Tonight at The Buttonwood Tree!

Secondary Messengers

February 3rd, 8-10pm, $10

The Secondary Messengers are devoted to recreating the music of the influential ensembles of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded from the early ’50s to the late ’80s. Noted for improvisation in the funky hard bop idiom with close harmonic lines, an intense driving rhythm section, and meticulously crafted arrangements by composer-band members such as Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Woody Shaw, Benny Golson, and Kenny Dorham.

A Professor of Biology at Amherst College, reedman Dick Poccia has played in jazz groups in Western Massachusetts for 30 years, recording with the Valley Big Band, Jeff Holmes Big Band, Amherst Jazz Orchestra, and the Lowe-Jaffe Repertory Big Band. Currently a member of the Secondary Messengers, the Amherst Jazz Orchestra, Creacion Latin Big Band, Never Been to Spain, and Jeff Holmes Big Band. Played in back up bands for the Temptations, Ernie Watts, Claudio Roditi,
Yusef Lateef, John Abercrombie, Steve Turre, Al Cohn, Rufus Reed, Karrin Allyson,
Steve Davis, Sheila Jordan, George Garzone, Peter Erskine, John Fedchock, and the
Ringling Brother Circus and the Monadnock Chorus. Has twice toured in Russia playing at the White Nights Jazz Festival. Has performed at Sculler’s, the El Morocco, Sandy’s, Berklee School of Music, the Philharmonic Jazz Center in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Estrada State
Theater in Moscow, and DOCKS television program in Lisbon. Played with the
Nelson Riddle Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Festival Orchestra with Gunther
Schuller at Amherst College.

Trumpeter Dave Bilodeau is a professional mechanical engineer and works as
Manufacturing Automation Engineering Consultant at Bilodeau Automation. He has
been a professional freelance trumpet, flugelhorn and cornet player for thirty plus
years. He plays in various jazz, rock, show, pit and big bands as well as orchestras
and brass groups around the Northeast. He studied at Boston Conservatory, Berklee
College of Music and Northeastern University. He also plays currently with Moment’s
Notice, Intertrip, Joe Velez Latin Big Band, and Interplay. He is also a professional
mechanical engineer by day.

Pianist Michael Stamm, MD, received a Bachelor’s degree in music and chemistry from Emory University in Atlanta and an MD from the University of Virginia. He was a specialist in head and neck surgery who is with the Pioneer Valley ENT Surgeons in Florence MA but has since moved his practice to Keen, NH. He has been playing jazz piano in the Pioneer Valley since 2000. He is heavily influenced by Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Lennie Tristano. He also plays Hammond B3 and trumpet. In addition, he plays keyboards in a variety of classic rock and blues bands including the Mike Hooker Experience. He is an avid mountain biker.

Bassist Mark Dunlap, from Holyoke, MA, is a PASS Region I Assistant at the Federal Aviation Administration. He has studied bass with accomplished NYC bassists Santi DeBriano and Joe Fonda, and composition and improvisation with long-time mentor, Dr. Ed Byrne. He is a founding member and serves on the board of the Western New England Double Bass Society, a group of 200 performing double bassists that sponsors bass workshops and concerts in New England. Mark serves as the Chairman for the Holyoke Cultural Council under the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Mark co-leads The Interplay Jazz Band, Frain/Dunlap Jazz Trip, InterTrip and performs with other bands including Berkshire Jazz Underground, Eastern Standard Time, and Disciples of Cool in New England and New York. He co-owns the independent recording label and publishing company Simmer Music has released a CD with guitarist David Frain entitled “Pull The Shades” and has organized festivals including the Holyoke Latin Jazz Festival and the Reggae Rager and Future Roots Festival.

Drummer Bill Matthews PhD., a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, has been playing drums since his teenage years. In the late 1980’s, he studied music intensively, taking workshops and lessons at the Drummer’s Collective in NYC, Jazz in July at the University of Massachusetts, and later where he had the opportunity to play with the legendary Archie Shepp. Since, the early 1990’s, Bill began and continues his study with the great Boston based drummer, Bob Gullotti of the Fringe. Bill played for 2 years in the Valley Jazz Ensemble under the direction of trombonist Ed Byrne and with DBRAZZ, a piano trio. He has performed in numerous concerts at local venues in the Valley including Moment’s Notice and the Eclectic Jazz Quartet.

605 Main Street / PO Box 71, Middletown, CT 06457
www.buttonwood.org / 860.347.4957