Monday, November 2, 2015

Julian Pinelli, Ethan Setiawan and Noah Harrington @ Somerville Armory, 11/25

Julian Pinelli, Ethan Setiawan and Noah Harrington 
Wednesday, November 25, 7:30pm  (cafe opens at 6:00pm)
Arts at the Armory Cafe
191 Highland Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
Suggested donation $5-10 (cash)


Don't be a turkey, bring visiting out-of-town family, friends and fiends to Arts at the Armory's cafe and show them some rising Berklee talent!

On Wednesday, November 25 at 7:30pm the notloB Music concert series will team up once again with Arts at the Armory to present a special performance, this time by rising Berklee Colllege of Music students Julian Pinelli, Ethan Setiawan, and Noah Harrington.

Julian Pinelli http://www.julianpinelli.com/ - first began playing violin at age 4, and soon after began playing bluegrass and fiddle tunes with his father. As a young teenager, Julian became serious about music as a career. Since then, discoveries and pursuits have ranged from intense classical studies, to the expressive world of jazz and improvising, as well as many fiddle and folk traditions. The Appalachian music surrounding Julian’s home in Asheville NC has been central to his musical upbringing. In addition to gigging and playing in various bluegrass and folk bands, the most developmental experiences have been the countless hours of jamming and learning from fellow musicians. Julian is currently a 3rd semester student at Berklee College of Music where he studies jazz violin among other styles and skillsets. 

Julian’s passion for music is rooted in its emotional impact, and the power it has to transcend reality and unify people. Overall, Julian strives to be at the forefront of musical innovation and create down-to-earth music that respects existing musical traditions while staying fresh at the cutting edge. 

Ethan Setiawan is a mandolinist from Goshen, Indiana. Before turning 18, he managed to participate in Savannah Music Festival’s Acoustic Music Seminar, was awarded a full ride scholarship to Berklee School of Music, performed on NPR syndicate Prairie Home Companion and won the 2014 National Mandolin Championship. While he started on cello in third grade, he was drawn to the mandolin after getting bored learning ukulele. Soon after, Ethan was traveling around the country going to mandolin and music instructional events such as the Mandolin Symposium, the Swannanoa Gathering and the Berklee 5-Week Summer Performance Program. Though Ethan is currently attending Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, he took lessons from jazz mandolinist Don Stiernberg through high school. Other artists he’s studied with include Clarice Assad, Bela Fleck, Julian Lage, Daniel Hope, and Mike Marshall. He’s performed with such diverse artists as the Steel Wheels, the Don Stiernberg Trio and Andy Hatfield (2011 International Guitar Champion, 2013 National Mandolin Champion), as well as having taught mandolin at TG School of Music in Goshen, Indiana. 

Noah Harrington is an award-winning acoustic and electric bassist originally from Lexington, MA, currently studying at The Berklee College of Music. He plays a wide range of styles, but fell in love with jazz soon after picking up the bass at the age of 10. He has studied with such luminaries as Julian Lage, Mike Marshall, Dave Holland and (currently) John Lockwood. An experienced bandleader, Noah founded the Scarlett//Harrington big band with fellow Berklee student Dean Scarlett, and frequently performs with a range of small ensembles at dances, weddings, house parties, festivals, and musicals. His musical repertoire encompasses Jazz, Rock, Brazilian, and Acoustic Roots music. 
Noah was named Outstanding Unamplified Bassist at the 2015 “Essentially Ellington Jazz Competition,” leading the competition’s “Overall Most Outstanding Rhythm Section.” He was twice named outstanding soloist at the Charles Mingus High School Jazz competition, and was one of 16 musicians nationwide invited to participate in the 2015 Savannah Acoustic Music Festival workshop. 
His musical influences include Ray Brown, Charlie Haden, Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. He’s known for creating meaningful and energetic music, while staying in the pocket and focused on the groove. 

This is the sixth concert of the notloB Music’s current season presented at this venue. As we did at our long-running Loring-Greenough concert series, admission is by free-will donation. General admission $5-10+ cash.

Friday, October 30, 2015


notloB Music Presents...

Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons 

w/ Elijah Wald & Sandrine Sheon 


Tuesday, November 3, 7:30pm  (cafe opens at 6:00pm)
Arts at the Armory Cafe
191 Highland Ave, Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
Suggested donation $10-20


notloB Music's Fall music series continues at the intimate (50 seat) cafe at the Somerville Armory.

The history of American roots music in the early 20th century could never fit into an encyclopedia. it’s too ramshackle, too rambunctious, too radical. Fiddlers, guitarists, banjo players, and all kinds of folks rambled those early roads, learning from each other, inspiring each other, and pushing the music in new directions. Music constantly switched back and forth across the racial divide, beholden only to the beat and the dance. It’s this fevered period of musical exchange that inspires Northwest roots music duo Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons. The songs on their new album, Take Yo Time, tap into everything from the hokum jug bands of Gus Cannon and the Memphis Sheiks, to country blues masters Reverend Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, and Blind Willie McTell. They also touch on ancient English ballads like House Carpenter, Appalachian murder ballads like the classic Tom Dooley, and the early jazz compositions of Shelton Brooks and Duke Ellington. All of these traditions are tied together in the swirling musical whirlpool of pre-war American music. With a well-rosined fiddle and an old banjo, Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons are tracing these backroads, bringing the songs back to life.

Ben and Joe have been playing together for almost 5 years, the last 3 of which sent them to the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival, learning at the feet of the elders of the acoustic blues tradition. They found an affinity in the many branches that tied into the blues and created this duo as a way to explore these branches. Their musical kinship and sense of joy in interpreting this music is evident and was the basis of an invitation Dom Flemons (formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops) to form his band when he went solo. Ben and Joe joined Dom on his recent album, Prospect Hill, and toured the US with him, furthering their knowledge of Anglo and African American music traditions. Rather than thinking of their music as blues, it’s best to situate Ben and Joe (and Dom) as American songsters. A songster traditionally refers to an African-American artist whose repertoire is much broader than the old blues, and spans many of the genres that Ben and Joe Inhabit. Big Bill Broonzy and Mississippi John Hurt are classic examples of songsters. Whatever you want to call it, Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons make American music. They make music that hews to the rough-and-tumble collisions of musical inspirations from the early 20th century; music that paved the way for everything we enjoy today.


Elijah Wald & Sandrine Sheon 
Elijah Wald is a guitarist and singer whose repertoire ranges from old blues and folk songs to ragtime, swing, and classic Swahili pop. After an apprenticeship studying guitar and drinking till dawn with Dave Van Ronk, he has played all over the US, as well as Europe, India, and the Congo. He worked as an accompanist to Eric Von Schmidt, played for five years with the legendary African-American fiddler and mandolinist Howard Armstrong, studied with the Congolese masters Jean-Bosco Mwenda and Edward Masengo, and has recorded an instructional DVD on the music of the Bahamian virtuoso Joseph Spence. He has also written a dozen books on blues, folk, pop, and Mexican music, and there's plenty more info about all of this at http://www.elijahwald.com/ In recent years he has been performing with Sandrine Sheon on clarinet, combining their repertoires and underlining the close links between blues, country, ragtime, folk, and jazz.

As we did at our Loring-Greenough concert series, admission is by free-will donation, $10-20 suggested.


are strongly suggested, our cafe artists have been performing to full houses.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Support notloBBers Blanca y Chuchi crowsourcing campaign to edit their new album

Our good friends Blanca y Chuchi (Outpost 186, 10/8/14) recently sent news about their new recording project and an appeal for crowdsourcing funding to edit it.



In addition to Blanca y Chuchi, two other notloBBers are on the album:
Natalie Haas - celloNic Gareiss – foot percussion
Hola Jeff!
How are you doing? I hope you are doing great!We are doing good, teaching, playing, doing lots of Music. HappyChuchi and I recorded a second album and we launched a crowdfunding campaign to edit it:http://www.verkami.com/projects/13141-tyto-alba-nuevo-lp-de-blanca-chuchiSo we are now spreading the word, and we thought that maybe you know from people interested within your community, we would really aprecciate it you let them know.We will come back to US in the coming year so we will tell you:)We hope you are doing wonderful, all the best for you and your family!
If you came to and enjoyed Blanca y Chuchi's concert we hope you will consider funding their crowdsourcing campaign.







Sunday, October 18, 2015

Elizabeth and Ben Anderson in Concert @ Arts at the Armory 10/28

notloB Music Presents... Elizabeth and Ben Anderson to be Presented at Arts at the Armory in Somerville
Wednesday, October 28, 7:30pm (the café opens at 6:00pm)
notloB concerts & Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA

Wednesday, October 28 at 7:30pm the notloB concert series will team up once again with Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, to present a special performance by innovative multi-instrumentalist string musicians and sister/brother act Elizabeth and Ben Anderson, Scottish fiddle and cello. This will be the fourth time notloB has presented these rising young stars of the Celtic celestial sphere:
11/01/13 Fellswater w/ Elizabeth and Ben Anderson @ JPUU
03/21/14 Elizabeth and Ben Anderson @ Outpost 186
10/09/14 Rushad Eggleston w/ Elizabeth and Ben Anderson @ Davis Square Theatre


 Admission is by free-will donation, $10-15 cash suggested. Reservations are recommended (the last Celtic concert sold out) and available at
http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315/ and at the door on the evening of the event.
Samples of the Andersons’ music can be found on their website, http://elizabethandbenanderson.bandcamp.com/

ARTIST BIOS:

Elizabeth and Ben Anderson, a Celtic fiddle and cello duo, has been gaining an enthusiastic following in the Boston area and throughout New England. Blending Scottish tunes with lively rhythms and innovative harmonies, they create a sound rooted in tradition, inspired by the contemporary, and completely original. On stage, they captivate audiences with their ability to effortlessly communicate musical nuances as only siblings can. They recently opened for the Battlefield Band at the Burren in Somerville, in a concert which will be airing on Brian O’Donovan’s Celtic Sojourn on WGBH radio. They have performed at the Boston Celtic Music Festival, the Ossipee Music Festival, the Club Passim Campfire Festival, and in numerous solo concerts and restaurant and club performances.

Elizabeth is a Senior at Berklee College of Music and is a three-time New England Regional Junior Scottish Fiddle Champion, current second place holder in the New England Regional Open Scottish Fiddle Competition, and third-place holder in the 2014 US National Open Scottish Fiddle Championship. Ben is a student at Westborough High School and current second place holder in the New England Regional Junior Scottish Fiddle Competition and third place holder in the National Junior Scottish Fiddle Championship.

“They have taken the influence of people like Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas and really made their own mark on what they are doing in traditional music.”
--Brain O’Donovan, Host of WGBH Radio’s Celtic Sojourn

This is the fourth of concert of notloB Music season presented at this venue. As it did at its long-running Loring-Greenough concert series, admission is by free-will donation.
General admission $10-15 cash suggested.
This is a small space, reservations via Eventbrite are strongly suggested - https://www.eventbrite.com/d/local/notlob/?view=list

Upcoming in the series
11/03
Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons w/very special guests Elijah Wald and Sandrine Sheon
12/07
The Freewheel Trio & Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Matt Witler
12/09
Wrong is Right and Morgan Weidinger and friends

Food, libations and getting there.
Food, coffee/tea and beer/wine are served by the Armory staff.
Free parking in the back lot and on street.
MBTA: Arts at the Armory is approximately a 15 minute walk from Davis Square which is on the MBTA Red Line. Also served via MBTA RT 88 and RT 90 bus that can be caught either at Lechmere (Green Line) or Davis Square (Red Line). Get off at the Highland Avenue and Lowell Street stop, or from Sullivan Square (Orange Line) by using the MBTA RT 90 bus. Get off at the Highland Avenue and Benton Road stop.
Bicycle: The Armory is four blocks (down Lowell Street) from the Somerville Community Path.
More info at
http://artsatthearmory.org/about/getting-here/get


notloB Music also presents concerts in Cambridge, Arlington and Newton. See its full schedule at https://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic. Tickets for all concerts are available at http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315. For more information see its Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/notloBParlourConcerts/ - or email notlobreservations@gmail.com (please do not contact the venues).

Saturday, October 17, 2015

BMA once again misses the mark

The categories for this year's Boston Music Awards are
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
ALBUM/EP OF THE YEAR
SONG OF THE YEAR
NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
LIVE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
ROCK/INDIE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
HIP-HOP ARTIST OF THE YEAR
POP ARTIST OF THE YEAR
R&B ARTIST OF THE YEAR
AMERICANA ARTIST OF THE YEAR
BLUES ARTIST OF THE YEAR
DJ/PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
ELECTRONIC ARTIST OF THE YEAR
FOLK ARTIST OF THE YEAR
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
JAZZ ARTIST OF THE YEAR
METAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR
PUNK/HARDCORE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
SINGER-SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
STUDIO PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
BEST DANCE NIGHT
BEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE
BEST LIVE ONGOING RESIDENCY
BEST MUSIC BLOG
BEST LOCAL PROMOTER
BEST LIVE MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHER
BEST FLYER/POSTER DESIGNER/ILLUSTRATOR
BEST ARTIST/BAND WEBSITE
BEST ALBUM/EP/SINGLE ARTWORK

I am pleased that "folk" has been added!
Perhaps BMA read 
Where's the folk? - 11/2/11 and Where's the Folk? - 11/19/13


But sorry to see that once again, although there are vibrant communities, BMA does not see fit to include categories for our favorites...
Celtic
Bluegrass
Old time
Cajun/Quebequois.


And where's the jazz, classical, polka, zydeco, world..???!!!

I wish the organization well, it does a great service to the Boston-area pop music community, but misses the mark when it claims to be an awards organization for "Boston music" as it chooses to exclude several vibrant genre. Until it serves all active Boston-area music communities, BMA should change its name to "Boston Pop Music Awards" or such.

p.s. I am one of the 400 nominators. If you append below names of your favorites for BMA's existing categories, I will listen to their audio and give them consideration.




Will DaileyRuby Rose FoxBearstronautSTL GLD and Tribe Society.
Photo courtesy of Boston Music Awards (it's their Facebook cover photo).


Friday, October 16, 2015

Roy Williams and Eddie Barbash Play The Human Hands Songbook, Somerville, 10/24

Roy Williams and Eddie Barbash Play The Human Hands Songbook
Saturday, October 24, 7:30pm (the café opens at 6:00pm)
notloB concerts & Arts at the Armory
191 Highland Ave, Somerville, MA

Saturday, October 24 at 7:30pm the notloB concert series will team up once again with Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville, to present a special performance by innovative multi-instrumentalist string musician Roy Williams. Roy will be joined by dynamic musician Eddie Barbash on saxophone.


Admission is by free-will donation, $10-20 (cash) suggested. Reservations are suggested (the last concert sold out) and available at
http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315/ and at the door on the evening of the event. Samples of Roy’s music can be found on his website, http://www.roywilliamsplaysmusic.com/

BAND BIOS:

Roy Williams, an American songwriter, guitarist, and multi-instrumentalist, writes music with a curious ear and an open mind. From the classic pop tunes heard on the first cassette Roy owned—The Beatles “Live at the BBC in 1963”—to the incomparable instrumental canon of Django Reinhart, Roy’s influences eclipse genre categorization, a trait that is reflected in the adventurous spirit of his own original songs.

After growing up in Clark’s Green, Pennsylvania, in a musical house where Neil Young, Buffalo Springfield, and especially The Beatles were religion, Roy began playing gigs in nearby Scranton and soon moved to New York City to perform gypsy jazz with renowned guitarist Stephane Wrembel. Roy worked with Wrembel for four years and toured throughout Central America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he regularly plays out with his mentors and friends Jim Campilongo, Nick Driscoll, and Alex Hargreaves, and leads his own band.

Roy often performs on piano, mandolin, bass, and has known how to play a G chord on guitar since he can remember. He released his debut solo album, Throwing Punches, in February 2015, which features ten original compositions. Roy is currently at work on two upcoming albums: a compilation of instrumental songs by his group Roy Williams and the Human Hands (featuring Alex Hargreaves and Nick Driscoll), and a solo record of rock n roll tunes.

Eddie Barbash plays American roots music on alto saxophone. He brings his horn and sensibility to Texas and Appalachian fiddle tunes, bluegrass, old time, R&B, soul, and jazz. His pioneering take on these traditions has attracted audiences around the world. He is a founding member and the lyrical core of Jon Batiste and Stay Human, currently the house band for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. He was raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, Atlanta, Georgia and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He lives in Brooklyn.

This is the third concert in notloB Music’s Fall season at this venue. As it did at its long-running Loring-Greenough concert series, admission is by free-will donation.
General admission $10-20 (suggested donation, cash).
This is a small space, reservations via Eventbrite are strongly suggested - https://www.eventbrite.com/d/local/notlob/?view=list

Upcoming in the Armory Cafe series
10/28
Elizabeth and Ben Anderson
11/03
Ben Hunter & Joe Seamons w/very special guests Elijah Wald and Sandrine Sheon
12/07
The Freewheel Trio & Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and Matt Witler
12/09
Wrong is Right and Morgan Weidinger and friends

Food, libations and getting there.
Food, coffee/tea and beer/wine are served by the Armory staff.
Free parking in the back lot and on street.
MBTA: Arts at the Armory is approximately a 15 minute walk from Davis Square which is on the MBTA Red Line. Also served via MBTA RT 88 and RT 90 bus that can be caught either at Lechmere (Green Line) or Davis Square (Red Line). Get off at the Highland Avenue and Lowell Street stop, or from Sullivan Square (Orange Line) by using the MBTA RT 90 bus. Get off at the Highland Avenue and Benton Road stop.
Bicycle: The Armory is four blocks (down Lowell Street) from the Somerville Community Path.
More info at
http://artsatthearmory.org/about/getting-here/get


notloB Music also presents concerts in Cambridge, Arlington and Newton. See its full schedule at https://sites.google.com/site/notlobmusic. Tickets for all concerts are available at http://www.eventbrite.com/o/notlob-music-6730833315. For more information see its Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/notloBParlourConcerts/ - or email notlobreservations@gmail.com (please do not contact the venues).

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Flynn Cohen, accompanied by Dylan Foley, 12/3 in Newton


Flynn Cohen, accompanied by Dylan Foley

Thursday, December 3
Carriage House of Violins
1039 Chestnut Street, Newton Upper Falls



Join us for an intimate evening of music with multi-time notloB alumnus Flynn Cohen, accompanied by 4-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion Dylan Foley, who will be playing original and traditional music from Flynn's solo albums.

FLYNN COHEN
http://www.flynncohen.net/
Acoustic Guitarist Flynn Cohen has performed all over the world with many notable acts in traditional and contemporary acoustic music. He can be seen in concert with the American folk band LOW LILY (formerly known as Annalivia), and legendary Irish Accordion player John Whelan, as well as solo and duo shows playing music from his four solo albums. 

Flynn has also performed with Ruth Moody, Halali, The Sevens, Aoife Clancy, Cathie Ryan, Lawrence Nugent, Skip Healy, Joe Derrane and Frank Ferrel, John McGann, Matt Glaser, Brian Wicklund, Tony Watt and Southeast Expressway, Adrienne Young, Jake & Taylor Armerding, Gail Davies, Jilly Martin, Malibu Storm, Bruce MacGregor, Lissa Schneckenburger, Laura Cortese, Mark Simos, Women of Ireland, The Vancouver Symphony, the Orchestra of Indian Hill, Revels, and Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, among others.

He studied Music at Dartington College of Arts in Devon, England and at Mills College in Oakland, California and now teaches in the Music Deptment at Keene State College in New Hampshire, as well as The Music Emporium in Lexington, Massachusetts.

DYLAN FOLEY
http://dylanfoley.com/
A 4-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion, Dylan was a student of the great Rose Flanagan (the original fiddler in Cherish the Ladies) and counts Joanie Madden, Brian Conway, Mike McHale, and Monsignor Charlie Coen among his primary influences. He is a vibrant stylist whose playing has been called “impeccable and spirited.” Dylan has performed at Lincoln Center, Joanie Madden’s Folk N’ Irish Cruise, Austin Celtic Festival, at Gracie Mansion for NYC Mayor Bloomberg, on Jay Unger’s Dancing On the Air show on WAMC, also Foley has been featured on Irish Television channels RTE and TG4’s fleadh programme. At age 12, Dylan made an appearance on the HBO special “The Music In Me”. Wiithe the help of Irish Aid, In january 2013, Foley travelled with Dr. Mick Moloney (NYU Ethnomusicologist and Folklorist) to Vietnam in order to bring Irish music, song, dance and culture to those who were effected by Agent Orange and other Vietnam War atrocities. Dylan also performed with Mick Moloney, Joanie Madden, Bobby Hicks, Matt Molloy and Sharon Shannon.

He has also taught and performed at the Catskills Irish Arts Week, CCE MAD week and Elkins Irish Week. In March 2012, Foley released his debut solo album, “Hup!” featuring Brendan Dolan (piano) and Josh Dukes. Dylan, in March 2013 recorded an album with a stunning quartet, “The Yanks” made up of Isaac Alderson, Dan Gurney and Sean Earnest. Their album has been called “Outrageously good… This new Yanks album is a brilliant debut that features some of the best young trad players you’ll find anywhere.”- The Irish Echo. They are now touring frequently around the US. Now, at the age of 22, Foley teaches privately, plays concerts, sessions and celli’s around the greater NY area. “One the finest Irish fiddlers of his generation.” – Brian Conway

Tickets ($20-15-10) will go on sale through eventbrite.com 10/15. Check our website for the link.