Live Jazz returns to Old Slater Mill on Sundays in June
REBECCA CLINE
Series bring The Fringe, Tim Ray, Rebecca Cline, Dan Moretti and Greg Abate to Pawtucket
(Pawtucket, RI)
Jazz music is considered by many to be America’s cultural gift to the world. Unique and original, driven by improvisation and personal style, and requiring in its performers an ability to communicate and navigate a piece via the music they’re playing in the moment.
Old Slater Mill in historic downtown Pawtucket, another treasured American original, will be the venue for a June Jazz series, its wooden post and beam construction offering warm acoustics and a truly unique setting.
“When we say Jazz in the ‘Factory,’ we mean Samuel Slater’s historic cotton factory on the first floor of the Old Mill,” explains Lori Urso, executive director of Slater Mill. “So while you’re digging this great music, you’ll also be enjoying a National Historic Landmark and an American architectural gem.
Urso, with the support of her husband, professional drummer Marty Richards, has been hosting live performances at the mill for five years, showcasing many different artists and styles of America music. Richards, well-known for his years in the Gary Burton Quintet, Duke Robillard Band, J. Geils Band, and other national acts, has had a hand in choosing the acts, as well as performing in several shows.
This series, held over four Sundays, kicks off on June 2 with “free jazz” pioneers, The Fringe. Band founders, saxophonist George Garzone and drummer Bob Gullotti, with long-time bassist John Lockwood, celebrated forty years together as a top Boston-based ensemble, each of its members also celebrating long careers on the Berklee College of Music faculty.
“We formed the band back in the 70s so we would have an outlet in Boston for playing in the Avant-guard style,” said George Garzone, who has also been a member of the teaching faculty at Berklee College of Music since then. “And we’re still at it, still enjoying it this many years later.”
For the second show in the series, Old Slater Mill welcomes the Tim Ray Trio. Ray, along with drummer Marty Richards and bassist John Lockwood, will perform modern and contemporary jazz and some jazz standards.
“The three of us toured together in the early 90s as rhythm section for Gary Burton, so we’ve had a lot of years to gel as an ensemble,” offered Richards. “Tim has a wide repertoire, so we can take it in many different directions, and can respond to what the listeners like.”
TIM RAY
The very versatile Ray is best known as the long-time pianist and musical director for the Lyle Lovett Orchestra, but has also performed recently with Tony Bennett, and his resume includes an extensive list of pop music icons, notably Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Jane Siberry and Soul Asylum, as well as appearances on include “The Tonight Show” (Johnny Carson, Jay Leno), “Late Night with David Letterman,” “The Conan O’Brien Show,” and “Austin City Limits.”
Latin Jazz is on the bill on June 23, featuring a trio led by pianist, author, and Berklee educator, Rebecca Cline.
A native of the southeastern U.S., Cline studied music at both Chapel Hill and Berklee, after which she resided and traveled throughout Latin America for five years. In Boston since 1999, she has taught Latin jazz and mixed-styles ensembles, Cuban piano classes, and jazz studies.
Rebecca is the author of Latin Jazz Piano: Clave, Comping and Soloing, published by Berklee Press. She performs regularly with the Rebecca Cline Trio, and has been performing and recording with the band Mango Blue for over a decade.
GREG ABATE
The final show in the series features Rhode Island Music Hall of Famers Dan Moretti and Greg Abate, with an all-star ensemble including Marty Richards, Bruce Gertz (bass), and Mark Shalinsky (keyboard), and will showcase Bebop and post-Bop, and other contemporary and original works.