The great jazz guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola and Steve Abshire will recreate the thrill of Charlie Byrd’s “Great Guitars” in a concert that is part of “The Byrd Series: Celebrating Charlie’s 90th” at The Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Friday June 12 at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $20.
For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at The Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola and Steve Abshire pay tribute to The Great Guitars (Charlie Byrd, Herb Ellis and Barney Kessel) with a program of swinging jazz classics including music by Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Fats Waller, Charlie Christian; some blues, some bossa nova and beyond. Pizzarelli, Vignola and Abshire will be joined by Chuck Redd on drums, Tommy Cecil on bass and special guest Vinny Raniolo on guitar.
This concert is part of The Mainstay’s year-long “The Byrd Series: Celebrating Charlie’s 90th” and will capture the essence and excitement of the original Great Guitars who joined forces in 1973 and issued the first of four exceptional jazz recordings in 1974. Like the original concerts, this will be an evening of hard driving swing, sensitive ballads and good-natured, respectful interplay.
The legendary Bucky Pizzarelli has had a stellar career and has been a fixture in jazz and the studios since the early ‘50s. The list of big bands and vocalists with whom he has performed and recorded reads like a veritable Who’s Who of Jazz. One of the era’s most solid rhythm players, Pizzarelli was in high demand, playing and touring with Benny Goodman, Zoot Sims, Bud Freeman, and Stephane Grappelli, and, later, recording with George Van Eps, Carl Kress and George Barnes. He is the master of the seven-string guitar, a Benedetto Bucky Pizzarelli Signature Guitar, which provides him with a continuous bass line and gives him the ability to play melody, harmony and bass all at the same time.
Frank Vignola’s stunning virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Madonna, Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel, Mark O Connor, the Boston Pops, the New York Pops, and guitar legend Les Paul, who named Vignola to his “Five Most Admired Guitarists List” for the Wall Street Journal. Vignola’s jaw-dropping technique explains why the New York Times deemed him “one of the brightest…stars of the guitar.” His solos are legendary and his sly humor has made him a favorite with audiences around the world and at The Mainstay where he has appeared once or twice a year for many years.
Steve Abshire is no stranger to The Mainstay. He is a regular in Max’s Mainstay All-Stars, The Mainstay house band. His recording with Vince Lewis was the first on the Mainstay Music label and his new recording with Steve Herberman was just released last week. Abshire performed with various Navy Bands for 24 years and was the guitarist and a featured soloist with the Commodores, the Navy’s premiere jazz ensemble, for 18 of those years. He appeared in concert with the original “Great Guitars”, sitting in for Barney Kessel. He is noted for his rock solid rhythm guitar, his impressive solos and his ability to bring the blues to life in a jazz setting.
Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel and Herb Ellis, the original Great Guitars, met in Australia where they were all doing solo concerts in 1973. At some point they were all at some event and starting playing pieces together.
According to Becky Byrd, Charlies’s widow (and Mainstay Board President), “They and the crowds loved it and when they returned to the U.S., they started playing together. The concept really took off at the Concord Jazz Festival in 1974. Their first record was in 1974 and it was one of the very early Concord recordings. They had diverse backgrounds – Charlie from Virginia, Barney Kessel from Oklahoma and Herb Ellis from Texas and it showed in their repertoire described as “from classical to Bossa Nova to Bebop.” They made four recordings as the Great Guitars. The last was recorded in 1983.
The Byrd Series of concerts at The Mainstay pays tribute to memory and legacy of Charlie Byrd, the world renowned and Annapolis-based jazz guitarist who played mostly the nylon string classical guitar and influenced every style of music that uses the instrument. Byrd, who would have been 90 this year, died in 1999. He was an early supporter of the Mainstay and helped expand the Mainstay’s reputation as a premier venue for jazz. Mainstay founder and director, Tom McHugh says, “Byrd played at The Mainstay several times. He charged us very little, and seemed to realize that small places like ours needed nurturing. Charlie passed our name on to others…and they came and played… and soon our jazz reputation just took off.”
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. For information and reservations call the Mainstay at 410-639-9133. More information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
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