Sunday April 30 2017. James Merenda, piano and/or saxophone; Jon Dreyer, bass; Miki Matsuki, drums. 3:00 pm at the Chelmsford Center for the Arts auditorium, 1a North Road, Chelmsford MA.
Tickets are available!
Always active, pianist/saxophonist/bandleader/composer James Merenda has performed with: Ran Blake at the Knitting Factory, the Darmstadt Jazz Festival in Germany and recorded on Hatology Records; with Roswell Rudd and Beat Science, Cameron Brown, Joe McPhee, Joe Hunt, former Ornette Coleman keyboardist Dave Bryant, Grammy Award winning pianist David Maxwell, the Either/Orchestra, the Ardvark Orchestra, the Slip, contemporary guitarists Marc Ribot, David Fiuczynsdi, Dave Tronzo and with drummer Bob Gullotti. James has also performed on Radio France, Radio Europa in Italy and in Holland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark and Belgium with Perilous Foil and in Cambridge at the Mandorla Music Series.
Bassist Jon Dreyer performs regularly with James Merenda, both as a member of his band TickleJuice and also in more mainstream jazz settings and he has performed extensively with Harvey Diamond. He has also performed with most of the Boston jazz community, including Jason Palmer, Adam Janjigian, Frank Wilkins, Yoko Miwa, Grace Kelly, Phil Grenadier, Joe Hunt and Steve Langone.
Drummer Miki Matsuki was born in Matsuyama, Japan, and moved to the United States to study jazz at Berklee College of Music in 1996. A talented musician, Miki’s band received the title ‘Best of Berklee’ in 2000. Thereafter, Miki received a full scholarship to The Longy School Of Music, where she graduated with her MM and GPD in Modern American Music Performance with honors. Over the last 15 years, Miki has performed and recorded in various musical settings, including performances through radio and TV broadcasting, a musical tour of Korea, and soundtrack work. Miki has performed with many great musicians, including Wynton Marsalis, Joanne Brackeen, George Garzone, John Tchicai, Darren Barrett, Frank Lacy, Cecil Brooks, Dave Bryant, Stan Strickland and many others.
This concert honors Fred Taylor, who may, more than anyone else, deserve credit for the thriving jazz scene in Boston.