences on their feet and shouting for more. www.stepanianband.com

2nd Show 10:00pm

If all the world is indeed a stage, pianist-composer Hiromi Uehara has played on just about every corner of it. Since the beginning of the decade, she has supported her impressive body of studio work with an ambitious tour schedule that has electrified audiences throughout the U.S., Europe, Asia and elsewhere with performances that have pushed the limits of piano jazz to new frontiers of compositional and technical skills.

The Fa Diyez Ensemble is comprised of three accomplished multi-instrumentalists from the Boston area with backgrounds in jazz, classical, and various folk music genres from around the world. However, in this case, the ensemble leaves all that behind to focus on performing the classical music of the Ottoman Empire in the traditional way. Through intense study of makam here in the US and abroad, and use of traditional instruments such as ney (reed flute), oud (plucked lute) and bendir (frame drum) , the group performs the pes¸rev and saz semai forms, while also applying the rules of makam to the art of taxim (instrumental improvisation). www.fadiyezmusic.com

The all-acoustic ensemble Kafana derives its name from a common term in the Balkans, meaning a place to happily gather to eat, drink, and listen to music. The group developed its repertoire over 3 years of weekly performances at a restaurant in Somerville, MA and play music from the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey in their own unique way. Kafana seek to combine elements from these musical cultures with their own varied backgrounds to create modern American folk music: a cultural mash-up of styles that is respectful of the traditions they draw from without being musically shackled by them. http://kafanamusic.com

This is a regular weekly event on Wednesday nights with:

Jerry Bergonzi/ saxophone www.jerrybergonzi.com

Bruce Gertz/ bass www.brucegertz.com

Bob Kaufman/ drums www.theartofdrumming.com

Phil Grenadier/ trumpet www.myspace.com/philgrenadier

Occasionally one or more of the guys are on the road on a given week, so there may be wonderful subs--please call and ask if you're looking for a particular instrumentalist.