Noah Baerman & All-Star Cast Lead Off Full Weekend at The Buttonwood Tree

Noah Baerman & All-Star Cast

Thursday May 24 7:30 pm
$10
Reservations suggested

Jazz pianist, educator and Middletown resident Noah Baerman recently celebrated the release of his seventh album under his own name, “Turtle Steps.” For this performance he will be playing some new music with some old friends. Expect to hear some different sounds (slide guitar, anyone?) as well as tunes from Noah’s previous records.

Noah Baerman – piano

Yoron Israel – drums

Kris Allen -  alto saxophone

Special Guest: Jimmy Greene - tenor saxophone 

Jazz pianist, composer, educator and author Noah Baerman grew up in Connecticut, studying jazz at New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts and at Jackie McLean’s Artists’ Collective in Hartford. In the 1990s, he earned B.M. and M.M. degrees in Jazz Studies from Rutgers University, where his mentor was Kenny Barron. Aside from Barron, his instructors included Ted Dunbar, Joanne Brackeen, Bill Fielder, Ralph Bowen, Larry Ridley and Michael Mossman. He also discovered a broad range of music through studies in jazz history with Phil Schaap and Lewis Porter. While at Rutgers, he performed extensively in and around New York with jazz artists including Bowen, Charles Fambrough, Stefon Harris, Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Mark Turner and many others. From 1994-1999, he co-led the quartet Positive Rhythmic Force, performing throughout the east coast and recording two CDs.

JIMMY GREENE:

Saxophonist Jimmy Greene To Teach At WestConn

By OWEN McNALLY, Special To The Courant The Hartford Courant12:24 p.m. EDT, May 15, 2012

Missed by family, friends and fans in Hartford during his three-year stint as a college professor in Canada, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene, a soft-spoken, 6-foot-6, jazz giant, is returning to the area to teach at as a full-time jazz faculty member at Western Connecticut State University at Danbury.
Greene, who has eight acclaimed albums to his credit and has been the saxophonist of choice for such famous bandleaders as Horace Silver and Tom Harrell,   has taught at the University of Manitoba since 2009.
Greene, who first began demonstrating his musical prowess in Connecticut as a phenomenal teenage player — initially as a precocious talent at Bloomfield High School and later at The Hartt School under the mentorship of Hartford jazz great Jackie McLean, says, “I’m super excited. Obviously, it’s great to be coming home and join the fine faculty members at WestConn and contribute in any way I can to the jazz studies program there. We’re moving back to Connecticut sometime in mid-July.”

Amalgamated Muck

Friday May 25 8:00 pm

$10

Since playing shows together in Small Town Concert Series and joining musical forces, the melodic amalgamation of Lauren Agnelli with Matthew Male, Brian Wolfe, Rose Bengston
and Rodney Maxwell has become more than just some pretty mucking about – they’re now officially Amalgamated Muck!

Best described musically as Americana Music – roots, country, and folk with rock & blues mixed in -­‐-­‐ Amalgamated Muck does it best, with great harmonies and spirited performances
of their own original songs, as well as some very tasteful choices of cover material. Brian “Ebin Parker” Wolfe of Ebin-­‐Rose comes from that British Folk tradition (Nick Drake, John
Martyn), bringing along a bevy of vintage stringed instruments. Rodney Maxwell (vocals, lead & acoustic guitar) has a solid a country and rock background (Johnny Cash, Lowell
George, The Allman Brothers), while Lauren Agnelli (vocals, bass, ukulele, 12-­‐string guitar) hails from Grammy-­‐nominated Contemporary Folk, 3-­‐part harmony group the
Washington Squares (“Peter, Paul & Mary meets The Violent Femmes”).

In between virtuostic instrumentalizing by Brian and Rodney on mandolin, guitar, tipple, etc., and solid basslines or rhythmic accompaniment from Lauren & Matthew, vocalist
Rose Bengston (of Ebin-­‐Rose) sings leads with “soft, ethereal” vocals a la Sandy Denny, or harmonizes with lead vocals by Lauren and /or Rodney (& sometimes Brian), for a lovely
new sound that’s emotional and stirring; Matthew Male helps keep it all together on percussion. In total, there’s never a dull moment with Amalgamated Muck, so come on and listen!

Riverwood Poetry

Friday	May 26 6:30 pm
	$3-5

Memorial Day Commemoration with Lisa Siedlarz and Michael Lepore

Lisa L. Siedlarz of New Haven, CT received her Masters in Fine Arts from WCSU in 2009. She is Editor of Connecticut River Review, the national poetry journal supported by the CT Poetry Society, and Managing Editor for Connecticut Review. She was awarded the 2006 John Holmes and the 2007 Leo Connellan poetry prizes, and has been widely published. Her work has been nominated for the 2009 Best New Poets Anthology. She also facilitated a 16 week writing workshop with Vietnam veterans and edited a collection of their work called A Season of Now. Her debut chapbook is I Dream My Brother Plays Baseball (Clemson University Digital Press, 2009). Dr. Michael F. Lepore received a commission as a lieutenant in the US Navy Dental Corps and served two years of active duty attached to Headquarters, 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he was given independent duty at an outlying facility called The Rifle Range. It was there that he had close contact with the Marine recruits coming from basic training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He saw them leave for combat duty in Vietnam and was there when some returned. A poet who is active in the local Veterans Service Commission, he helps to raise funds for the Marines Helping Marines, Wounded Marine Program for the combat troops returning from the Iraqi and Afghanistan conflicts. He is the author of Forgotten Heroes: Poems for and about Veterans of the Vietnam War (Grayson Books, 2010). Open mic follows feature: help us honor the memory of those who gave their lives in our nation’s service with a poem (your own or another’s) that expresses your feelings on this day. Admission is free: donations gratefully accepted. Donations of non-perishable foods will also be accepted for Amazing Grace Food Pantry, Middletown.

To learn more about Riverwood Poetry Series, Inc., visit www.riverwoodpoetry.org. If you prefer Facebook, you can find us there, too. www.facebook.com/riverwoodpoetry. Please visit and “like” our page for up-to-the-minute details of events, to leave us comments, or to see comments from other friends whom you may know.

Suggested Donation:  $3-5
Food donations for  St. Vincent DePaul, Middletown also welcomed.
For More Info: www.riverwoodpoetry.org