The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Folk, punk rock, blues, jazz players coming to Buttonwood
The Buttonwood Tree Performing Arts Center has a number of musical acts playing concerts later this month.
Their repertoires range from folk and punk rock to the blues and jazz. Charlie Diamond, the Giosa Brothers, and Kris Allen and Noah Baerman will perform at the 605 Main St. venue beginning next weekend.
Diamond, who will appear April 16 from 8 to 10 p.m., plays a “unique” blend of folk revival with some punk rock “edge,” according to a press release.
He drives all over New England for shows. “From the tip of Vermont to the shores of Rhode Island; the Catskill Mountains to the Berkshires to the Hudson River Valley, he just hops in his truck with his dog and hits the road,” the venue said.
Diamond has performed at farms, barns, hayrides, boats, graveyards, coffee shops, ice cream shops, art spaces, trees, rivers, diners and dinners. “You name it and he has played it,” the news release said.
Tickets are $15.
The Giosa Brothers, featuring Frank Varela and Rudi Weeks, will appear April 23 from 8 to 10 p.m.
Morgan Giosa is a blues guitarist and visual artist from Windsor. From an early age, he was raised around music and the arts, the Buttonwood said in the statement. “Many of Morgan’s friends and peers are gigging musicians. As such, Morgan has naturally discovered his own passion in blues guitar and the visual arts through this frequent exposure to creativity.”
Alex Giosa is a drummer/ percussionist, also from Windsor, and substitute drummer for the Broadway show, “Hamilton: An American Musical.” In addition, he has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., playing the drum kit for Center Stages production of “In The Heights,” the release said.
Varela attended Berklee School of Music and is an accomplished guitar player and composer.
Weeks has been a professional musician and teacher of music for over 45 years. He has performed with such 60s “greats” as The Contours, The Crests, and Ronnie Spector, and folk and bluegrass legends Tom Paxton and Tony Trischka.
Tickets are $12 in advance; $15 on the day of the show, and $10 for students.
Allen and Baerman will celebrate the birthday of Duke Ellington during their April 29 concert, running from 8 to 10 p.m.
Allen is an American saxophonist, composer, educator and recording artist. His latest release, “Beloved,” is his second album for the Truth Revolution Recording Collective.
In the company of his working band, Allen calls upon the musical languages of not only his mentor Jackie McLean, but also Young, Parker, Mingus, Ellington, Powell, Rollins, Coltrane, Coleman and Kirkland to spin a “unique” sound narrative, the Buttonwood said.
Jazz pianist and composer Baerman’s “tenacity and his cutting-edge yet soulful music have made him an inspiring figure to a growing legion of admirers.”
“Over 10 years after nearly walking away from the piano due to his struggles with EhlersDanlos Syndrome, an incurable connective tissue disorder with which he was born, the artist is playing and composing with more authority than ever,” the statement said.
These challenges and his experiences as a foster parent “have deepened his already fierce commitment to ‘message music,’ as evidenced by his powerful 2014 release ‘Ripples’ and his position as founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Resonant Motion,” the venue said.
Tickets are $20.