Sawyer Memorial presents Barbara London Trio
The Barbara London Trio will perform a mixture of original compositions and jazz standards on Friday, August 8 at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Araxine Wilkins Sawyer Memorial in Greene. The programs are free and open to the public.
Barbara London is an award-winning flutist and composer. She is also a pianist, vocalist, artist, and educator whose credits include three National Endowment for the Arts jazz performance grants and performances in festivals, schools, and clubs across the country and around the world. From 1986 to 2005, she taught in the Harmony Department at Berklee College of Music, where she became the first female chair in 1994.
A native of Portland, Maine, bassist Jim Lyden has been performing for over 45 years. His grandfather, Henry C. Cook, played violin and French horn as one of the founding members (in 1923) of today’s Portland Symphony Orchestra. After studying with both classical and jazz bassists, Lyden went on to play with blues, funk, rock, and jazz groups in countless venues across Northern New England. He has recorded with Bobby Watson and Tiger Okoshi and has performed with John LaPorta, Roswell Rudd, Herb Pomeroy, Olive Lake, Don Doane, Frank Foster, and Jackie King. He currently performs with the Portland Jazz Orchestra, Curtis Clark, Thomas Snow, The East Enders, River City Jazz, The O’Dell Langley Quartet, Dos Eckes, and Saco River Theatre.
A drummer, composer, and educator, Rick Kress is an associate professor at Berklee College of Music, where he teaches contemporary and traditional Theory, Advanced Modal Harmony, and Arranging. His “Composition for Voice and Piano” premiered at the Berklee Performance Center. Coming from a musical family, he is the son of the renowned late jazz guitarist Carl Kress and the popular vocalist Helen Carroll, who sang with the Merry Macs and Perry Como. Kress has performed with Bobby Hackett, Bob Haggart, Howard Alden, Bucky Pizzarelli, and J. Geils.
Sawyer Memorial is located at 371 Sawyer Road. For more information, call 946-5311 or see www.sawyer-foundation.com.