For the month of June, The Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland found several opportunities to pay tribute to the immensely popular American music offerings that spanned three decades and collectively came to be grouped as The Great American Songbook. These familiar tunes, composed by the likes of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, et al, developed a world-wide audience on radio and in the Hollywood musicals of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. These classics were interpreted many times by the vocal, big band and jazz giants of their day. On Friday, July 1^st, Joe Holt, pianist, musical collaborator and host of the Mainstay’s recurring First Friday series guides us into the new musical wave of hits that new audiences of the 60s and 70s embraced once the Songbook was retired; from artists such as Sam Cooke, James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, and The Beatles, among many others.

Holt is well known on the Eastern Shore as being a creative accompanist. Known primarily as a jazz pianist, The First Friday series allows Joe to stretch these limits by inviting different musical guests each month, often from quite different musical genres, to explore their common ground

Joe’s guests for this July program are guitarist Nick Bucci and vocalist Keli Valein a celebration he calls “The Next Great American Songbook”.Keli and Nick are well-known in the musical circles of Wilmington, Delaware. They have been making music together for over a decade and began writing and recording their own material in 2015. They’ve both played Jazz, Blues, R&B, Classic Rock, Fusion – you name it! All this musical experience archived within them is what makes their live gigs so diverse and interesting, and a perfect match for Joe Holt’s diverse tastes.

Advance tickets are $15, and are available at www.mainstayrockhall.org. Telephone reservations are also accepted by calling 410-639-9133. The Mainstay is located at 5753 N. Main Street in Rock Hall. It receives funding from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.

Robert Redd

On Saturday, June 25, The Mainstay in Rock Hall caps off its month-long tribute to the Great American Songbook with a program led by Mainstay favorite, pianist Robert Redd. Redd will be joined by alto sax player Marty Nau and jazz guitarist Steve Abshire for a show they have titled “Swinging with the Songbook.”

Robert Redd is a member of the prestigious Duke Ellington Orchestra that tours across the U.S as well as abroad (most recent tours have included Japan, Singapore, Israel, Great Britain, and Brazil). He is also the pianist and leader of the Wolf Trap Jazz Trio. From 1995 to 998 Redd was pianist and musical director for singer/ songwriter Kenny Rankin. He still finds time to perform with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Redd worked frequently with legendary performers, guitarist Charlie Byrd and sax great Phil Woods. He is a featured artist at the annual W.C. Handy Music Festival in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Robert has performed with jazz luminaries such as John Pizzarelli, James Moody, Melba Moore, the Harry James Band, and the Artie Shaw Band to name just a few.

Marty Nau is a highly active and sought-after jazz alto saxophone player in the Washington DC Area. He has performed with such performers as Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Wilson, Maureen McGovern, Snooky Young, and many others. Marty also played lead alto sax and conducted for the Navy’s premiere jazz ensemble, the Commodores before retiring from the group in 1997.

Jazz guitarist Steve Abshire’s accomplished musical style is distilled from years of influence and study with jazz greats Herb Ellis, Joe Pass, and Barney Kessel. Abshire, also an alumnus of the Commodores, has accompanied well-known vocalists Della Reese, Etta Jones, and Diane Shuur. He has appeared in concert with the Great Guitars as Barney Kessel’s substitute, and is a repeat performer at the famed Jazz in Marciac Jazz Festival in France.

Showtime for the live concert event is 8 pm. Tickets are $20 in advance of the show and can be purchased online at mainstayrockhall.org. Phone reservations are accepted by calling (410) 639-9133 (tickets reserved by phone are $25 when paid at the door). The Mainstay is located at 5753 N Main Street in Rock Hall, Maryland. Its regular calendar of local, regional, and nationally touring artists features a live performance every week of the year (February through December) in a variety of music genres.

The programs of the Mainstay are supported with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.

On Saturday, June 11^th, The Mainstay in Rock Hall is pleased to present Great American Songbook stylist Hilary Gardner and her band. National Public Radio remarked that Hilary Gardner “evokes memories of another time and place.” Her first gigs were in hometown Wasilla, Alaska, where she sang Patsy Cline tunes in dive bars (as well as singing with the Anchorage Opera), but she was always infatuated with New York City, her home for the last twenty years. In 2010 she appeared on Broadway in Twyla Tharp’s musical “Come Fly Away in which she sang solos and duets with the recorded voice of Frank Sinatra (with the blessings of the Sinatra Estate), backed by a 19-piece live big band. The performance was hailed by critics as “wonderful” (Huffington Post), “elegant” (USA Today), and “terrific” (New York Observer). Her career moved ahead with regular appearances with Mike Longo (Dizzy Gillespie’s pianist), at New York’s prestigious Café Carlyle, and in Errol Morris’s critically acclaimed Netflix documentary-drama, Wormwood. Hilary is also member of the vocal trio Duchess. The group pays tribute to The Boswell Sisters, the legendary close harmony singing trio of the jazz and swing eras. The group also enjoys an ongoing collaboration with the Paul Taylor Dance Company, performing the music of the Andrews Sisters for Taylor’s seminal piece, Company B. She lists Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Joni Mitchell, and Tom Waits among her influences.

Hilary will present a program at the Mainstay she calls “Trail Songs”, a tribute to the familiar Great American Songbook tunes associated with the country’s fascination with Hollywood’s musical Westerns from the 1930s through the 1950s. These are songs that have deep jazz / Songbook connections thanks to Bing Crosby, Johnny Mercer, Jack Teagarden, Benny Carter, Frank Sinatra, as well as the “singing cowboys”, Roy Rogers and Gene Autrey. As Hilary points out, “Everyone knows and loves these songs.”

Hilary will be joined by her band — Justin Poindexter on guitar and vocals; Aaron Thurston on drums, and Noah Garabedian on string bass.

Showtime for the live concert event is 8 pm. Tickets are $20 in advance of the show and can be purchased online at mainstayrockhall.org. Phone reservations are accepted by calling (410) 639-9133 (tickets reserved by phone are $25 when paid at the door). The Mainstay is located at 5753 N Main Street in Rock Hall, Maryland. Its regular calendar of local, regional, and nationally touring artists features a live performance every week of the year (February through December) in a variety of music genres.

The programs of the Mainstay are supported with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.

On June 3 at 8 pm, The Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland presents another unique live music collaboration in its new “First Friday with Joe Holt” series.  Holt is well known on the Eastern Shore as being a sensitive accompanist and creative collaborator. He commands a repertoire of ballads, classic and swing jazz tunes in the style of piano great Dave McKenna. The First Friday series allows Joe to stretch these limits by inviting different musical guests each month, often from quite different musical genres, to explore their common ground

For this month’s First Friday program, Joe Holt asks the musical question, “What happens when you ask a traditional jazz trumpeter (Danny Tobias), a bop sax guy (Vincent Lardear), and a Latin jazz trombonist (David Sacks) to collaborate on classic selections from the Great American Songbook?”

Equally at home with a cornet or trumpet, Danny Tobias is best known for traditional jazz and swing, either reproducing classic arrangements or artful improvisation. In addition to playing at Birdland with David Ostwald’s Louis Armstrong Eternity Band, or with Marty Grosz’s Hot Wings, or with the Midiri Brothers’, Danny has worked with a number of high-profile artists such as Vince Giordano, Harry Allen, Marty Grosz, and Howard Alden. He has performed at Birdland, Mezzrow, Lincoln Center, the Players Club, and other prestigious jazz venues in major US cities.

Vincent Lardear is a former member of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under trombonist Buddy Morrow and was lead alto sax with the Illinois Jacquet Big Band.  He has also recorded with Grammy Award winning saxophonist Phil Woods. Vince is currently a member of the Baltimore Symphony Pops andis a well-known figure in the jazz scene in Philadelphia and the surrounding Tri-State area.

David Sacks has performed and recorded with Brazilian greats such as Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrud Gilberto (the “Girl from Ipanema”), Flora Purim, and Tito Puente. He performed in the Broadway show Gospel at Colonus starring Morgan Freeman. He currently plays and sings Brazilian, Latin, and jazz music in the DC metro area and regularly performs at venues such as Strathmore, Blues Alley, Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, and the Embassy of Brazil.

Advance tickets are $15, and are available at www.mainstayrockhall.org. Telephone reservations are also accepted by calling 410-639-9133. The Mainstay is located at 5753 N. Main Street in Rock Hall. It receives funding from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.

Della Mae

On Friday, May 27, the Mainstay in Rock Hall, in partnership with the Hedgelawn Foundation, welcomes bluegrass headliner, Della Mae to their stage.

Della Mae is a GRAMMY-nominated, bluegrass band that formed in Boston in 2009. Their name, “Della Mae” comes from the song, “Big Spike Hammer,” a bluegrass classic famously recorded by the Osborne Brothers. The all-women band consists of founder and fiddle player Kimber Ludiker, lead vocalist/guitarist Celia Woodsmith, guitarist Avril Smith, bassist Vickie Vaughn, and mandolinist Maddie Witler. They have shared the stage with the likes of Willie Nelson, Del McCoury, Dr. John and Alison Krauss. Their second album, This World Oft Can Be, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album at the 56th Grammy Awards ceremony. Bandleader Ludiker comments that the band is at heart more focused on producing a powerful finished body of work that their vocal prowess and technical virtuosity contribute to rather than just showing off their considerable technical talent. They have performed as Bluegrass headliners in more than thirty states at festivals, performing arts venues and clubs and teaching at workshops and music camps. In the fall of 2012, they were commissioned as an American Music Abroad alumni band that brought them on tour through Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, where they received rave reviews from embassy staff and program audiences alike.

Showtime for the live concert event is 8 pm. Tickets are $25 in advance of the show and can be purchased online at mainstayrockhall.org. Phone reservations are accepted by calling (410) 639-9133 (tickets reserved by phone are $30 when paid at the door). The Mainstay is located at 5753 N Main Street in Rock Hall, Maryland. Its regular calendar of local, regional, and nationally touring artists features a live performance every week of the year (February through December) in a variety of music genres.

The programs of the Mainstay are also supported with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Kent Cultural Alliance.