7pm doors, 7:30pm music
$15-30 sliding scale at door
Tom Cleary studied jazz performance with Yusef Lateef and Archie Shepp, and classical piano performance with Sylvia Parker and Elizabeth Metcalfe. He has had extended collaborations playing piano and keyboards with artists including Mike Gordon, James Harvey, Ray Vega, Patricia Julien, and Jamie Masefield. His collaboration with his wife, vocalist and composer Amber deLaurentis, in the jazz quartet Birdcode can be heard on the 2019 album You Are Here. He has played on jazz recordings including Cerulean by harmonicist John LaRouche, Burmese Panther by guitarist/composer Paul Asbell, and recent releases including Now And Then by saxophonist and flutist Marty Fogel and the debut album by Saturn People's Sound Collective. His work as an arranger and co-writer can be heard on deLaurentis' solo albums Innocent Road and Hey Sadie. He has accompanied artists including Clark Terry, Lester Bowie, Fontella Bass, Ernie Watts, Chris Vidala, Pete Yellin, Max Weinberg, Judi Silvano, Joe Lovano, Joan Rivers and Steve Earle. As a composer, his work has been commissioned and recorded by groups including Social Band, Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble and the Saint Michael's College Fine Arts Department. He teaches in the jazz studies program of the UVM Music Department, the Flynn Arts jazz program and his home studio; please visit https://soundcloud.com/bird-code and blog.uvm.edu/tgcleary.
Andy Gagnon regularly performs with LOVECRAFT, The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, Girls Girls Girls, The Renegade Groove, and PURPLE feat. Craig Mitchell. He has played as a side man for a wide variety of artists and groups, including Ray Vega, Noah Young, Jennifer Hartswick, Eugene Uman, The East Coast Inspirational Singers, Birdcode, Dennis McNeil, APEX Ensemble, Bruce Sklar, Eric Lindberg, Elizabeth!, Joe Davidian, Justin Levinson, Dan Liptak, Collin Craig and Matt Davide. As a composer, his works have been featured on concert programs, at academic festivals, and in film, most recently in the form of the score for the Vermont Suitcase Company's upcoming film, New Clothes! Andy is the instrumental music director at Stowe Elementary, Middle, and High schools, the manager of the Vermont All State Music Festival concert band, the personnel manager for The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, a faculty member at the Vermont Governor's Institute on the Arts, a member of the Music-COMP board of directors, and the founding director of the VMEA District 2 Jazz Festival.
Composer Kyle Saulnier’s work has been celebrated by Downbeat as “a Great American Songbook of another order." His music has been performed by the Awakening Orchestra, the Metropole Orkest, the Westerlies, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, the Louisiana Philharmonic, Saturn People’s Sound Collective, and TURNmusic, among others, and he has scored for television, advertising, and independent film projects. As a performer, Kyle leads and conducts the Awakening Orchestra, and has recently debuted the collaborative ensembles Edna (with Michael Chorney and Jeremy Frederick) and Cleary/Gagnon/Saulnier (with Tom Cleary and Andy Gagnon). He performs on acoustic bass and baritone saxophone, and has premiered new works by Eve Beglarian and Erik Nielsen, and appeared with artists including Moppa Elliott, Kat Wright, Francesca Blanchard, Brian Boyes, Michael Chorney, and LOVECRAFT. Kyle is the incoming artistic director of the Vermont Jazz Ensemble and the director of the Vermont Youth Symphony’s Jazz Program. He has served as music faculty at Middlebury College, Quinnipiac University, and Northern Vermont University, and is active with the visionary Music-COMP mentoring program.