The Bonaventure Quartet featuring Amy Pike return to Red Light Café for another fabulous evening of Gypsy Jazz and Sultry Swing! Joining them will be the immensely talented acoustic duo 9 String Theory.
"With the sultry, silky voice of former Lost Continentals front woman Amy Pike and the gypsy-jazz flavored guitar of Charles Williams, Bonaventure is a marvelous melting pot. They add Southern sass to the smokey jazz of Parisian cabarets between the world wars…" — Shane Harrison, Atlanta Journal Constitution
$12 Adv – $15 Door
Doors @ 7 PM
The Bonaventure Quartet is a unique group which hails from Atlanta and is one of the premier Gypsy Jazz / Original Swing Music groups in America. Originally your basic four-piece quartet, we kept growing until now we have arrived at what we refer to as the Double Quartet.
The Bonaventure Quartet was originally just Dave and Charles who were nuts about Django. But we needed some low end, so we dragged Mark Bynum over on Sunday afternoons and became an all-acoustic trio based in Atlanta whose initial inspiration came from the great French gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt. At least, that's how it started. Since Amy Pike was a close friend and just happened to be the best singer we'd ever met, we begged her to start singing with us, and once she did, we didn't want her to stop. So then we were a quartet. (Mark got busy on the road and Kris Dale stepped and stayed for years! Now Kris is on the road and Mark is back in the fold.)
But we were still greedy for another melody instrument, so we went looking and found Don Erdman on clarinet and we became a quintet. Inevitably, however, we had to meet a swing violinist. So naturally, when Marla Feeney stepped into the room, we grabbed her, too, and now we have the Sextet! But then we recorded the Secret Seduction of the Grand Pompadour. Charles and Mark had worked with the amazing Joel Morris previously in a wacky funk group called the Sargasso Cs, and when some songs called for drums, we said "Yo-Joel!!" And he fit in like a glove. So now we had a Septet.
While recording the above CD, our wonderful friend and engineer, Ken Gregory played some trumpet and trombone, and he was so tasteful, we said, "bring it on, Ken!" Dave got busy with some other stuff and had to step out, but luckily Dan Coy, a great Atlanta jazz guitarist, turned out to be a Djangophile, too, and stepped right into the fold. Which brings us to the Fabulous Bonaventure Double Quartet. But that didn't last long. Gabe Granitz showed up at a gig we did playing the accordion and we said, "wow, it's so shiny!! And it sounds so French!" So now it's a Nonet.
The repertoire of the group is diverse. Our performances of classic standards, western swing, gypsy jazz and original compositions all fall under the spell of the Reinhardt influence. Moviegoers might be familiar with this style featured in the Woody Allen film "Sweet and Lowdown," or "Chocolat".
"The Bonaventure Quartet have only gotten more skillful and convincing in their take on a multitude of jazz variations – be it big ‘n’ brassy, smoky ‘n’ sultry, hot or cool, harsh or easy, the longtime Atlanta outfit handily transplants you to another time and place while putting their own stamp on it all. The ensemble’s latest album, Lost and Found at the Clermont Lounge, may take its title from the Ponce dive-turned-tourist-attraction, but the disc’s 15 songs traverse decades, regions, whole continents. Their mastery of their instruments, not to mention their affection for these sounds and styles, is genuine, never cheesy or cloying, which is no easy task, especially on the more theatrical pieces. It’s always a pleasure to hear Amy Pike sing, of course – the manner in which she embodies these songs, well, frankly I cannot recall her ever sounding better. And in the tradition of The Opal Foxx Quartet, there are no less than ten players on this thing. It’s a full-realized triumph…" — Jeff Clark, Stomp and Stammer
The finest instrumental music from around the world finds a fresh new voice in 9 String Theory: the unique musical collaboration of Russian domra virtuoso Angelina Galashenkova-Reed and award-winning American classical guitarist John Huston. 9 String Theory performs music of great variety and intense virtuosity, evoking musical traditions both ancient and modern, sharing with audiences the world’s diverse musical culture.
Angelina Galashenkova is among the greatest living virtuosos of the Russian domra (the ancient 3-string lute of Russian folk and Gypsy music). Born in St. Petersburg, at the age of eight she began musical studies at the St. Petersburg School of Music and continued her training at the Mussorgsky College of Music and the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. Angelina won First Prize in the Russian National Domra Competition in 1990 and First Prize in the International Folk Artists Competition in 1991. She has performed throughout Europe, Australia, Japan, and the United States (including her Carnegie Hall debut in 1991).
John Huston has distinguished himself as one of the most exciting and expressive guitarists of his generation. Guitart International has praised him as "a formidable talent”, the Fort-Worth Star Telegram described his “considerable energy and impressive virtuosity", and La Stampa has called his playing "...mesmerizing." The accolades for Mr. Huston's performance are numerous, including First Prize in the 2001 Aranjuez Strings International Guitar Competition. John has played concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, and Italy and performs frequently with the Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Atlanta Balalaika Society.
Together as 9 String Theory, Angelina and John create acoustic sounds like nothing you have ever heard. A 9 String Theory concert is like a musical trip around the world, featuring Latin American rhythms, Russian Gypsy fire, Spanish flamenco, echoes of Eastern Europe, and songs from America. Concerts by 9 String Theory delight and excite the most diverse audiences, and their combined virtuosity will win over the most discerning music lovers.