11/2/19:</br>Mike Casey Trio w/Benito Gonzalez
Mike Casey gets around.
The past year found him in Valencia, Spain for Berklee’s master’s program in Contemporary Performance and Music Production. He spent the summer playing his work in Barcelona, Madrid, Granada and Marseille. Stateside, he has played Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cape May, Wilmington, DC, NYC and many venues in Connecticut—his state of origin. He’s produced two albums—The Sound of Surprise and Stay Surprising. An emerging master on his instrument, Mike Casey is finding new audiences both on stage and on the web. His online activity has exceeded 2 million streams in the past 2 years. All this with the simple, sincere wish: "to deliver each musical statement with power, honesty, and passion to connect with audiences.” He has been doing so with the likes of Nat Reeves, Brandee Younger, Zaccai Curtis, Justin Faulkner and Marc Cary, among others.
Joining Mr. Casey:
Benito Gonzalez won the 2005 Great American Jazz Piano Competition. He has produced four albums: Starting Point, Circles, Dream Rhapsody and Passion Reverence Transcendence. He has recorded projects with Kenny Garrett and with Antonio Parker. Over the years, Benito has performed with Jackie McLean, Curtis Fuller, Pharoah Sanders, Azar Lawrence, Bobby Hutcherson, Christian McBride, Victor Bailey, Ignacio Berroa, Billy Hart, Al Foster, Roy Hargrove, Rene McLean, Steve Turre, Hamiet Bluiett, Antonio Sanchez, T.K. Blue and Nicholas Payton. He is a powerful composer and pianist.
Matt Dwonszyk is an accomplished bassist, composer, arranger and educator from Rocky Hill, CT. He’s a regular at NYC clubs like Smalls, Dizzy’s, Smoke and the Blue Note and has worked with Steve Davis, Harold Mabern, Jazzmeia Horn, Bennie Wallace, Dr. Eddie Henderson and Herlin Riley, among others. Matt's debut recording Wonderful World was released just this May.
Corey Garcia is a percussionist and composer immersed in the New York jazz scene from a very young age. Garcia and his compositions appear at various venues in New York and Connecticut, including Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, The Cell Theatre, The Side Door Jazz Club, and seeds::Brooklyn. He has worked with Steve Davis, Charnett Moffett and JD Allen, among others. Garcia is a recent graduate of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford) where he studied with renowned drummer Eric McPherson.
Here @exuberance, we often feature piano trios with a horn player. For this salon, we present a horn trio with a pianist—and a fearsome one at that. The evening should be both combustible and beautiful.
@exuberance parties at Matt’s are by invitation only to provide a dignified, comfortable and acoustically ideal setting for worthwhile art and ideas. Cellphones and other devices are to be holstered during the performances. Between sets, conviviality rules.