Sherman’s Revival Series: SAUNDERSFEST

Don’t miss the biggest event of the season! The multi-musical Saunders family, bluegrass virtuosos and Canada Lake residents, will perform an all-day Americana Music Festival featuring Grammy-Award winning bassist, vocalist and banjo player Geoff Saunders from the Mark O’Connor Band and mandolin and banjo player Rob Saunders, among other family members.

LINE UP:

Mama Juke

The Saunders Family Band

Chris Azzara Quintet

Caroga Arts Ensemble

Local bluegrass musicians are invited for an afternoon of pure banjo thrills and open jam sessions! Plus Singer-Songwriter Circle with Richard Saunders.

This event is free, donations greatly appreciated.

Sherman’s Revival Series: SAUNDERSFEST
Saturday, August 17, 2019 from 2:00-10:00 PM
Sherman’s Amusement Park
Bath Ave, Caroga Lake, NY 12032

Visit www.saundersfest.com

MAMA JUKE is a gumbo of New Orleans influenced blues, blue-eyed soul, funk, and folk. Actor/singer Elijah Bridges brings elements of bluegrass and rag with his soulful harmonica, acoustic guitar, and voice. Amos Rose is a world traveling multi-instrumentalist who also sings and plays lead Telecaster guitar, and was recently featured by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Brendan O’Grady is an in-demand session musician, and fixture on the greater New York scene since his roots growing up in Yonkers. Drummer Jon Wert is a sought-after musician in the NYC, collaborating with a wide variety of artists in the jazz, rock, pop production shows and songwriter worlds. The result is a four-part-harmony freight train just a-hummin’ down the rails. The band has original music as well as a crowd-pleasing repertoire of cover songs. They’ve held a weekly residency at East Village Social, a St. Marks music hub in the heart of the East Village, since September 2015.

After constantly hiring each other for countless gigs, the band’s four founding members played together for the first time at East Village Social for a one-off gig. After turning a house party into a block party, MAMA JUKE were promptly offered the weekly spot, and decided to unite permanently.

Continuing since that fateful September in 2015, the boys can be found on Tuesdays at EVS. MAMA JUKE has played gigs for audiences of all types all over New York City, including several other residencies. We are currently booking other venues all throughout the continental US (and beyond). If you are interested in MAMA JUKE please email us at MamaJukeMusic@gmail.com. And good on ya.

CHRISTOPHER AZZARA QUINTET – Pianist, arranger, author, and educator, Christopher Azzara has made important contributions to advancing the understanding of creativity and improvisation in the music learning process. An innovator in the area of music teaching and learning, Dr. Azzara is Professor of Music Education and Affiliate Faculty of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. Teaching and performing internationally, he is the author of numerous articles, arrangements, and books, including Developing Musicianship Through Improvisation, Creativity In Improvisation, and Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (GIA). His arrangements for instrumental and vocal ensembles include A la nanita nana for choir and chamber orchestra or piano (Oxford), and Concert Selections for Winds and Percussion (GIA). His research and publications are concerned with meaningful relationships among listening, creating, improvising, reading, composing, and analyzing music in vocal and instrumental settings. Dr. Azzara’s work has appeared in journals such as the Journal of Research in Music Education, the Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, the Music Educators Journal, Early Childhood Connections, and in The New Handbook of Research on Music Teaching and Learning (MENC/Oxford), and Oxford Handbooks Online. He performs as a soloist and in various ensembles, including the Chris Azzara Quartet, and has played on and produced many studio and educational recordings. In Rochester, he performs with free-lance musicians, members of the Eastman School of Music faculty, and members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. An active teacher and clinician, he has taught and performed extensively throughout the United States, and in Canada, the Caribbean, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, China, Japan, and Australia. He has presented clinics and workshops in a variety of settings, including TEDxRochester, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, and leading music schools in this country and abroad.

Christopher Azzara is a native of Virginia and attended public schools in Fairfax County. After receiving the Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University, he taught instrumental music in the Fairfax County Public Schools and performed as a pianist in the Washington D.C. area. He later received a Master of Music and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the Eastman School of Music. Prior to joining the Eastman faculty, Dr. Azzara was a professor at The Hartt School of Music, Dance, and Theatre of the University of Hartford, CT.