Summer music series begins Saturday June 25
The beat goes on with Jazz Vespers in Concert Summer Series, beginning this Saturday, June 25th at 5:30 p.m.., at Philipstown.info’s gallery and performance space at 69 Main St. in Cold Spring. For the first time in the decade since monthly Jazz Vespers began at the First Presbyterian Church of Philipstown (FPCP), Jazz Vespers continues through the summer as a concert series, hosted by Philipstown.info. Jazz Vespers in Concert is all music, highlighting the music and musicians of FPCP’s Jazz Vespers. The regular FPCP Jazz Vespers worship service will resume in September.
This month’s musicians
Tom McCoy has been the bandleader for the Jazz Vespers at the First Presbyterian Church of Philipstown since its inception in 1999. One of the area’s most diverse musicians, he is a pianist, composer, arranger, music educator who has backed up Ray Charles, James Taylor, Natalie Merchant, Judy Collins, Robert Goulet, Garth Hudson, Kate Pierson and many others. His work has been heard on national television and his original musical The Battle of the Orphans was mounted locally at the Depot Theater.
Ed Xiques is active in New York as a saxophonist/woodwind player and composer. He has performed and recorded extensively with many artists including Herb Pomeroy, Jaki Byard, Woody Herman, The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, Aerosmith, The Jackson Five, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli and more. He is on the faculty of Vassar College.
Jazz vibraphonist Mark Sherman won the “Rising Star Vibes” Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 and was recently selected as a cultural jazz ambassador for the State Department and Jazz At Lincoln Center tour to Russia and Asia. He is on the faculty of the Julliard School of Music.
Lew Scott is one of the most sought after bassists in the New York area. He has performed with such notables as Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Herb Ellis, George Coleman, Dave Liebman, Anita O’Day, Mark Murphy, Robert Goulet and many others.
Mike LaRocco, on drums, is a frequent performer around the Hudson Valley, with a wide range of musicians and groups. His Quartet plays at the annual “An Evening of Jazz” at the Depot Theatre in Garrison.
