Kendall Square Concert Series & Harborwalk Sounds: Berklee at the ICA July 16, 2008

Berklee College of Music’s Jazz Revelation Records Presents
Free Live Music on Thursdays at Noon and at 6:00 p.m.
With The Kendall Square Concert Series, June 5 – October 2,
And Harborwalk Sounds: Berklee at the ICA, June 19 – September 11
BOSTON, MA, May 27, 2008 – Jazz Revelation Records presents the fourth-annual Kendall Square Concert Series and the second-annual, Harborwalk Sounds: Berklee at the Institute for Contemporary Art. Berklee students and alumni play original live music for FREE every Thursday throughout the summer. For complete performer bio information visit berklee.edu/events.
The Kendall Square Concert Series takes place at 300 Athenaeum St., Kendall Square, Cambridge, every Thursday, noon to 2:00 p.m., June 5 – October 2. The series is sponsored by the Kendall Square Corporation. For more information, please call 617-577-7354.
Harborwalk Sounds: Berklee at the ICA takes place at the museum's Putnam Investments Plaza, 100 Northern Avenue, on Boston's waterfront, every Thursday, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., June 19 – September 11. For more information, please call the ICA at 617-478-3100.
July 17: Juan Chavez at Kendall Square and ICA
Born in Dallas, Texas, Juan Pablo Chavez began his musical studies as a violinist. He attended the Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he studied classical, jazz, and Afro-Cuban performance and composition, and received many awards for his talents. At Berklee he is studying with violinist Rob Thomas (Mahavishnu Project, String Trio of New York). Chavez is widely recognized for his knowledge of Afro-Cuban music and has taught many classes and workshops, including the 2004 Afro-Cuban Strings Seminar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to leading 10-piece Latin dance band Díle, he is currently working on his first album, Salsa for Strings, and is writing a book on contemporary Afro-Cuban violin.
July 24: Tantanakuy at Kendall Square and ICA
Tantanakuy is led by Argentinean composers Marcelo Woloski (percussion) and Andres Rotmistrofsky (bass), and features Italian vocalist Eleonora Bianchini. Their music blends Argentinean, Brazilian, Afro Cuban, Afro Peruvian, and Uruguayan rhythms with jazz harmonies. The band's versatility has placed them in high demand on and off campus, where they have performed in numerous shows at the Berklee Performance Center, as well as at Cambridge’s Ryles and Regattabar nightclubs. Woloski's composition "Mundo Por Conocer" appeared on the 2007 Jazz Revelation Records release, The New Old School.
July 31: Sol Melodiq at Kendall Square and ICA
Sol Melodiq aspires to create new sounds that touch, examine, and uplift the soul. Sol Melodiq is comprised of skilled musicians fluent in jazz, rock, hip-hop, funk, classic soul, and world music. The band was formed at Berklee with Stacey Wade (keyboard and organ for Al Green), James Richardson (keyboard and synthesizer), and Jamaal Moore (saxophone and percussion) making up the core of the band. Additional members include Berklee students Gabe Jones (drums/vocals), Clynton Cox (guitar/vocals), and Freddy DeBoe (tenor saxophone). The band plays bi-weekly shows at the Beehive, Good Life, Park Ave Lounge, and the Mission Bar & Grille, and recently performed at the Boston Urban Music Awards. Sol Melodiq is currently working on an album due this fall.
August 7: Zach Hillyard Band at Kendall Square and ICA
The Zach Hillyard Band [ZHB] – vocalist/keyboardist Hillyard, bassist Wesley Cole, guitarist Niklas Karlsson, and drummer Francesco Basile – offers a unique blend of quality musicianship, songwriting, and danceable grooves. With an intermingling of pop, funk, soul, and r&b, ZHB has an appeal that stretches far and wide. The group recently won OurStage.com’s College Clash Competition, earning the title "Best College Band in New England" and a $5,000 grand prize, and took top honors in the BMI John Lennon Songwriting Competition. ZHB has performed at clubs in Boston and New York, and toured southern California last year, where they recorded their debut album with producer Michael Woodrum. The CD has gained attention with national radio airplay, and the band is planning a nationwide tour for the summer of 2008.
August 14: Cole DeGenova at Kendall Square and ICA
Cole DeGenova is a pianist, vocalist, songwriter, percussionist, and poet from Chicago. He began studying music at 4, and was working as a professional musician by 15. He studied classical, jazz, blues, Cuban, and Brazilian percussion, but was also influenced by neo-soul and hip-hop. He has performed with or opened for some of Chicago's top artists, including Kurt Elling, Patricia Barber, Jon Faddis, and Corey Wilkes. DeGenova was chosen by the Jazz Institute of Chicago to perform at the world-famous Auditorium Theatre, and, in 2005, performed with the Illinois Music Educators' Association’s All-State Honors Jazz Band. Now attending Berklee, DeGenova is spreading his music to a wider audience. He toured the Midwest with Hal Reed and the Mob, and in Switzerland with his original funk/r&b band Apollo Jones. His latest project is a funk, neo-soul, blues, and jazz group called The People's Republic. The group plans to release its debut EP this summer.
August 21: Pat Carroll at Kendall Square and ICA
Pat Carroll, a saxophonist from Pleasanton, CA, has been focused on music since age 12, when he began studying with noted San Francisco musician Dann Zinn. In his junior year of high school, Carroll was awarded the Jimmy Lyons scholarship at the 2004 Monterey Jazz Festival. In 2005, he was commissioned to write and perform original music as a member of the SFJAZZ Young Composers Project, a group that rehearsed with Ravi Coltrane, Miguel Zenon, Vijay Iyer, and Maria Schneider. At Berklee, Carroll has studied with Hal Crook, Ralph Peterson, and Joe Lovano. His composition, “Mighty Aphrodite,” appears on the new Jazz Revelation Records release, Common Ground.
August 28: Berklee Monterey Quartet at Kendall Square and ICA
Each fall, Berklee chooses four of its finest students to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival, where they perform to standing-room-only audiences. The group featured here performed at the festival in 2007. With graduation still ahead, the members of the Berklee Monterey Quartet are already highly sought after, with dozens of professional credits, major awards, and concerts. Leader Mika Nishimura, from Tokyo, holds the coveted piano chair in the IAJE Sisters in Jazz Quintet, and was chosen to perform at the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center.
September 4: Manami Morita at Kendall Square and ICA
Manami Morita, a native of Saitama, Japan, started playing classical piano at 4. At the time, she hated piano lessons because she wasn't attracted to classical piano. She loved to play but wanted more musical freedom. At 13, Morita discovered jazz and became addicted, even learning improvisation on her own. In 2004, Morita put aside thoughts of becoming a flight attendant or English teacher to follow her dream of playing jazz, when she received a scholarship to study at Berklee. She was recently awarded the Mary Jane Earnhart Endowed Scholarship. Morita appears on the latest Jazz Revelation Records CD release, Common Ground, with the track “Going Home.”
September 11: Katie Thiroux at Kendall Square and ICA
Katie Thiroux, from Los Angeles, California, is the recipient of the Phil Ramone Presidential Scholarship to Berklee, a rare, full-ride award. She has just completed her second year at the college. Thiroux performed at the 2004 and 2005 IAJE conferences as both a bassist and vocalist. For four years in a row, she was selected to be a member of the elite Gibson/Baldwin Grammy National Honor Jazz Ensemble. She has also received fellowships to the prestigious Brubeck Institute Summer Jazz Colony, and the Vail Jazz Festival. In 2005 she was awarded the Los Angeles Jazz Society's "Shelly Manne New Talent Award," and also received the Downbeat Magazine Student Music Awards for Outstanding Vocal Performance, and Outstanding Bassist, in 2006.
September 18: Keppie Coutts at Kendall Square
Keppie Coutts is an Australian-born funk-folkstress, submerged and reveling in the new wave of folk fusion – an eclectic melding of acoustic-based songs that step inside jazz and soul. Coutts started out spreading her words as poetry at local Sydney arts haunts and indie spaces. Very quickly, the words found a canvas of music, and almost as quickly she was thrust into the studio, where she recorded her debut album, On the Edge of a Dream. Since coming to Berklee in 2005, she has earned the praise of peers, audiences, and mentors. She won both the Performing Songwriter Competition, and the Songwriter's Showcase Competition - two prestigious showcases that Berklee presents to display its best talent.
September 25: Hardtimes at Kendall Square
October 2: Eleonora Bianchini at Kendall Square
Originally from Perugia, Italy, Eleonora Bianchini is a young singer whose voice creates a warm and charming atmosphere. She is inspired by many Brazilian and Latin American artists, including Rosa Passos, Caetano Veloso, Mayte Martin, and Eva Ayllon. Bianchini has collaborated with artists and Berklee faculty members such as Oscar Stagnaro, Leo Blanco, and Dan Moretti, and has also recorded with Danilo Perez's Big Band project. She is currently lead vocalist of Peru Mestizo Project with band leader Oscar Stagnaro, and is recording a project that features her own compositions in different South American styles, with lyrics in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.

Katherine F. Myers
Office of Public Information
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston St, MS-855 PI
Boston, MA 02215