Wednesday, November 26, 2014

notloB Music has a great deal to be thankful for

Not everyone celebrates the upcoming holiday. However, many people do take time to focus on gratitude and things/people they are thankful for. The following is offered in the spirit of gratitude as notloB Music has a great deal to be thankful for.



notloB Music is fortunate to be able to present in four wonderful listening rooms, each of which is chosen to best suit the artists:
124
02/12/14
4TET (Jordan Tice, Brittany Haas, Cleek Schrey and Nic Gareiss)
125
02/19/14
Pickin' Party
126
02/28/14
Evie Ladin and Keith Terry
127
03/21/14
128
03/30/14
10 String Symphony and Tattletale Saints
129
04/02/14
130
04/13/14
131
04/19/14
132
05/14/14
133
05/16/14
134
05/31/14
135
06/11/14
136
09/06/14
137
10/04/14
138
10/08/14
139
10/09/14
Rushad Eggleston w/ Elizabeth and Ben Anderson
140
10/10/14
Andy ReinerJason Anick and Mali Obomsawin
141
10/18/14
Adrianna Ciccone & Allison DeGroot
142
11/06/14
The Katie McNally Trio featuring Neil Pearlman and Shauncey Ali
143
11/12/14
Nate Sabat and Elise Bouer/Sumaia Jackson and Friends
144
11/19/14
David Greer, Mike Barnett and Dominick Leslie
145
11/30/14
146
12/06/14
147
01/18/15








notloB Music is fortunate to be able to present in four wonderful listening rooms, each of which is chosen to best suit the artists:
Davis Square Theater, 255 Elm Street, Somerville
Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, 1581 Beacon Street, Brookline
Carriage House Violins of Johnson String Instruments, 1039 Chestnut St, Newton Upper Falls
Outpost 186, 186 Hampshire Street, Inman Square, Cambridge
(see our website for more complete descriptions).

notloB Music is thankful for our intrepid volunteers, Doug and John, our public face doing production operations, and Wes, who has brought our ticketing and mailing services into the 21st century and is working on a new website! Their passion for music makes our presentations run smoothly.

notloB Music is fortunate to have been able to present 21 concerts so far in 2014, with three more announced.
Concert #150 is projected for February, 2015.

Last but certainly the most important, notloB Music is thankful for our fabulous patrons and your continued support! We receive email, Facebook messages and phone calls on a regular basis with feedback from you. Thank you for taking the time to let us know what is important to you and that you care. We're nothing without the support of a discerning patron base!

With gratitude,
Jeff Boudreau 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Mr. Sun (Anger, Walsh, Gordy, Jodziewcz) w/ Mila Phelps, Somerville, 11/30

http://darolanger.com/images/resources/resources-MrSunJuly2014-1.jpg
Mr. Sun
Sunday, November 30, 8:00 PM  
Davis Square Theater

255 Elm Street, Somerville 
Note this is a 21+ venue

notloB Parlour Concerts presents... an intimate show with Acoustic Music’s finest stars of any generation... Four generations of the most creative minds in American String Band Music...  Including an original co-founder of the DGQ. This is an opportunity to hear these instruments in the setting they were designed for, interpreting music from the entire swath of America’s Songbook at the highest level...

Mr. Sun is the name of a new musical project: Darol Anger, Joe Walsh on mandolin (Gibson Brothers, himself), Grant Gordy on guitar (David Grisman, Jake Schepps) and Ethan Jodziewicz on acoustic bass.

Legendary fiddler Darol Anger, youthful guitar whiz Grant Gordy, and the redoubtable mandolinist Joe Walsh have all spent their lives moving from place to place, adopting a town and moving on, toward an magisterial knowledge of the physical and psychic terrains that make up the Americas. Though each is of a different generation, they've walked similar musical paths, exploring the worlds of bluegrass, blues, jazz, and old-time, on their way to mastery of their chosen instruments. Day by day, they deepen their fluency in the vast swath of dialects that comprise American roots music.

DAROL ANGER
Fiddler, composer, producer and educator, Darol Anger is at home in a number of musical genres, some of which he helped to invent. Exceptional among modern fiddlers for his versatility and depth, Anger has helped drive the evolution of the contemporary string band through his involvement with numerous pathbreaking ensembles such as his Republic Of Strings, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, Montreux, his Duo with Mike Marshall, and others. He has performed and taught all over the world with musicians such as Dr. Billy Taylor, Bela Fleck, Bill Evans, Edgar Meyer, Bill Frisell, Tony Rice, Tim O’Brien, Anonymous 4, Marin Alsop and the Cabrillo Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony, Mark O’Connor, and Stephane Grappelli. Today Darol can be heard on NPR's "Car Talk" theme every week, along with Earl Scruggs, David Grisman and Tony Rice. He was also the violinist on the phenomenally popular Sim City computer games. In addition to performing all over the world, he has recorded and produced scores of important recordings since 1977, is a MacDowell and UCross Fellow, and has received numerous composers’ residencies and grants. He has been a featured soloist on dozens of recordings and motion picture soundtracks. He is an Associate Professor at the prestigious Berklee School of music. He recently began an ambitious online Fiddle School at ArtistWorks.com. His website is www.darolanger.com

GRANT GORDY
Assuming the guitarist role in the fabled David Grisman Quintet, a spot previously held by such notables as Tony Rice, Mark O’Connor, Frank Vignola and Mike Marshall, has confirmed Grant Gordy as a pre-eminent young voice on acoustic guitar. David Grisman says Gordy “belongs to the new elite of American acoustic practitioners who are pushing the ever-expanding envelope of a musical frontier.”
His work has been widely recognized for its consistent excellence and diversity. He was featured on the covers of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and Japan’s premier bluegrass magazine, Moonshiner. He was recently written up in Just Jazz Guitar and in 2010, Acoustic Guitar Magazine celebrated his debut CD in its Top Ten Acoustic Albums of the Year.
Gordy’s music has been heard on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered and the prestigious Tiny Desk Concerts. Gordy was selected in 2006 to be one of 15 participants in Carnegie Hall’s “Porous Borders of Music” workshop, led by acoustic music legends Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall. He’s played at Bonnaroo Music Festival, the Montréal Jazz Festival, Carnegie Hall, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco and in the UK and Russia.
Gordy was drawn to the guitar early on as a means of expression and intellectual curiosity. Moving to Colorado from Oregon in his 20s opened his horizons as he began playing in a wide range of different styles.
Now based in New York, Gordy’s diverse musical gifts make him the ideal all-around guitarist for one of the world’s most varied musical cities. He’s currently focused on writing new original material, delving headlong into the Big Apple’s extraordinary jazz scene, continuing to tour with Grisman and other collaborators, teaching, and as always, staying open to new musical experiences.
"The young bluegrass/jazz virtuoso’s recording debut is an inspired, ambitious, coherent collection of original compositions for string jazz quartet (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bass) that ranks with the best of his employer, David Grisman.” --Acoustic Guitar Magazine

JOE WALSH
Recognized as one of the foremost contemporary mandolinists, Joe has also won acclaim and affection for his vocals and his talents on a number of other instruments, including guitar and octave mandolin. Legendary fiddler Darol Anger called “one of my favorite musicians on earth.” With two solo albums to his credit, he toured internationally with the award-winning bluegrass supergroup The Gibson Brothers.
In the spring of 2011 Joe released his second solo record, “Sweet Loam,” which features several of his recent compositions and new arrangements of some more familiar songs. An exceptional cast of musicians joins him, including Mike Block, Scott Law, Karl Doty, Lauren Rioux, and Darol Anger, who also co-produced the record with Joe. In the Fall of 2011 Joe returned to Berklee as both a mandolin instructor and as Managing Director of the American Roots Music Program.

ETHAN JODZIEWOCZ
Ethan Jodziewicz currently studies at Curtis Institute with Edgar Meyer. Making a musical home for Mr Sun in the space around and between the great American roots styles, this quartet draws from all of their varied backgrounds (Grammy-nominated fiddle music and jazz, award-winning bluegrass, indie/pop grass, new acoustic string bands, and classical music) in crafting a sound all their own, and is drawing all the right kind of attention for their new musical work.

TICKETS
Don't be left out, BUY TICKETS now!
general admission @ $20
students (with ID) @ $15 (note the venue is 21+)
premium seating @ $30

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Progressive Bluegrass Comes to Davis Square November 19

Word of notloB's Davis Square Theatre series is getting around, and as a result we continue to book stellar artists (Rushad Eggleston (10/9), Mr Sun (11/30)), the latest being David Grier, Michael Barnett & Dominick Leslie!

DAVID GRIER, MICHAEL BARNETT AND DOMINICK LESLIE
Wednesday, November 19, 8pm
Davis Square Theatre, 255 Elm Street, Somerville
Tickets through eventbrite.
NOTE: THE VENUE IS 21+



DAVID GRIER
David Grier stands at the forefront of progressive bluegrass guitarists, following in the footsteps of Clarence White and Tony Rice. Three-time winner of the Best Guitar Player of the Year award by the Bluegrass International Music Association, Grier began playing guitar at age eight. His father, Lamar Grier, played banjo with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys and Grier had an opportunity to learn from a number of musicians, inclu
ding legendary guitarist Clarence White. Although surrounded by bluegrass musicians, Grier counts Ry Cooder, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton as influences.
Grier played bluegrass with the the Country Gazette and Doug Dillard in the '80s, but he began recording his own projects in 1988 with Freewheeling followed by 1991's Climbing the Walls with mandolin player Mike Compton. By the mid-'90s Grier had become a valued session player, working with quality musicians like fiddler Stuart Duncan, banjoist Tony Furtado, and working on projects like the Grammy-winning Great Dobro Sessions.
Grier has shown a willingness to play in a variety of styles, and he has refused to be confined to any musical genre. From the potpourri of his 1995 release Lone Soldier to the progressive bluegrass of Psychograss' Like Minds, Grier has continued to develop as an artist. Both of these projects, plus 1997's Panorama, have been purely instrumental projects, a feast for lovers of acoustic music.
In 1998, Hootenanny was released on his own recording label, Dreadnought, and the following year he recorded the jazzier Phillips, Grier & Flinner with mandolin player Matt Flinner and bassist Todd Phillips. He has been recognized by Acoustic Guitar as one of the ten most influential artists of the '90s. Grier's inventive and occasionally unorthodox style along with his ability to hop from genre to genre continue to keep his music fresh and vital.
Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/david-grier-mn0000177105/biography

MIKE BARNETT
http://www.mikebarnettfiddle.com/about/
Howdy! Mike Here… 
I Feel Like I’m Living A Dream!
I’ve been having a blast travelin’ and performing around the country and internationally with heroes of mine. Having grown up in Nashville, I have a special place in my heart for bluegrass and country music. Fiddle camps-- Mark O’Connor String Conference, Christian Howes’ Creative String Camp, Mt. Shasta Fiddle Camp---have provided a tremendous source of inspiration and exposure to incredible players from a wide variety of genres. The great bluegrass fiddler Aubrey Haynie inspired me to record my first CD “Lost Indian” when I was 14. One summer at Crystal Plohman’s ‘International Fiddle Camp’ at Vanderbilt, I had the great honor of working with Bobby Hicks, Buddy Spicher, and Vassar Clemens, three of the finest people and fiddlers there have ever been. They willingly showed me everything I could get my ears on. 
A year or two after the camp when I was 15, Bobby introduced me to the legendary Jesse McReynolds. I had the incredible opportunity to tour with Jesse and his Virginia Boys including regular weekend performances on the Grand Ole Opry. Touring around on Jesse’s bus at such a young age was a very humbling experience and really brought the music and legacy of Jim and Jesse alive for me. Jesse is one of the great bluegrass pioneers and his humble spirit and musical originality has been a huge personal and musical influence on me. 
After I moved to Massachusetts from Nashville, I collaborated on several projects. I became good friends with Boston based mandolinist, Joe Walsh, who introduced me to one of New England’s renowned folk bands, Northern Lights. Together we toured with Northern Lights and recorded “One Day” in 2007. Through that project, I met the great folk singer, Jonathan Edwards, who later invited me to record on his project “My Love Will Keep”. Even earlier, I collaborated with banjoist Gordon Stone. Gordon really helped me develop my improvisation, and got me playing out as part of the Gordon Stone Trio. Our CD “Rhymes with Orange” won Vermont’s 2006 Album of the Year Award. Through Gordon, I met guitarist/mandolinist/singer Michael Daves. After a few years of mandolin lessons and scattered performances together, Michael introduced me to Tony Trischka, one of the most influential banjo players in roots music. I have had the honor of touring with Tony on his “Double Banjo Bluegrass” project and “Territory.” Through the “Double Banjo” project, I shared the stage with the great Bela Fleck, comedian/banjoist Steve Martin, and Greg Liszt (banjoist of Crooked Still /Bruce Springsteen fame). 
Soon after, Greg conceived The Deadly Gentlemen,www.deadlygentlemen.com. We have recorded “The Bastard Masterpiece,” our first album in 2008 and completed “Carry Me To Home” in 2010 with current band members including myself, Greg, Stash Wyslouch, Dominick Leslie, and Sam Grisman. Sam connected me with his dad, David Grisman, who in 2009 decided to change his David Grisman Quintet (DGQ) to a Sextet because he wanted to bring the fiddle back into his music. David has been a huge inspiration to me, and has taught me a lot about the history of bluegrass as well as what it means to be a good all-around musician. I’ve had some BIG shoes to fill of past fiddle greats in the history of the DGQ: Vassar Clemens, Stephan Grappelli, Darol Anger, Mark O’Connor… all heroes of mine. Grant Gordy, the DGQ guitarist, and I have also been playing together is his own quartet. Stayed tuned. These days, between tours, living in Boston and intermittently attending Berklee College of Music has provided a chance to hang out and play music with some of the finest musicians of this generation’s acoustic music scene. 
Don’t wake me up!
In 2007, Mike Barnett was the recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, created by Jonathan Cooper and given at the Mark O’Connor String Conference. Mike plays a Cooper violin today.

DOMINICK LESLIE
http://www.dominickleslie.com/
Colorado native Dominick Leslie has been around live music all his life and thanks to his dad, he has been playing since he was old enough to hold an instrument. He attended his first bluegrass festival at the age of five months and grew up listening to and jamming with his dad's bluegrass band. At the age of four he acquired a ukulele tuned like the bottom four strings of a guitar and as the years passed Dominick developed a deep passion for music. This love for music was apparent at an early age as Dominick's abilities progressed rapidly on guitar, fiddle and mandolin. Eventually Dominick switched his focus completely to the mandolin and by the time he was 12, he was writing his own music and practicing every day. Just a few years later at 15, he recorded his first solo CD "Signs of Courage" which received rave reviews from Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine. In 2004, Dominick became the youngest contestant ever to win the Rockygrass mandolin contest. Since then he has placed first in the Merlefest mandolin contest and second in the Walnut Valley International Mandolin contest. Dominick was also featured in Mike Marshall's Young American Mandolin Ensemble. This elite group of seven young musicians was invited to perform with Mike at the Mandolines de Lunel festival in France in October 2007. Dominick also had the unique opportunity to study with mandolin virtuosos David Grisman, Mike Marshall, Chris Thile, Don Stiernberg, Andy Statman, Mike Compton and Hamilton de Holanda at the Mandolin Symposium and since then his bluegrass roots have evolved into current interests in jazz, classical and other "world" music, hence his enrollment in the Berklee College of Music in 2008. Dominick is currently a member of the Boston based group The Deadly Gentlemen, and can occasionally be seen performing with The Grant Gordy Quartet, Noam Pikelny and Friends and a few other spontaneous acoustic groups. Whether writing a new piece, learning a tune or performing with his confreres, Dominick will always share his love of music with others and enjoy playing the mandolin.

Tickets through eventbrite.


NOTE: THE VENUE IS 21+

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

HAPPY Veterans' Day?

On the day the nation and world honor soldiers killed in battle, how can social media site managers be so callous and/or stupid in wishing their readers have a "happy" day?

The Children's Music Network tells us Veterans' Day is for Muppets.

Happy Veterans Day!

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Happy Veterans Day!

This one is from the National Park Service.

From one of Boston's leading universities.
Happy Veteran's Day! We thank our service members for all they do.
Interesting fact: it turns out some of the big names in classical music were veterans, too… check this out!
Several promising talents died at the front in World War I, others suffered debilitating injuries. Here are five notable musicians who served.
WQXR.ORG





















From Wentworth University's internet radio station:


Happy Veterans Day! Thank you to all the Service men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedom.

To put the day into historical perspective, The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:
Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and
Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and
Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

Katie McNally on the Cover of Fiddler Magazine!

notloB Music's own Katie McNally, who has performed for us no fewer than FIVE times...

  • May 16, 2009 - Newton Celtic seisiún led by Sean Smith, featuring Katie McNally & Doug Lamey
  • June 4, 2010 - as a member of Long Time Courting
  • March 02, 2012 - Katie McNally & Eric McDonald
  • January 18, 2013 - Katie McNally & Eric McDonald
  • November 6, 2014 - The Katie McNally Trio featuring Neil Pearlman and Shauncey Ali)
...graces the cover of the Winter 2014/2015 edition of Fiddler Magazine!

We're proud of you, Katie!