Friday March 11 – Doors: 8:30 p.m. Show: 9 pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz
$10 at the door / $8 in advance (at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/158697)

Lucky Old Souls Presents
MERVINE/HOLMES DUO
and ANWAR MARSHALL’S MATTER OF FICTION

Trumpeter BEN HOLMES & percussionist GREGG MERVINE have played and studied music together for almost a decade. It is remarkable how many musicial languages and traditions they share: Balkan music (Slavic Soul Party / West Philadelphia Orchestra), klezmer (together in Klez Dispensers), Turkish (Ben’s Zeybek Trio and Gregg’s collaborations with percussionist Nezih Antakli), modern jazz, and free jazz. In their duo performances their starting points are folk melodies (Turkish, Balkan, klezmer, perhaps Brazilian), which they use to create sparse, dynamic, and raw improvisations. Inspired by the spirit of the classic duo recordings of Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell, Holmes & Mervine draw on their common uncommon musical backgrounds while taking full advantage of the flexibility and openness of the duo format. Ben is based in Brooklyn, New York and performs regularly with his own trio & quartet, Cynthia Hopkins/Gloria Deluxe, Justin Mullen’s Delphian Jazz Orchestra, Romashka, the Carlberg/Urie City Band, and One Ring Zero. His debut record, ‘Ben Holmes Trio’, was released in 2009 and received 4/5 stars from DownBeat Magazine. Gregg is a drumset player, percussionist, composer, and arranger, and the founder of the West Philadelphia Orchestra. New projects include Rhinoceri Trio, a crossover jazz project, and ‘Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,’ a new theatrical work by Gas and Electric Arts for which he’s composing and arranging music. He’s currently living in Monteiro, Paraiba, in the interior of Brazil, where he studies and plays pifano music (Brazilian fife and drum), forro, and folkloric styles.

At age 22, drummer ANWAR MARSHALL is already one of Philadelphia’s most sought-after drummers. He can be heard frequently with a variety of bands at various venues around Philadelphia and in New York, including in the house band for Orrin Evans’s weekly happy hour jam session at World Cafe Live and with the Captain Black Big Band. Anwar has worked with a wide range of musicians: saxophone legend Bootsie Barnes, composer/pianist Matt Mitchell, saxophonist Wade Dean, keyboard player Luke O’Reilly, organist Lucas Brown, and many others. Anwar is also a composer, and tonight’s show will be an opportunity to hear his original music in trio format–with bassist BRIAN HOWELL (a member of the Victor North Quartet) and alto saxophonist ADAM SIEGEL (a member of the Wade Dean Enspiration).

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. www.luckyoldsouls.com

Friday, February 11 - Doors: 8:30 p.m.,  Show: 9 pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz
$10 at the door / $8 in advance (at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/153100)

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone Presents

Lucas Brown Quartet & the Wade Dean Enspiration

LUCAS BROWN QUARTET featuring JOHN SWANA: Lucas Brown, piano; John Swana, EVI; Jason Fraticelli, bass; Wayne Smith, Jr., drums

THE WADE DEAN ENSPIRATION: Wade Dean, alto sax; Michael Pracher, tenor sax; Adam Siegel, alto sax; Neil Podgurski, piano; Jason Fraticelli, bass; Anwar Marshall, drums

LUCAS BROWN is a performing artist and composer and a graduate of Temple University, where he studied jazz performance at the Esther Boyer College of Music.  Most well-known as the organist with saxophone legend Bootsie Barnes and in the trio Three Blind Mice (with Victor North and Wayne Smith, Jr.), tonight Lucas will debut a new quartet and play his original compositions on piano and keyboard.  Lucas will be joined by veteran trumpeter and master of the electric valve instrument (EVI) JOHN SWANA, bassist JASON FRATICELLI, and drummer WAYNE SMITH, JR. (of the Sun Ra Arkestra and the Chris’ Jazz Cafe Tuesday night house band).  While Lucas can be seen often in the Philadelphia area performing jazz, jazz-fusion, and some experimental music, he is also an avid classical music fan as well as a composer of various styles.  Some influences include electronic music, the world music traditions of Brazil, Latin America, India, and Africa, and avant-garde music.  He looks to collaborate with musicians of other traditions and bring those experiences back to enrich his own music.  Lucas studied at Temple with Terrel Stafford, Bruce Barth, Ed Flanagan, Tom Lawton, Ben Schacter, and others.  His formal musical training began at age 5, studying classical piano.  In junior high school he began to study jazz guitar and subsequently began to teach himself organ as well.  He also has studied classical composition with Robert Convery and Mark Rimple.  Lucas collaborates frequently with the great drummer Byron Landham and has also performed with Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Larry McKenna, Gerald Veasley, Dr. Eddie Henderson, Tim Warfield, Steve Turre, Ralph Bowen, Mickey Roker, Duane Eubanks, and Sean Jones.  Lucas has appeared at festivals in Nashville, Omaha, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Somers Point as well as notable clubs including the Blue Note, Smoke, and Fat Cat in New York and The Smithsonian Museum and Blues Alley in Washington DC.

Among the new generation of “Young Lions” invigorating the East Coast jazz scene these days, one of the most impressive voices interpreting the American classics belongs to young saxophonist/composer WADE FULTON DEAN.  Grounded in the rich traditions of jazz since his teen years, young Dean commands enormous respect from contemporaries and music critics for his soulful interpretations of jazz chestnuts and for his contributions to the literature of jazz.  Dean and his band, The Wade Dean Enspiration, are developing a strong fan base at Philadelphia’s hottest performance venues.  Acutely aware of the city’s gifts to America’s music legacy, Wade deliberately chose The City of Brotherly Love to showcase the lessons he learned as a sideman performing with exceptional musicians on a variety of bandstands. From those encounters come inventive improvisations that erupt from the depths of his soul.  His solid technical skills expose his formal training as an honored graduate student at Philadelphia’s competitive University of the Arts.  His teachers and mentors have included jazz giants: Tim Warfield, Ben Schachter, John Ellis, Don Glanden, Chris Farr, Norman David, and Ron Kerber.  Wade was born and raised in Orangeburg, S.C. within a strong family that encouraged his music aspirations.

With his mother’s tutelage, he learned to play the piano, his first instrument of choice. Soon, though, he took up the saxophone and never put it down.  During his apprenticeship on the instrument, Wade learned the nuances of the horn from his uncle, Johnnie Williams, a baritone saxophonist in the Count Basie Orchestra.  Dean received a baccalaureate degree in music education at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.  After teaching for one year at a Memphis public school, he continued his formal music studies at Philadelphia’s University of The Arts where, in 2007, he earned a master’s degree in jazz studies.  As he left, the iconic performing arts institution conferred upon Wade Dean the university’s “Merit Award for Excellence in Music.”

A monthly event, showcasing some of Philadelphia’s most creative musicians in a laid-ack, BYOB venue hat combines the intimacy of a club with a concert hall’s respect for the music.

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone

Jazz and more… the 2nd Friday of each month

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Friday, January 14 - Doors: 8:30 p.m. Show: 9 pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz

$10 at the door / $8 in advance
(at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/142604)

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone Presents

Claffy Music Collective Dahi Divine, tenor saxophone Amaury Acosta, drums Jason Matthews, piano Alex Claffy, bassBorn and raised in the greater Philadelphia area, ALEX CLAFFY is an 18-year-old upright and electric bassist currently living in New York City attending the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. Alex grew up in a family full of musicians, including his father bandleader Joseph Claffy. While attending high school, he attended the Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts directed by the renowned educator Lovett Hines. Alex has also studied with bass teachers Vernon Lewis, Peter Paulsen at West Chester University, and the legendary Mike Boone. Alex has performed/worked with drummers Justin Faulkner, Rodney Green, and Wayne Smith Jr.; pianists George Burton and Luke O’Reilly; saxophonists Victor North and Chad Lefkowitz-Brown; and Jeff Bradshaw’s Brass Heaven.

Mike Boone & Friends Mike Boone, bass Jim Holton, piano Vince Turnbull, trumpet Rob Henderson, drums Bassist MIKE BOONE is ubiquitous on the Philly scene. The house bassist at Ortlieb’s Jazzhaus for many years and a member of the famed “Philly Rhythm Section” along with Byron Landham and the late Sid Simmons, Boone can now be heard at various venues in and around Philadelphia. His timekeeping is impeccable, and he makes any musician who plays with him sound better.

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone is 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, December 10 - Doors: 8:30 p.m. Show: 9 pm sharp – BYOB – Jazz – $10 at the door / $8 in advance (at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/138405)

Lucky Old Souls @ Moonstone Presents

JOE TRUGLIO TRIO (CD Release!) & SONIC LIBERATION FRONT

JOE TRUGLIO TRIO (CD Release!): Joe Truglio, drums; John Stenger, piano; Ken Pendergast, bass

SONIC LIBERATION FRONT: Kevin Diehl, bata, drum kit; Baba Joe Bryant, bata, vocals; Latif Ezekiel, bata, Afro- Cuban percussion; Tom Lowery, Afro-Brazilian percussion, drum kit; Todd Margasak, cornet;
Bryan Rogers, tenor & soprano sax; Connor Przybyszewski, trombone; Matt Lee, alto sax; Matt Engle, bass;
Dave Hotep, guitar; Bill Moos, keys

JOE TRUGLIO is one of Philadelphia’s most in-demand drummers, a frequent sideman with jazz, rock, Latin, hip hop, and R&B groups.  He has performed with Robin Eubanks, Kurt Elling, Tim Hagans, Gerald Veasley, Diane Monroe, Slide Hampton, Grammy Award winner Dave Valentin, Cuban pianist Elio Villafranca, Venezuelan vibraphonist Alfredo Naranjo, Universal recording artist Melody Gardot, comedian/singer Joe Piscapo, and many others.  Joe also composes for his own group, the Joe Truglio Trio.  In June 2010, Joe was awarded a grant from the American Composers Forum to begin work on his second album, the release of which will be celebrated tonight.  His first album, entitled Live, was released earlier in 2010.  Joe started playing the drums at the early age of four. He began learning from his father who was a music teacher at the local high school in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.  By age fifteen Joe began performing professionally at jazz clubs, rock venues, and private concerts in and around Long Island.  While in high school he participated in numerous competitions and received the Woody Herman Big Band award upon graduating.  At age eighteen Joe moved to Philadelphia to attend the University of the Arts after receiving their Promising Artist scholarship. Here he studied percussion with Jim Paxson and Joe Nero.  In 2004 Joe had the opportunity to open for Herbie Hancock at the Kimmel Center with the Ross Bellenoit Quintet.  The group was also featured in JAZZIZ magazines student music addition sampler CD.  In 2005 Joe graduated with a Bachelor’s in music performance and received the John Alberti Memorial Drumset Award.  Shortly after college Joe performed with the Subliminal Orphans as part of the Van’s Warped Tour and did a number of shows opening for legendary hip hop group Cypress Hill.  In 2006 he traveled to Shanghai, China for a three-month residency at the House of Blues and Jazz performing with Philadelphia jazz/R&B artist Eric Wortham.

SONIC LIBERATION FRONT is the Afro-futuristic creative super-group.  Its members are a who’s who of Philly’s finest genre-bending improvisers, composers, and folkloric musicians.  “Sonic Liberation Front is well on its way to becoming one of the more important American ensembles of the decade. Their mix of post-Coleman jazz, Afro-Cuban folkloric music, and electronica manages to be immediately accessible without diluting any of its constituent parts” [Point of Departure, Bill Shoemaker, Jan 2007].

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