Three noted jazz performers and good friends, Rossano Sportiello on piano, Nicki Parrott on bass and vocals and Chuck Redd on drums and vibes – team up for “A Salute to George Shearing and More” at The Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Thursday October 15 at 7:30 p.m. in a concert sponsored by Dick and Marvel Evans. Admission is $20. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
Italian jazz pianist, Rossano Sportiello (now based in New York) has a light, precise, yet authoritative touch and an approach to the music that lends great joy to his playing. His tribute to pianist George Shearing “The Smiling Piano” ran for two weeks at the Café Carlyle in NY to great critical acclaim from publications such as The New York Times and Jazz Lives. Aussie bassist Nicki Parrott, (also based in NYC) is known for her superb bass lines and sparkling vocals. Chuck Redd is a master at vibes and drums.
Sportiello, Parrott and Redd have worked together countless times at jazz festivals, jazz parties, jazz cruises and other events around the US and in Europe. In spring of 2015 they played to packed house at The United Nations, inaugurating the new jazz concert series there. The three musicians have all recorded on each other’s projects and will present a program of pieces inspired by Shearing’s playing and other works the Great American Songbook.
Redd was featured on drums on Sportiello’s “Chopin Jazz” recording and Sportiello was featured on Redd’s recent Arbors recording, “The Common Thread.” Parrott and Sportiello have been on several of each other’s recordings and Redd is featured on Parrott’s brand new recording for Arbors, “”Two Songbirds of a Feather,” a collaboration with Rebecca Kilgore.
Sportiello says, “A Smiling Piano is what I think of as soon as I listen to any George Shearing recordings, when I hear the most beautiful piano playing that makes everybody smile… A tribute to George Shearing means a tribute to jazz piano in general. Early in his career his style was first inspired by Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum but Shearing soon became one the masters of that revolutionary music, be-bop. When he moved to New York City in 1946, Hank Jones and Errol Garner became his mentors and good friends and he absorbed their styles as well… A Shearing tribute is also naturally a tribute to “The Great American Song Book,” because he was one of its greatest interpreters and one of the most remarkable improvisers of all time… So stride piano, swing, be-bop, the Great American Song Book and classical music are the leading ingredients that… shape my tribute to George Shearing, pianist, composer, interpreter, and improviser.”
Sportiello was born in Vigevano, Italy in 1974. He began studying piano at the age of 9 and graduated from the Conservatory in 1996 in classical piano. While studying he was also performing professionally at jazz venues in the Milan area, and in 1992, he joined one of Europe’s historic jazz bands, the “Milano Jazz Gang” touring with the group throughout Italy and West Europe until the end of 2000. Stylistically, although international critics consider Rossano a follower of Ralph Sutton, Dave McKenna and Barry Harris, the influence of other great masters can be heard in his playing, such as Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Count Basie, Earl Hines, Ellis Larkins and Bill Evans, to name a few. His solo work began at the 2002 Ascona Jazz Festival (Switzerland) while performing with the eight-piece, all-star American band led by Dan Barrett. He made his first trip to the US not long after and moved to New York after his marriage to American writer, Lala Moore.
Sportiello has performed with many of the world’s finest jazz luminaries and has been in great demand in the U.S. appearing at New York venues, such as Lincoln Center, the Blue Note, Birdland, Feinstein’s, the 92nd Street Y, Carnegie Hall, the United Nations, the Café Carlyle and Town Hall, as well as at major jazz parties and festivals in the US and abroad. This is his first Mainstay appearance.
Nicki Parrott is a favorite at The Mainstay. She brings a signature sound to every bass part she has played in her work with artists around the globe. Her vocals and songwriting are enchanting. She performs regularly at jazz festivals around the world. For years, she was a fixture at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York City where she played with the legendary guitarist and inventor, Les Paul, from 2000 until his death in 2009.
Her recording “People Will Say We’re in Love” (with pianist Rossano Sportiello, Arbors) was named one of the 10 best jazz releases of 2007 by Steve Futterman in The New Yorker who said, “Parrott is an exceptional bassist and an endearingly modest singer”. In 2012, Limelight said she is “…a rarity, a first-class bassist whose playing is as sublime as her vocals.”
Parrott was born in Newcastle, Australia started on piano at the age of four, and soon after took up the flute as well. She continued to play flute and piano throughout her school years, but switched to double bass at the age of 15 because her sister Lisa, who plays alto sax, wanted a bassist for her group. After completing high school, Nicki moved to Sydney to study jazz at the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music and shortly after began to play with well-known Australian musicians. She was nominated for the annual Australian Young Achievers Award by the Arts Council of Australia who granted her the funds to travel to New York to study with Rufus Reid. She came to New York in 1994 and has since played and recorded with many notables including Les Paul, Randy Brecker, Clark Terry, Jose Feliciano, Rebecca Paris, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Patti Labelle & the New York Pops Orchestra, Harry Allen, Michel Legrand, Scott Hamilton and Victor Wooten. She has also performed in several Broadway shows such as Avenue Q, Imaginary Friends, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Summer of ’42 and Jekyll and Hyde.
Chuck Redd is well known internationally as a jazz musician on drums and vibraphone. Chuck began touring the globe and recording when he joined the Charlie Byrd Trio at the age of 21. He played and recorded with Byrd for 20 years until Byrd’s death in 1999. To his credit are 25 European tours and five tours of Japan, with the Barney Kessel Trio, Ken Peplowski, Terry Gibbs and Conte Candoli. He served as Artist-In-Residence at The Smithsonian Jazz Café in Washington, DC from 2004-2008.
Redd was featured vibraphonist with the Mel Torme All-Star Jazz Quintet from 1991 until 1996. While appearing in New York with Torme, Ira Gitler of Jazz Times said: “Redd’s vibes were equally notable for vigor and melodiousness.”
Redd is a great friend and informal jazz advisor to The Mainstay. He makes frequent appearances there with many different musical groups. A favorite with Mainstay adiences, his playing is always fresh, intense and exciting.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.