Friday, July 8, Doors: 8:30 p.m. Show: 9 pm sharp
BYOB – Jazz $10 at the door / $8 in advance @ http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/182337

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone Presents

Michael Ray’s X-Ray & Josh Lawrence Quintet

Michael Ray’s X-Ray: Michael Ray, trumpet; Jan Simpkins, bass;Rick Taylor, drums
Originally from Trenton, New Jersey, world-reknowned trumpeter MICHAEL RAY is a member of both the Sun Ra Arkestra and Kool & the Gang.  Michael has also recorded with Phish, Delfeayo Marsalis, Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, and avant rockers Iris May Tango and performed live with Aquarium Rescue Unit, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Widespread Panic, Porno for Pyros, Col. Bruce Hampton, and Deep Banana Blackout.

Josh Lawrence Quintet: Josh Lawrence, trumpet; Mike Cemprola, alto sax; Luke Carlos O’Reilly, piano; Micah Jones, bass; Mike DeCastro, drums
JOSH LAWRENCE is an internationally acclaimed trumpeter, composer, bandleader and educator. He has performed with artists from Erykah Badu to Charlie Persip and toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. His music fuses influences from New York City and Philadelphia into a fresh new sound called Soul Bop.  Lawrence studied at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and became a popular sideman on the neo-soul and jazz scenes. After graduation, he moved to the historic Sugar Hill neighborhood in Harlem, where he was introduced to jazz masters Barry Harris, Frank Lacy, Jimmy Cobb, Lou Donaldson, and Olu Dara. He co-founded the Uptown Brass at the Church of the Intercession in Washington Heights, worked as musical director for the band Harlem PsychaDelic and taught on faculty as brass instructor at Bronx Arts and Bronx Lab.   Josh is currently living in Philly, leading his own group and playing with Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone is a monthly event, showcasing some of Philadelphia’s most creative musicians in a laid-back, BYOB venue that combines the intimacy of a club with a concert hall’s respect for the music.

Friday, June 10 – Doors: 8:30 p.m. Show: 9 pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz
$10 at the door / $8 in advance

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone Presents
Dave Manley’s Indigenous & the Scriptors

Dave Manley’s Indigenous: Dave Manley, guitar; Jason Fraticelli, bass;
Francois Zayas, cajon & other percussion
Guitarist DAVE MANLEY’s trio INDIGENOUS explores Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Flamenco, and jazz influences with bassist JASON FRATICELLI and Cuban-born percussionist FRANCOIS ZAYAS.  It is the culmination of Dave’s extensive R&B and jazz experience and ten years of solo nylon-string guitar gigs.  When Dave, a native of Detroit, first arrived in Philly, he immersed himself in the local music scene and was soon working with DJs King Britt and Josh Wink and members of the local jazz/rock outfit Cross Town Traffic.  He left Philly briefly to attend the New School, and when he returned he found himself in the middle of a mini musical renaissance, the birth of the “Neo-Soul Sound.”  Dave went on to write for and tour with artists including DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild, Herbie Hancock, Raheem DeVaughn, and Carol Riddick.  Dave, along with Pete Kuzma, co-wrote the song “Still Here,” which appears on Jill Scott’s “Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2.”

The Scriptors: Bryan Rogers, tenor sax; Matt Engle, bass; Mike Szekely, drums
The Scriptors perform original compositions with other treatments ranging from the standard jazz repertoire to postbop harmolodics, taking as their launching off point a thoughtful, dynamic, and expansive improvisational language. Drawing upon rhythmic and harmonic principles associated with a range of jazz idioms, the group’s musical lines of flight seek out spaces of liminality and intensity.  Saxophonist BRYAN ROGERS and bassist MATT ENGLE were both members of the quartet Shot x Shot; Bryan is also a member of Bobby Zankel’s Warriors of the Wonderful Sound.  “The modern scriptor is born simultaneously with the text, is in no way equipped with a being preceding or exceeding the writing… there is no other time than that of the enunciation and every text is eternally written here and now.” – Roland Barthes

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone is a monthly event, showcasing some of Philadelphia’s most creative musicians in a laid-back, BYOB venue that combines the intimacy of a club with a concert hall’s respect for the music.

Friday, May 13 – Doors: 8:30 p.m. Show: 9 pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz

$10 at the door / $8 in advance at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/169808

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone Presents

Warren Oree & The Arpeggio Jazz Trio and Puzzlebox

WARREN OREE & THE ARPEGGIO JAZZ TRIO: Warren Oree, bass; Umar Raheem, tenor & soprano sax; Greg “Ju-Ju” Jones, drums – WARREN OREE & THE ARPEGGIO JAZZ ENSEMBLE have performed throughout the world.  The band’s repertoire includes original and standard compositions.  Everyone in the band composes, which gives the group a versatile sound that appeals to a variety of audiences. Their music is flexible, ranging from soft, contemplative melodies, to energetic, multi-rhythmic arrangements.  Bandleader and bassist Warren Oree has toured and/or recorded with Jamaladeen Tacuma, Khan Jamal, and Hamiette Bluiette and performed with Donald Byrd, Wynton Marsalis, and Odean Pope. He is also busy behind the scenes.  He is co-founder and artistic director of LifeLine Music Coalition and co-producer of  the West Oak Lane Jazz and Arts Festival.  Saxophonist UMAR RAHEEM has toured and recorded with Hank Mobley, Sunny Murray, Monnette Sudler, and others.  Drummer GREG “JU-JU” JONES has been playing drums for over thirty- five years and has performed with Donald Byrd, Odean Pope, and John Blake.

PUZZLEBOX: Keith DeStefano, bass; Maxfield Gast, alto & soprano sax; Steven Gokh, tenor sax; Mark Allen, baritone sax; Stan Slotter, trumpet & flute; Larry Toft, trombone; Anam Owili-Eger, piano; Joe Falcey, drums “Bassist KEITH DESTEFANO leads the Puzzlebox octet, and his original repertoire receives little exposure at proper jazz clubs. It’s not the only trend DeStefano has bucked.  He also bypassed music school, and began composing and playing the upright bass fairly late in life. ‘I would just constantly have ideas for tunes,’ the Philadelphia bandleader said. ‘The natural thing to do was to get a band together and play them.” – Eric Fine, in Downbeat (September 2010). Including such talented (and busy) Philadelphians as veteran trumpeter/flutist STAN SLOTTER, saxophonists MAXFIELD GAST and MARK ALLEN (a member of Bobby Zankel’s Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band, and Norman David’s Eleventet), trombonist LARRY TOFT (Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, West Philadelphia Orchestra), and pianist ANAM OWILI-EGER, Puzzlebox has been praised by Karl Stark in the Philadelphia Inquirer (“ambitious writing”) and David Adler in the Philadelphia Weekly (“Mingus-like in its swinging abandon and its aura of bluesy romance, not to mention its compositional seriousness”).

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone is a monthly event, showcasing some of Philadelphia’s most creative musicians in a laid-back, BYOB venue that combines the intimacy of a club with a concert hall’s respect for the music.

A Lucky Old Souls production, www.luckyoldsouls.com

Friday, April 8 – Doors 8:30pm, Show: 9pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz
$10 at the Door / $8 in advance at (www.brownpapertickets.com/event/165951)

Lucky Old Souls Presents:
LEON BOYKINS TRIO: Leon Boykins, bass; Alex LoRe, alto saxophone;
Dustin Kaufman, drums

JUSTIN SEKELEWSKI QUINTET featuring JIM HOLTON: Michael Pracher, tenor saxophone; Adam Siegel, alto saxophone; Jim Holton, piano; Justin Sekelewski, bass; Nick Wight, drums

Bassist/composer LEON BOYKINS strives to positively influence the public through music. Born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Leon showed an interest in music at a young age. His musical journey started on the piano, where he learned the basics of melody and harmony. He then moved to the bass, which introduced him to the foundations of rhythm. In high school, after performing with various regional high school jazz bands and all state orchestras, Leon decided to make music his career path. Upon graduating from Schenley High School, Leon enrolled in West Virginia University. In the fall of 2005, he transfered to Temple University in Philadelphia, where he received a Bachelor of Music in jazz performance. While living in Philadelphia, Leon quickly made a name for himself as both a performer and an educator. He had the opportunity to share the stage with many musical greats, including pianist Orrin Evans, saxophonist Ben Schachter, trumpeter John Swana, trumpeter Terrel Stafford, drummer ?uestlove, and many more. Currently, Leon lives in New York City, pursuing a Master’s degree in music performance at the prestigious Manhattan School of Music. He is focusing on jazz performance, classical bass technique, and composition. Bass mentors have included Harvie S, Jeremy McCoy, Larry Grenadier, Madison Rast, Mike Boone, Douglas Mapp, Dr. Andrew Kohn, Paul Thompson, Bill Howard and Dwayne Dolphin. He would like to thank his friends, family, books, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City for all the educational experiences that they have provided.

The JUSTIN SEKELEWSKI QUINTET was formed in the fall of 2010. The band consists of musicians who are all based in Philadelphia and perform regularly in Philadelphia and the surrounding areas up and down the East Coast. Bassist Justin Sekelewski, pianist JIM HOLTON, and drummer NICK WIGHT have been playing together on a consistent basis for several years. Saxophonists ADAM SIEGEL and MIKE PRACHER provide the perfect complement to the ethos of this group: moving jazz in a new and exciting direction while holding a firm grasp on the history of the music and the idea that jazz was and still is music of the people. Pianist, cellist, composer, and arranger Jim Holton has performed extensively in the Philadelphia Area, New York, and New Jersey with several groups, including the critically-acclaimed Rhythm and Brass, Orrin Evans’s Captain Black Big Band, and Joe Sudler’s Swing Machine, which backed artists such as Jon Faddis, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, and Al Grey. Some of the many musicians he has worked with over the years include bassists Tyrone Brown, Mike Boone, and Charles Fambrough; drummers Byron Landham, Mickey Roker, Billy James, Ryan Faulkner, and Cornell Rochester; and horn players John Swana, Bootsie Barnes, Larry McKenna, and Clifford Adams. In addition to performing, he teaches cello and piano, and is one of the ministers of music at Saint John’s Lutheran Church in Ambler, Pa.