Emily Asher brings her tenacious trombone, her sweet vocals and swinging red-hot early jazz to the Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Saturday February 21 at 8:00 pm. Admission is $20.
Emily Asher’s Garden Party has been called “red hot” and “very exciting” by the Wall Street Journal. This seven member band of all-stars from New York City’s vibrant early jazz scene performs coast to coast in the finest jazz clubs to the busiest swing dance halls. Drawing on the repertoire of Louis Armstrong’s enchanting Hot Fives and Duke Ellington’s sophisticated melodies to the funky and soulful music of New Orleans brass bands, and Hoagy Carmichael’s masterpieces, they are, as the title of their 2013 EP asserts, a “Carnival of Joy!”
Trombonist and vocalist Emily Asher is a rising musical personality in New York City in strong demand as a bandleader and sidewoman. The Wall Street Journal also said, “In traditional jazz, the trombone comes closest to the human voice, although up to now it’s rarely been cast as a distinctly female voice… Ms. Asher plays with both grit and grace.”
Emily Asher’s Garden Party has just released “Meet Me in the Morning,” which they describe as “a fresh new, tail-shaking, joy-waking, romance-making, rule-breaking, breath-taking, Big Easy meets The Big Apple,” album length recording.
It was funded by a very successful online Kickstarter campaign. In writing about the campaign, Asher said, “This current cast of Garden Party characters have been playing and touring together since December of 2012 and it just gets better and better!… One of Garden Party’s signatures is its varied repertoire from early American songbook like our groovy New Orleans flavored 1914 “When You Wore A Tulip” to Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Band of the 1920’s-50’s through the early swing era of Chick Webb to our own contemporary compositions. This album will have something for every taste while maintaining a cohesive sound.”
Asher’s debut album, “Dreams May Take You” features Wycliffe Gordon, Philip Dizack, Bria Skonberg and other outstanding musicians and was officially released in April 2012. That recording was also funded through a Kickstarter campaign. Anticipating questions about why she was attempting to fund a Garden Party recording through Kickstarter, she wrote, “I love this band. I love it with all my heart. I love these guys and the music we make together. I love how songs written 100 years ago come alive like they were written yesterday and I love how new songs that I write are born into loving, fertile soil and can grow beyond what I had in my mind and wrote on the page. … I want to capture this group of musicians playing this repertoire right now. I want Mike Davis’ grandson to be able to hear what his grandfather sounded like on “Stardust” when he was 23 years old. I want an old guy in Tennessee to hear Rob Adkins arrangement of “Memphis in June” and remember his wedding night. I want it on record to share forever. This will be a snapshot in time of this band and this exciting time in this hot jazz resurgence.”
Garden Party’s six song EP: Carnival of Joy!” a celebration of Hoagy Carmichael which the Wall Street Journal called a “superior album,” was released in June 2013.
Emily Asher has toured internationally to large festivals and performed at small private events for Kofi Anan, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw and distinguished foreign diplomats.
She recorded and performed with Wycliffe Gordon on his “Hello Pops!” tribute to Louis Armstrong, and was a member of Nicholas Payton’s Television Studio Orchestra. Her bold, expressive style has led to sharing the stage with a wide variety of artists including Tony Bennett, Carol Burnett, Talib Kweli, Chaka Khan, Sheila E., Terri Lyne Carrington, Gerri Allen, Stephanie Mills, Yolanda Adams, Branford Marsalis, Frank Wess, Anat Cohen and many others.
Originally from Seattle, she earned three Bachelors degrees from the University of Washington. Upon graduating in 2004 she was hired as the Director of Bands at Ballou Junior High School in Puyallup, Washington where she taught for three years. In May of 2009 she completed her masters in music performance from CUNY Queens College.
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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