March 2 & 3—BRANDON— Enjoy a rare opportunity to experience traditional classical Indian music Saturday, March 2, at 7:30 p.m. Boston based Berklee College professors and old friends John Funkhouser on piano and Jerry Leake on tabla come together as Piandiato perform ragas from North India. Ragas consist of at least five notes, and each raga provides the musician with a musical framework within which to improvise, an area in which Funkhouser and Leake excel. As Funkhouser explained, “Musically we start with a seed and attempt to grow a tree. “
John Funkhouser is one of the leading jazz pianists of today performing with many groups as well as his own regular jazz trio and quartet and has appeared at major venues worldwide. Jerry Leake leads the world-rock fusion band Cubist and is a co-founder of the Indo/Jazz Band Natraj. Leake studied North Indian tabla with Rajeev Devasthali and Todd Nardin, and South Indian mrfangam/rhythm theory with T.K. Ramakrishman.
The weekend continues with a special Sunday afternoon jazz performance by Step in Trio, March 3 at 3 p.m. featuring the acclaimed New York City bassist Joe Fonda, the Italian pianist Carlo Morena and the brilliant Chilean, Felix LeCaros, on drums. Conceived in the 1990s Step in Trio has changed membership but retained founding member Joe Fonda as the creative constant. The recording of two albums, “A Drop of Water” and “As You Never Said before” was the peak of this musical period. In this latest iteration Step in Trio’s music is based on Carlo Morena’s compositions strongly influenced by modern jazz composers like Kenny Wheeler, Steve Swallow, Don Grolnick and Vince Mendoza whilst also infused with European classical, Argentinian and Brazilian music. The new music has a strong Italian influence and when coupled with Fonda’s ferocious rhythmic approach and Lecaros’ sophisticated and sensitive percussions a fresh sound palette results.
Tickets are $20. A pre-concert dinner is available for $25 on March 2 prior to the show at 7:30 p.m. Reservations are required for dinner and recommended for the show. Venus is BYOB.
Brunch is available prior to the concert on March 3 at 3 p.m.
Brandon Muisc is located at 62 Country Road in Brandon. For More information or reservations call 802-247-4295 or email info@brandon-music.net.
