Gifted Guitarists At Discovery

Check out the guitar exhibition at the Discovery Museum. Cool stuff.

MICHAEL COPPOLA PRESENTS …

HIS GUEST GUITARISTS: A Thursday Evening Music Series

Renowned jazz guitarist and educator, Michael Coppola, will host a series of Thursday evening performances of virtuoso guitar music. The series will extend through the run of the National Guitar Museum exhibit, “Guitar: The Instrument that Rocked the World,” which ends on Sunday, May 15, 2011. The last performance will be Thursday, May 12. Please note there will be no performance Thursday, March 31, however.

Hailed as an innovator by the late, great Les Paul, Coppola created the Hydra, a 9-string guitar tuned to allow him to execute tightly voiced “piano” chords and harp-like sounds. Michael has organized this series to highlight and demonstrate the tremendous variety of guitars including the traditional 6-string. All will be played at the highest levels by exceptional guest musicians.

Confirmed guests at this time include New York City jazz master, Jack Wilkins, who has recorded with the Brecker Brothers, Eddie Gomez, Jack De Johnette, Phil Woods, and many others; Michele Ramo and Fred Fried, both brilliant 8-string players; Steve Adelson, master of the “stick,” and Stephen Bennett, harp guitarist, and the only player ever to win the Winfield Competition in both flat-picking and finger-picking.

Each program will include solo and duo performances along with light interviews and audience questions.

Tickets are $15. Media free with credentials. For further information call The Discovery Museum, 203-372-3521 www.discoverymuseum.org and be sure to check out Michael Coppola 9string.com

Upcoming Schedule (Each event, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., hosted by Michael Coppola.)

3/3 Fred Fried (8 string guitarist) www.fredfried.com/biography.html

Acclaimed for his pianistic style, harmonic depth and originality, 8-string master Fred Fried is among the best of today’s modern jazz guitarists.

“Whether it concerns single notes or chords, Fred Fried’s sensitive, spacious, modern phrasing, which judiciously incorporates virtuosic displays, sets him leagues apart from other players who haven’t yet learned that guitarists should take a breath now and then.”

— Jim Ferguson, Jazz Times

3/10 Chris Morrison www.morrisonguitar.com

“Chris produces one of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard coaxed out of a jazz guitar – great phrasing, perfect musicality, warmth and expression – all played effortlessly with seemingly unlimited technique.” Dr. Ken Ciuffreda, Just Jazz Guitar

Chris has recorded and or performed with Adam Nussbaum, Lew Soloff, John Patitucci, Chip Jackson, Harvie S, Brian Torff, Richie Cole, John Stowell, Joel Rosenblatt, Ron Affif and Ralph Lalama.

Since 1990, Chris has been a jazz guitar instructor at Western Connecticut State University. Additionally, he teaches at Fairfield University, Naugatuck Valley Community College, the National Guitar Workshop, and the Western Connecticut State University Summer Music.

3/17 Howard Alden (7-String guitarist) howardalden.com/ha4

Howard Alden has been a Concord Jazz recording artist since the late ’80s where his prolific recorded output as leader, co-leader, and versatile sideman, has captured an artist of consistently astonishing virtuosity and originality.

Howard can be heard on the soundtrack to “Sweet and Lowdown,” starring Sean Penn. He not only played all the guitar solos, but also coached Mr. Penn on playing the guitar for his role in the film. In 2004 Howard was the guitarist (and musical director) chosen for an all-star line-up commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, touring 50 cities of the United States in addition to their appearance at the Newport Festival. He has continued to win accolades from critics and musicians alike, adding Benny Carter, Flip Phillips, Mel Powell, Bud Freeman, Kenny Davern, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillespie and George Van Eps.

3/24 JAM w/Michael Coppola. Start Time: 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $7.50; Players, Free

Creator of the “hydra,” a 9-string guitar with a unique tuning, Michael Coppola has been deemed a “real innovator” by the late Les Paul and has been featured in many major jazz/guitar magazines, such as Guitar Player, Coda, 20th Century Guitar, Finger style Guitar and more. Reviews of Coppola’s work are filled with descriptions like “unique,” “different,” “mindboggling,” “magical,” “inventive” etc.

In his playing style, one may hear elements from jazz masters such as Charlie Parker, Art Tatum and Joe Pass, classical guitarists led by Segovia, other types of finger style guitarists such as Chet Atkins and Michael Hedges, all combined with a 9-string instrument to produce sounds which can only be Coppola.

3/31 NO GUITAR SHOW

4/7 Mark Elf www.jenbayjazz.com

Known as the best bebop guitarist on the scene today, Mark Elf has played and/or recorded Wynton Marsalis, Clark Terry, Dizzy Gillispie, Lionel Hampton, Benny Golson, Walter Bishop Jr., Kenny Barron, Jimmy Heath, Curtis Fuller, Joe Newman, Al Grey, Barry Harris, Branford Marsalis, Slide Hampton, Jimmy Cobb, Donald Byrd, Al Foster.

Mark has peformed at numerous festivals and major concert venues including The Elkhart Jazz Festival, Sarasota Jazz Club, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Roger Williams Park Jazz Festival, Providence RI, Bushnell Park, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival with The Heath Brothers, We Love Jazz Cruise with Clark Terry, Ray Brown, Ed Thigpen and Curtis Fuller We Love Jazz Cruise, European tour with The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars, Lugano Jazz Festival.

4/14 Jack Wilkins www.jackwilkins.com/homepage

Guitarist Jack Wilkins has been on the International jazz scene since the early 1970s. His flawless technique and imaginative chordal approach have inspired collaborations with Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Bob Brookmeyer, and Buddy Rich among many others.

In recent years, Jack has played many international festivals with jazz greats Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Heath, The Mingus Epitaph, 5 Guitars play Mingus, Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan, Johnny Griffin and others.

“Windows,” his first album as a leader, has been critically acclaimed as a dazzling, seminal guitar trio work.

Later recordings, “Merge,” “Mexico,” “Call Him Reckless,” “Alien Army,” “Keep in Touch” and “Trioart” feature the Brecker Brothers, Eddie Gomez, Jack De Johnette, Al Foster, Phil Woods, Kenny Drew, Jr., and many others. Project G7, a two-CD-set tribute to Wes Montgomery, features Kenny Burrell among others.

4/21 Stephen Bennett harpguitar.com

Stephen Bennett is an extraordinary musician, an acknowledged master of the harp guitar, a challenging teacher, a gifted composer, and a performer of astounding sensitivity. The Toronto Fingerstyle Guitar Association calls him “the Jedi Master of Fingerstyle Guitar.”

Since his 1987 win at the National Flatpicking Championship, held in Winfield, Kansas, USA, he has come to be known as a guitar master, one who consistently garners critical praise and audience enthusiasm for his recordings and live performances. He is the only person to ever win awards in both flatpicking and fingerpicking styles in the nearly 30-year history of the National Guitar Championships.

Tommy Emmanuel says Stephen is the most important acoustic guitarist in America. Strong words from the one Chet Atkins honored as “Certified Guitar Player.”

4/28 Gene Bertoncini gjbmusic@verizon.net

Gene Bertoncini is one of the pre-eminent jazz guitarists’ active today. His fluid technique and lyricism have won him international praise and accolades as the “Segovia of jazz.” An eloquent and versatile improviser, Mr. Bertoncini has been heard with an extraordinary range of jazz greats, including performances and recordings with Benny Goodman, Buddy Rich, Wayne Shorter, Hubert Laws, Paul Desmond among others, as well as such distinguished singers as Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Vic Damone, and Eydie Gorme.

The Washington Post proclaimed his solo appearance in New York City the best jazz concert of the year 1999. “Romance,” which reached the top ten of the jazz playlists; Jazziz magazine’s March 2004 issue ranked it Number 1 in their list of the top 20 acoustic guitar CDs.

5/5 Steve Adelson (Chapman Stick) www.steveadelson.com

Imagine creating music on an instrument that is simultaneously a guitar, a bass, a piano and percussion. Add unlimited electronic capabilities and forward-thinking playing techniques for ultimate expression. Now, design a tuning to make navigation of the instrument amazingly simple, and streamline the look and feel for optimal accessibility. This instrument already exists as the Chapman Stick.

Steve is an acknowledged master on this incredible instrument and has shared the stage with some of the biggest names in jazz and rock including Tony Levin, Les Paul, Dean Brown, Ben Lacy, Danny Gottlieb, Jack Bruce, Stanley Jordan, Jeff Berlin, Larry Coryell and Pat Metheny. His list of noteworthy gigs include the Blue Note, the Bottom Line, the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Great South Bay Music Festival.

5/12 Michele Ramo (8-String Guitarist) www.ramomusic.com/home

8-string nylon fingerstyle jazz guitarist, jazz violinist, composer and educator who specializes in bringing American Swing, Brazilian, Gypsy and Latin rhythms together in his playing, as well as composing and arranging for the guitar.

A classical-jazz crossover artist in the truest sense of the word, Ramo has a unique and sought-after ability for blending his classical and jazz worlds into his writing, teaching and performance.

Some the events which have featured Ramo include the North Sea Jazz Festival (Holland), Molde Jazz (Norway), Fano Jazz (Italy) Montreal Jazz (Canada) Ottawa Jazz (Canada), Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Freiburg (Germany), Paris, Ile Del Re, Souillac, (France), Montreux-Detroit Jazz (USA), Cork Jazz (Ireland), Barcelona, Madrid (Spain), Republica de Andorra, International Jazz Guitar Festival (Wales, U.K.), Burlington Jazz, Arkansas Jazz (USA), Athens, Corfu, Corintos, Patras (Greece).

He has performed or recorded with Bucky Pizzarelli, Mundell Lowe, Martin Taylor (U.K.), Howard Alden, Al Caiola, Les Paul, (U.K.), Andreas Oberg, Tony DeCaprio, Gene Bertoncini, Jorge Morel, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Wayne Wright, Jack Wilkins, Frank Vignola, Paquito D’Rivera, , James Carte, Jay Leonhart, Rufus Reid and more.