View site in English, Español, or Français

The fair-trade ticketing company.

Find An Event

Create Your Event

Help

Merrimans' Playhouse Jazz Performance Series presents FiddleFunk!

Merrimans' Playhouse
South Bend, IN

Share this event:

Event

Merrimans' Playhouse Jazz Performance Series presents FiddleFunk!

Group will include Stanley Chepaitis on violin, pianist Chris Bakeries, bassist Nathan Santos, and guest drummer, Billy Arnold. The program will include an eclectic mix of original jazz compositions based on the artwork of Matisse and a Baroque Jazz Project based on the music of Telemann. The Jazz-Baroque Project is based on an idea which occurred to me over many years of being a classical violinist by day and a jazz musician by night. The similarities between Baroque Music and Jazz are striking. Both are based on the rhythmic language of dance beats. Both have evolved a texture that springs from counterpoint between an anchoring bass line and melody, with improvised harmony that glues the two together. While there have been many crossover arrangements of Baroque pieces in a Jazz setting, I wanted to try something a little different. My idea was to focus on the most striking features of each of the works by Bach and Telemann and work those into original Jazz compositions that would reflect the spirit of the old works in a new way. I also wanted to allow for the free improvisation that is essential to the Jazz musician.

Stanley is an accomplished classical and jazz artist, composer, and conductor.Continuing to create artistic opportunities, Stanley is a founding member of the Litton Quartet and the Gorell Trio. He organizes regular performances of jazz, baroque, and classical music, often combining these genres in unusual new works.

Stanley Chepaitis holds a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree as well as the coveted Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music. He has studied violin with John Celentano, Renato Bonacini, Carroll Glenn, and Raphael Bronstien. He has studied jazz composition and improvisation with John Blake, Bill Dobbins, and Rayburn Wright. He currently chairs the string faculty of Indiana University of PA and isfirst violinist of the Litton Quartet.

For Saturday's concert at Merrimans' Playhouse, the trio will add a guest drummer, South Bend native,Bill Arnold.He traveled the Chitlin Circuit and worked with Motown Records in Detroit, Michigan, playing and recording with Junior Walker and the All Stars. Billy Arnold also worked with Teddy Wilson, Zoot Sims, and Archie Shepp. Max Roach offered Arnold the opportunity to play with Billy Taylor and Reggie Workman. Over the years, Billy has also worked with Bill Doggett, Charlie Ventura, Ray Bryant, John Scofield, Herb Ellis, Buddy Tate, Wilson Pickett, and Jimmy McGriff. He also performed with The Springfield Symphony Orchestra under the direction of famed Boston Pops conductor Arthur Feidler. He currently travels the world with the Young at Heart Chorus.

Chris Bakriges grew up in Detroit, two doors down from the original Motown Studios. "Music was literally in the air and I was exposed to the world of music that existed in that community, from Mediterranean to avant-garde. In fact, my first teacher outside of classical music was Earl Van Dyke, one of Motown's storied Funk Brothers." Drawn to jazz and to the piano by age ten and I started playing in the Detroit clubs by my early twenties. Surprisingly, Chris didn't start to think about the possibility of pursuing a life in music until he was married. "Jenny, a fiber artist, told me that I shouldn't have any regrets, and that became my mantra."

Chris' music experiences was more than an academic exercise. His resume includes leading his own groups since the early 1990s and performing in countries like India, Pakistan, China, France, and the United Kingdom. Chris has gotten to play with artists as diverse as Bobby McFerrin, David Darling, Italys Cicci Santucci, Jay Hoggard, Leonard "Doc" Gibbs, Henry Franklin, Beldon Bullock, the Reese Project, Sandra Wright and Sheila Jordan. Chris currently leads two group projects at Miles Café on East 52nd Street in New York.

Chris has released eight recordings as a leader and appears on Philadelphias Reese Project recording as well as on both Cleveland-based Oikos Ensemble albums. His newest record is Transculturation and features performances with eighteen musicians from around the world.

Nathan Santos was born into a musical family as the 2nd of 3 sons to the late Rosendo Ejercito Santos and Rev. Harriet (Clendenin) Santos in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and has continued the tradition with an eclectic musical background.He spent his undergraduate years at Wilkes University as a music performance major, studying bass with Gary Karr pupil, Perry Orfanella, and also vocal studies with Richard Chapline, Dr. Stephen Barton, and Helen Ralston.After receiving his Bachelors Degree, he then pursued his Masters of Music Degree at the University of Miami in Florida. At U.M. his focus was Jazz Performance, although he was a student of Dr. Lucas Drew (principal double bassist of the Florida Philharmonic) and performed with the university orchestra under the baton of Thomas Sleeper.

For the next 20 years, he served as Principal Bass of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, regularly performed with Jazz In Your Face Big Band, Acousticity (acoustic rock trio), Soy Bomb (duo), Brex (jazz quartet), White Noise (a cappella quintet), and many other projects and freelance composition/arranging work. He served as Co-Director of Music Ministry at Westmont Presbyterian Church from 1999-2012.

As an educator, he previously served on the faculties of Indiana University of PA, St. Francis University, Penn State University-Main Campus and the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown. In 2012, he accepted his current position at Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio as Director of Instrumental Commercial Music. He was awarded the 2013-14 Faculty Member of the Year.

$10 Advanced, $13 Door, $8 Student
PLEASE NOTE - you may use CREDIT CARD or PAYPAL: Once you've added the tickets to your cart in the Brown Paper Tickets site, click on the ORANGE "Pay via PayPal" button on the Buyer Details page, and this will take you to Merrimans' PayPal account. You will then have the option to pay with your credit card or your PayPal account.