Traditional West African music meets contemporary jazz in a captivating display of beauty and virtuosity.
Pianist Jed Wilson joins forces with multi-instrumentalist Dave Kobrenski (Fulani flute, ngoni, percussion) for boundary-crossing musical events that enchant and delight.
Subtle, inventive, and full of joy – those are some of the ways listeners have described the piano music of Jed Wilson. A crowd-favorite, Jed is equally at home in the disparate worlds of jazz, free improvisation, and folk music. His virtuoso playing is matched only by his sharp wit and sense of humor on-stage.
Dave Kobrenski is a multi-instrumentalist who has been leaving audiences speechless for two decades with his expressive playing of the Fulani flute, a unique three-holed woodwind with an earthy, raw sound that has been described as “the voice of Africa itself taking flight on the wind.” He also plays the kamale ngoni (a 12-string, bluesy harp/lute from Mali), the calabash, and the djembé.
Wilson and Kobrenski collaborate with several other talented musicians for select shows. Here are a few of our favorite musicians to perform with:
Brian Shankar Adler is a multidisciplinary drummer, percussionist and composer. His work transcends the terrain between genre and geographic region, asking: how can we find connection through rhythm? Adler has been described as being “a polyrhythmic force… New York City gritty yet still somehow capable of evoking the delicacy of a summer breeze…” by Brad Cohan, JazzTimes.
John Hughes is an internationally renowned composer, kora player, percussionist and vocalist whose style crosses myriad cultural boundaries and fuses disparate influences. Playing ancient traditional instruments not often heard in the United States, many of which he builds himself, John takes his audience on an intimate musical tour of universal expressions of joy and hope that soothe and up-lift the spirit. Whether playing elegant and stately pieces from the classical repertoire of the Jeli’s (Griot’s) of West Africa or original compositions, John’s kora playing has an uncommon beauty that is, at once, exquisitely detailed and bold.
Jared Steer is a well rounded drummer and percussionist who plays with a vast number of projects including Donkilo! (voted Best of NH Band in 2011), The Randy Roos Quartet, Ben Rudnick and Friends, The Maro Jaro Quartet, The Wayfarers, Davis and Deleault, and the Mike Stockbridge Quartet. Jared can be seen/heard with a number of different other projects as well. He also has recorded on numerous albums with many of the region’s top artists.
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Stone Mountain Arts Center in Brownfield, Maine
Jed has been an active performer since his teenage years in Portland, Oregon. He received a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the New England Conservatory, where he formed a long-standing musical partnership with jazz vocalist Dominique Eade. The two have toured widely, and in 2006 released a critically acclaimed CD that appeared on many of the year’s top-ten album lists. More recently, Jed has performed extensively with singer/songwriter Heather Masse. The association with Masse has resulted in a host of appearances across North America, including multiple appearances on NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”
More info: https://www.jedwilson.com/music
John Hughes is an internationally renowned composer, kora player, percussionist and vocalist whose style crosses myriad cultural boundaries and fuses disparate influences. Playing ancient traditional instruments not often heard in the United States, many of which he builds himself, John takes his audience on an intimate musical tour of universal expressions of joy and hope that soothe and up-lift the spirit. Whether playing elegant and stately pieces from the classical repertoire of the Jeli’s (Griot’s) of West Africa or original compositions, John’s kora playing has an uncommon beauty that is, at once, exquisitely detailed and bold. His signature pieces are rhythmically nuanced and laced with syncopations that cascade off the strings into whirlpools of mesmerizing sound.
More info: http://johnhughesarts.com
Dave has traveled extensively in West Africa to study music with master musicians such as Famoudou Konaté, Sayon Camara, Nansady Keita, and other musicians of the region. During this period of almost yearly sojourns to Guinea, he became proficient on the Fula flute, kamale ngoni (10-string harp from Mali), and djembe drum. His ongoing apprenticeship with a master of the Malinké flute tradition, Lanciné Condé, has already spanned a decade, and he continues that apprenticeship with frequent trips back to villages in the Niger River valley, in the heart of West Africa. Dave weaves his accounts of these voyages into entertaining and enriching cultural experiences for his audiences.
More info: https://davekobrenski.com/music
Use the form below to inquire about bookings.