The Ritz Theater Presents the 2011-12 Tom Humphrey Guitar Series
Staff | October 8, 2011 | Comment
Musicians to Honor Legendary Guitar Maker as Series Continues for Fourth Year
The Ritz Theater and La Bella Strings, in association with the Bardavon, are pleased to announce the lineup for the fourth season of the Tom Humphrey Guitar Series. Tickets are available beginning September 28 for $25 each, please call TicketWeb at (866) 468-7619, via our website at www.ritztheaternewburgh.org, or the Ritz Theater Box Office at (845) 784-1199. Seating is limited, purchase tickets to all five shows by October 5 and receive reserved seating in the first four rows.
Saturday, October 15 at 8 PM, John Abercrombie Trio. Over a career spanning more than 40 years and nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie has established himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring unusual sounds and nontraditional ensembles, Abercrombie is a restless experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony.
Friday, November 11 at 8 PM, Mary Gauthier with Tania Elizabeth, Mary Gauthier (pronounced: go-shay) has released six groundbreaking albums of original songs, in more than a dozen years of recording and touring around the world, has received a harvest of music industry awards, and her songs have been covered by numerous artists including Jimmy Buffet and Tim McGraw. In late 2009, fiddler Tania Elizabeth began to work with songwriter mary Gauthier on her new concept record, entitled The Foundling. They are now touring the album as a duo all over the world.
Saturday, December 10 at 8 PM, Frank Vignola’s Hot Club, back by popular demand! In celebration of Django Reinhardt, guitar virtuoso Frank Vignola, a leading proponent of Reinhardt’s gypsy jazz style of playing, has assembled a topnotch trio for a searing tribute to one of his earliest musical influences. Frank is one of the most accomplished, multi-dimensional players walking the planet today. Monster player, composer and improviser, Frank plays proficiently in every genre, from jazz to bluegrass, and has recorded and toured with the liked of Madonna, Leon Redbone, and Ringo Starr. After last year’s 3 encores to his one standing room only performance, our audience demanded we bring Frank Vignola’s Hot Club back to the Ritz!
Saturday, March 10 at 8 PM, Bucky Pizzarelli with Ed Laub, back by popular demand! A perennial favorite, celebrating 65 years as a performer, Bucky Pizzarelli, will return to the Ritz with 7-string guitar master Ed Laub. For more than half a century, the legendary Jazz guitarist, Pizzarelli has been a part of the fraternity of musicians who have kept mainstream and traditional Jazz alive, and Laub has been playing the guitar for over 50 years and has performed with such artists as Gene Bertoncini, Martin Pizzarelli, Lenny Argese, Frank Vignola, Bill Wurtzel, Jack Wilkins and Kenny Rankin. “Pizzarelli is the complete jazz musician and Laub complements him perfectly.” All About Jazz
Saturday, April 21 at 8 PM, Geoff Muldaur. Geoff Muldaur is one of the great voices and musical forces to emerge from the folk, blues and folk-rock scenes. During the 1960’s and ’70’s, Geoff made a series of highly influential recordings as a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and the Paul Butterfield’s Better Days group, as well as collaborations with then-wife Maria and other notables like Bonnie Raitt and Jerry Garcia. Geoff may be heard from time to time as a guest on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on a variety of National Public Radio shows, including Weekend Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and The World with Lisa Mullins.
The Tom Humphrey Guitar Series serves to honor the memory of the legendary Hudson Valley-based luthier who passed away in 2008. The idea for the concerts came from Tom Humphrey just two months before his death. In a series of meetings with Chris Silva of the Bardavon, Richard Cocco, Jr. of La Bella Strings and Tricia Haggerty Wenz of the Ritz Theater and Safe Harbors of the Hudson, Humphrey laid the ground work for a guitar series at the Ritz which in its first three seasons has presented performances by Odair Assad, Pete Seeger, Cindy Cashdollar, Larry Coryell, and many others.
The concerts will be held in the Ritz Theater Lobby at 107 Broadway in Newburgh. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased starting September 28, through TicketWeb at (866) 468-7619, via our website at www.ritztheaternewburgh.org, or by calling the Ritz Theater Box Office at (845) 784-1199. All tickets are general admission and include a reception with the musicians immediately following the concert. Seating is limited.
For more information about the series and the historic Ritz Theater, visit www.ritztheaternewburgh.org or call (845) 784-1199.