Nick Saia, recipient of the Charlie Byrd jazz guitar scholarship at Peabody heads a talented trio of jazz musicians at the Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Sunday afternoon April 12 at 4:00 pm. Admission is $15. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Guitarist Nick Saia will be joined by Alex Fournier on bass and Corey Garcia on drums for this jazz concert featuring standards, classics from the 60s and original compositions. The concert is part of the Mainstay’s year-long “Byrd Series: Celebrating Charlie’s 90th.”
Born in New York, Nick Saia began playing the guitar at age nine. He was originally interested in the blues but his studies brought him to Laguardia High School of the Arts, where he began to dedicate himself to jazz and the manouche style. His biggest influences at the time were Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery.
Saia became involved with the Thelonious Monk Institute’s high school program, which allowed him to meet with a small ensemble of his peers twice a week and play with jazz luminaries such as Curtis Fuller, Benny Golson, Terell Stafford, and many others. This led to an invitation to tour with the Institute’s national all-star ensemble. The band spent a week in Los Angeles giving master-classes at local high schools and performed at multiple venues in the area including the Mendocino Summer Jazz Festival. They also played at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition.
As recipient of the Charlie Byrd Memorial Endowed Scholarship at the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Saia studies jazz performance working with such luminaries as Paul Bollenback and Michael Formanek.
Recently, he has also focused on composition in addition to performance. Peabody’s location in Baltimore has exposed him to a wide variety of talent and artistry and exposed him to contemporary expressions of jazz, classical, and non-Western music such as Bulgarian Folk and the Mbira music of Zimbabwe, all of which influence his artistry and composition.
With his trio, Saia strives to create new sounds that build upon the rich history of jazz and swing. The trio has performed at venues such as New York’s Somethin’ Jazz Club, and Seeds::Brooklyn, developing their sound and exploring new possibilities.
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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