Friday May 25, 2012 at 7:00
$10 Suggested donation
Light refreshments

Åarhus Gallery welcomes back Tom Luther and his band (formerly Luna Madidus) for a concert on Friday May 25th at 7:00pm. The Tom Luther Quintet’s sound is modeled after such jazz icons as Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk, as well as the “downtown” style of NYC as embodied by such groups as The Lounge Lizards and trumpeter Tom Harrell. Throughout its two-year history, the group has grown from a quartet, to a quintet with vocals, to its current two-horn quintet lineup. The band has performed live on Public Radio twice, had airplay on WRFR and MPBN, and has played in Portland and Lewiston in addition to its home base in the mid-coast.

Tom Luther, the group’s composer and arranger holds to a core philosophy that all music carries similar messages and what separates genre and style is simply a matter of language. Luther’s music reflects the harmonic and rhythmic language of jazz as well as formal aspects of European classical music, and shows the influences of ambient music and the avante-garde.

In addition to the band’s veteran members, trumpeter Mike Whitehead and pianist Tom Luther, a trio of talented young lions rounds out the ensemble. The bass player, Noah Fishman, is a Silver Prize winner for the 2011 MMEA All State Jazz Instrumental Competition, as well as a Bay State Chamber Young Stars Award Winner from 2010. Gideon Forbes, tenor saxophone, is a recipient of the outstanding jazz solo award at Festival Disney 2010 and has performed with both the PJO and Fogcutters Big Band. Jacob Forbes, drums, is a winner of the Bay Chamber Concert’s Nathan E Corning Jazz Prize, and has performed with the Maine State Musical Theater and the Windham Center Stage Theater.

A $10 suggested donation at the door includes cider, tea and snacks.

Friday May 11, 2012 at 7:30pm
$12 Suggested donation
Light refreshments
CD’s will be available for purchase

Ameranouche (pronounced uh-MARE-uh-noosh) features two French acoustic Gypsy jazz guitars and upright bass, and is a winner of Best of New Hampshire awards as well as being veterans of the famed Newport Jazz Festival. The group tours nationally, year-round, and has released two albums, largely of original music inspired by legendary Gypsy guitarist, Django Reinhardt. National Lampoon director, Kevin Wheatley, calls Ameranouche “the new sound of America”. After hearing these folks sail through a melodious tune with such love, musicality, and signature, jaw-dropping velocity, you’ll be hard pressed not to agree. www.ameranouche.com has plenty of tunes to check out — if you’ve never experienced hot acoustic swing music, now’s your chance to fall in love with the joyful, uplifting, and dance-inducing sounds of Gypsy jazz.

Saturday April 28, 2012

The Belfast Free Range Music Festival is a grassroots, volunteer powered celebration of original music that takes place annually in downtown Belfast, Maine. Participating musicians travel from near and far, representing a wide range of genres and musical backgrounds, everything from rock to bluegrass, a capella vocal groups to hip hop. In its first two years, the festival has hosted 58 local, regional and nationally touring acts (roughly 175 individual musicians) in multiple venues including our local movie theater, Legion hall, arts center, galleries (including Åarhus), and even a church sanctuary. The 2012 festival (the event’s third year) will follow the same model, presenting an all-new lineup of musicians from multiple genres.

http://freerangemusicfestival.com/

David Clarke of Gypsy Caravan

11:45 Gypsy Caravan

Gypsy Caravan performs in the gypsy jazz, manouche style and was formed in 2011 in mid-coast Maine. The group builds upon the traditions of Django Reinhardt’s music while getting inspiration from modern players such as Bireli Lagrene, John Jorgenson, Robin Nolan and Frank Vignola. Featuring David Clarke, lead guitar; Dan Clarke, rhythm guitar; Wayne Delano, saxes; Ezra Rugg, acoustic bass.

L-R Will Brown, Kat Logan, Jim Loney

1:45 Meteora

 Meteora, which translates to “suspended in air,” is a collaboration of Kat Logan, Jim Loney, and Will Brown. Their performances are highlighted by tight three part harmonies along with a wide repertoire of originals and traditionals. Kat Logan is a singer-songwriter with a clear, inviting voice and has performed folk, country and blues music throughout New… England for the past 20 years. After performing Delta Blues and R & B for many years, Jim Loney was attracted to Cuban Son. Singing and playing with Meteora, Loney draws upon his diverse musical background and interests. Will Brown has been playing and singing folk music around fine campfires and in concert since 1963. Brown has been recording with Gordon Bok, Cindy Kallet, Grey Larsen, and Anne Dodson over the past 30 years. Both Brown and Logan contributed to the 2009 Grammy Nominated Folk Album: “Singing Through The Hard Times – A Tribute to Utah Phillips.”

Crow Suncloud and Diana Ramsdell Newman

3:45 Timbered Lake

“Timbered Lake, an acoustic duo, features a synthesis of spoken word and song composed by poet-singer Crow Suncloud and singer-songwriter Diana Ramsdell Newman. Timbered Lake concerts have been featured at libraries, coffeehouses, performing arts venues, Earth Day festivals, solstice events, water coalitions, climate change conferences, Native American gatherings, ecumenical gatherings, community and social justice concerns, and educational venues. Diana’s guitar joins with Crow’s indigenous hand drums and other percussive instruments, to accompany inspirited, relevant, soaringly harmonic lyrics informed by respect for the earth and for experiential knowledge, reclamation of stewardship values, and promotion of individual and community healing.”

L-R Jerry DeCicca, Tyler Evans and Canaan Faulkner.

5:45 Black Swans

Jerry DeCicca and The Black Swans have been winning hearts with their highly unique and beautiful folk sound since the early 2000s. Critically acclaimed by Pitchfork, Dusted, and many others, The Swans are on the road full-time these days — touring over 200 dates a year. They’ve released multiple albums, a split 7″ with Bonnie “Prince” Billy and have toured all over the country. Ladies & Gentlemen, this is folk rock from the existential capital of the world.

Saturday April 7th at 7:30
$8 suggested donation
Light refreshments
CD’s available for purchase

Putnam Smith
Portland, Maine

“As quirky and genuine as the state from which he hails” -Dirty Linen Magazine

Putnam Smith, who hails from Portland, Maine, could be an old-world troubadour fresh from the 19th Century. After all, he lives in a log cabin, plays his Grandfather’s banjo, and has printed up the jackets of his new CD on a 1901 Pearl Letterpress. Yet this rootsy multi-instrumentalist songwriter (he also writes and performs on guitar, mandolin, fretless banjo, and piano), steeped as he is in old-time Appalachian traditions, is very much a storyteller for the modern age. Putnam first came to national attention with his 2009 release, “Goldrush,” which went to #5 on the national Folk & Bluegrass DJ Charts (and made it on 6 “Favorite Albums of 2009” lists). His latest release, “We Could Be Beekeepers” shot right up to #2 the month it was released, charting 3 songs in the top ten (www.folkradio.org). Selected as an “Emerging Artist” at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (2011), and noted as “One To Watch” (Rob Reinhart, Acoustic Cafe), Putnam has begun to establish himself as an acoustic tour-de-force not only in his hometown of Portland, but as a nationally touring musician as well. Putnam puts on a show that makes people want to do a little foot stompin’ one moment, then curl up all intimate-like with a glass of red wine, the next. As Maine’s indie newspaper the Maine Edge says: “He’s that rare breed of musician that manages to sound like a throwback without ever coming off as dated.”

www.putnamsmith.com | www.youtube.com/putnamsmith | www.sonicbids.com/putnamsmith

Gabriel Zacchai

Gabriel Zacchai has been writing, recording and performing original music for over 20 years. He has recorded over 102 completed songs since 1988, 95 of which have been recorded on 7 Albums and collected works. His influences combine Neil Young, Mason Jennings and the old Bluegrass masters with the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Leadbelly and the North Mississippi All-Stars. Zacchai’s repertoire ranges from upbeat and catchy folk to hard-driving soulful blues and rock. His work has been featured on WMPG, WERU and MPBN radio, as well as KXCI in Tucson, ‘In Tune by Ten’ with Sarah Willis, and in Maine Home and Design Magazine. He currently lives in Mid-coast Maine with his Wife, Son and neurotic Border Collie.

http://gabrielzacchai.com

The classic mid-20th century “play for voices” by renowned Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, will be performed Friday and Saturday on January 27 & 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, January 29 at 3:00 p.m. at the gallery.

Under Milk Wood is a day in the life of a small welsh seaside village where, “…less than 500 souls inhabit the three quaint streets and the narrow by-lanes and scattered farmsteads that constitute this small, decaying watering place which may, indeed, be called a ‘backwater of life’ without disrespect to its natives who possess, to this day, a salty individuality of their own…”

The voices of 60-odd characters will be read by Larason Guthrie, Lisa Goodrich, Peter Conant, Richard and Beverly Mann, Jennifer DeJoy and Michael Fletcher under the direction of Guthrie. The performance will last approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. There is a suggested donation of $7 at the door.