MUSIC: OnWeGo Jazz Collective at The Press Room

Description

OnWeGo Jazz Collective.

Featuring
SARA CASWELL, Grammy-nominated violinist
and
DAVID THORNE SCOTT (vocals, bass guitar)
ERIC BYERS (guitar, vocals)
MARK SHILANSKY (piano, vocals)

Saturday, June 20, The Press Room, 77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, NH

Reserved Seats: $23 (pre-sale); $32 (at door)

Two Shows: 5:45 pm (doors, 5:00) and 8:05 pm (doors, 7:20 pm)
The ticket link below is for the 8:05 pm show. See other listing for the ticket link to the 5:45
pm show. https://www.portsmouthnhtickets.com/e/onwego-jazz-collective-7-20pm

Four masters in total alignment! The group, OnWeGo, blends jazz, popular, & global traditions into a refined, harmony-rich performance defined by intuition & interplay.

OnWeGo is a collaboration that began in 2021 between these four exceedingly talented artists—Caswell, Scott, Byers, and Shilansky. Their music embraces multiple genres including jazz, popular, and world music. The emphasis is on vocal harmony, creativity, and collective improvisation—all of which elevates their performance to one that is as much a fun surprise as a superlative experience. You will hear original songs side-by-side carefully chosen covers, and arrangements will feature the performers' telepathic interplay and unique artistry.

Just take a listen to OnWeGo on this YouTube video and you will know what we mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_k48L7N0xQ

Plan to come early to place your food and drink orders. A selection of brunch and lunch items will be available for purchase during both shows.

This event is presented by the Seacoast Jazz Society.


MEET THE MUSICIANS...

SARA CASWELL, violin
"...a brilliant world-class violinist... one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars...”
-David Baker, internationally renowned jazz educator and Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra

“Most good violinists will never experience what Sara creates with her instrument. It is beautifully refined emotion that lifts the spirit... Jazz violin needs a universal ambassador... a player who can pick up where the last generation left off. Sara is well on her way to extending that tradition to touch new audiences."
-Mark O'Connor, International Recording Artist/Violinist

Sara's technical facility—rooted in her early exposure to a variety of musical genres—intertwines with her gift for lyricism and each year continue to attract growing attention to her artistry as a jazz soloist, sideman, and teacher. Voted into DownBeat Magazine's Critics and Readers Polls every year since 2013, Sara has released three highly acclaimed albums under her own name: "The Way to You" (2023), "But Beautiful" (2005), and "First Song" (2000). She has been part of groups led by Esperanza Spalding (Chamber Music Society), Linda Oh (Aventurine), and has performed and/or recorded with artists and ensembles including Regina Carter, Bruce Springsteen, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, John Patitucci, Donny McCaslin, Henry Threadgill, Dave Stryker, Helen Sung, Miho Hazama, Christian Sands, and Kishi Bashi.

Sara has performed at Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, SFJazz, Blue Note (NYC and Tokyo), and at jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, and Montreux. She is a member of Joseph Brent's 9 Horses trio, Chuck Owen's The Jazz Surge, and the Caswell Sisters Quintet (a group she co-leads with her sister, vocalist Rachel Caswell). In 2013, Sara and Rachel joined forces with Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Fred Hersch and recorded the album "Alive in the Singing Air" to rave reviews and its selection by jazz critic Thomas Cunniffe as one of the year's “Best Vocal CDs” on Jazz History Online. Sara is also on the faculty of Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, The New School, and New York University.

ERIC BYERS, guitar and vocals
Eric Byers possesses an extraordinary proficiency and versatility as a guitarist and composer/arranger. He has been on recordings and in concert halls and clubs around the world, with artists like Dave and Maureen Budway, George Russell, Jr, The Fifth Dimension, Lydia Harrell, No Static (New England’s Premier Steely Dan tribute band), Adrian Sicam, and Andrea Capozzoli. He performs, writes, and records in a wide variety of styles, including jazz, classical, pop, rock, bluegrass, R&B, Brazilian samba and choro, and some Afro-Latin music. Eric is also a professor of Harmony and Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music.

DAVID THORNE SCOTT, vocals and bass guitar
"...explores the intersection of Jazz and Americana, city and country, instrumentation and lyrics
to create lush compositions and covers that are unifying, and healing, in their beauty.”
—Eponymous Review

David Thorne Scott is a singer and songwriter who has long been known for bringing a modern edge to the classics of the Great American Songbook. His album "Shade" was named a "Top 5 CD of the Year" by the Jazz Education Journal. Cadence Magazine said "he phrases like a saxophone player and is as slippery and hip as the young Mel Tormé." Herb Wong, one of the West Coast's leading jazz experts, wrote “I haven’t been this moved by a performance of ‘For All We Know’ since Carmen McRae.” David's recent release called "Thornewood" is an album that explores the sweet spot between Jazz and Americana: Cole Porter and Harold Arlen placed next to John Denver and Townes Van Zandt. Special guests on the album include Paula Cole, Peter Eldridge, Jason Palmer, and Walter Smith III. David is a Professor of Voice at Berklee College of Music.

MARK SHILANSKY, piano and vocals
"Inventive, modern mainstream jazz pianist”
—Jon Garelick, Boston Globe

Mark Shilansky provides melodic improvisation and infectious compositions on his own and to a host of jazz luminaries, as well as to the classroom, as a professor at Berklee College of Music and the University of New Hampshire. Shilansky’s recordings as a leader include 2007’s “Join the Club,” a mostly Latin Jazz affair featuring David Bowie, saxist Donny McCaslin, and 2013’s "Fugue Mill," the eponymous debut of his Jazz/Bluegrass/Celtic project, and “Greensky” (2023) an original modern jazz recording co-led with vibraphonist Rich Greenblatt, and he is featured on over 60 recordings as a keyboardist, vocalist, composer/arranger, or producer, and in performance as band member with such artists as the New York Voices, Luciana Souza, and Sean Jones. 

As an artist he embraces the history of the styles in which he works, while seeking connections between them as a way of expressing a personal musical vision, characterized by lush harmonies, the exploration of the line between composition and improvisation, and an ever-present sense of humor. His works have been recorded by Robin McKelle, Kim Nazarian, and by Jazz All-State and College ensembles around the world. He is also President of the Board of the Seacoast Jazz Society.

Tickets:
Here is the ticket link for the 5:45 pm show:
https://www.portsmouthnhtickets.com/e/onwego-jazz-collective-5pm/tickets
Here is the ticket link for the 8:05 pm show:
https://www.portsmouthnhtickets.com/e/onwego-jazz-collective-7-20pm