Evento

Merrimans' Playhouse Jazz Performance Series presents the Randy Napoleon Trio

Jazz guitarist Randy Napoleon, brings his trio with young upstarts Nick Bracewell on drums and Louie Leager on bass to Merrimans' Playhouse. Known as a forward-thinking musician with a passion for the jazz tradition, guitarist Randy Napoleon tours with the legendary singer/pianist Freddy Cole and leads his own trios, quartet, and three-horn sextet. He is an assistant professor at Michigan State University, where he teaches jazz guitar. Napoleon is perhaps best known for his work with Michael Bublé, Freddy Cole, and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. His trio will feature selections from Napoleon's new record, Soon, a fresh look at classics from Gershwin, Cole Porter, Billy Strayhorn and more.

Napoleon is also a composer and an arranger for singers, big bands, and small combos. He arranged as well as performed on Coles 2010 Grammy-nominated release from High Note, Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B. He is also the guitarist on Coles Live at Dizzys Club: The Dreamer in Me, Talk to Me, and This and That. When off the road in his home in Manhattan, he also freelances with artists across the jazz spectrum such as Bill Charlap, Natalie Cole, Rodney Whitaker, Melissa Morgan, Aaron Diehl, Josh Brown, Dmitry Baevsky, Jared Gold, Etienne Charles, Mike Dease, Sara Gazarek, Brianna Thomas, Bootsie Barnes, Mike Karn, Eric Comstock. Will and Pete Anderson, and Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks.

Prior to joining Freddy Cole, Napoleon toured with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and appears on the recording, The Clayton Hamilton Orchestra: Live at MCG. He has also toured extensively with Benny Green and crooner Michael Buble. Napoleon is featured on Bubles Grammy-nominated CD Caught in the Act. Napoleon has played or arranged on over seventy records.

Guitarist George Benson calls Napoleon sensational. Detroit Free Press critic Mark Stryker says Napoleon plays with a gentle, purring tone that makes you lean in close to hear its range of color and articulation. Washington Post critic Mike Joyce praises his exceptionally nimble finger-style technique. Comparing him to Wes Montgomery, music critic Michael G. Nastos says, he displays an even balance of swing, soul, and single-line or chord elements that mark an emerging voice dedicated to tradition and universally accessible jazz values.

$10 Advanced, $13 Door, $8 Student
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