The John Funkhouser Quartet
Saturday, September 3 at 7:30pm
“Complex rhythms, deep soulful moments, rock and passion and sensitivity” is how Bebop Spoken Here describes the John Funkhouser Quartet. With influences as wide ranging as Woody Guthrie, Thelonious Monk, Frank Zappa, Frederic Chopin, Ravi Shankar, and Abdullah Ibrahim, the Quartet is a band of Musicians without Borders. Funkhouser's latest compositions flow from a new influence – his recent tour of South Africa. Each of Funkhouser's expansive compositions inhabits a unique universe, while the band seamlessly integrates composed music with improvisation into what Bop-n-Jazz.com describes as “a whirling dervish of sound and light”.
“The John Funkhouser Quartet is often wildly inventive and great fun to watch and listen to - they can also play with grace and sweetness.” (Middletown Eye)
The Quartet began to take shape in 2000, when John Funkhouser (keyboard) met Mike Connors (percussion) and they immediately understood they had a common musical vision. All playing in Jerry Sabatini's Sonic Explorers, they soon met Greg Loughman (bass) and formed the John Funkhouser Trio. The Trio played all over the Northeast to enthusiastic audiences and recorded the CD Time. Funkhouser then invited good friend and Sonic Explorers guitarist, Phil Sargent, to make it a quartet. Bonded by years of friendship as much as by shared music, the quartet now feels like a single organism more than a band of individual virtuosos.
The John Funkhouser Quartet has headlined the Jazz In June festival in Oklahoma City and played at major music festivals nationwide, including the Riverbend Festival in Chattanooga, TN, the Mellon Jazz Festival in Pittsburgh, PA, and Jazz in the Sangres in Westcliffe, CO. The band has played in such New York clubs as the Knitting Factory, Small's, and Cornelia St. Café, and has four CDs of original material to its credit: Still (2013), Time (2010), FunkHouse II (2003), and FunkHouse (1998). The Boston Globe enthused “the styles and moods of this accomplished, often spellbinding collection range far and wide….distinctive in its extremes.”
John Funkhouser is in equal demand as a jazz bassist and pianist, participating in an array of musical projects with some of the world's most accomplished and creative musicians. He has performed and/or recorded with such luminaries as Grammy winners Joe Lovano, Charles Neville, Steve Gadd, Abe Laboriel Sr., Mark Walker, and Max Weinberg, Grammy nominees Bobby Watson, Luciana Souza, Francisco Mela, and Tierney Sutton, Guggenheim fellows Rudresh Mahanthappa and Geri Allen, as well as David Fiuczynski, South Indian percussion master Trichy Sankaran, and Bill Pierce. He appeared on ABC's “20/20” and twice on NBC's “Today Show,” and several other television shows and documentaries. His discography includes over 60 CDs, featuring him in various roles, including leader, pianist, bassist, arranger, and producer.
Tickets are $20 with a pre-concert dinner available for $25. Reservations are required for dinner and recommended for the show. Venue is BYOB. Call (802) 247-4295 or e-mail us for reservations or more information.
This event is a part of Vermont Arts 2016, celebrating public funding for the arts.
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Phone: 802-247-4295
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