Michael Musilliami Trio Plays Toledo, OH And Lafayette, IN This Weekend

[Improvised_Communications]

Veteran jazz guitarist/composer Michael Musillami and his longstanding trio, featuring bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, are on the road this month celebrating the release of their sixth Playscape Recordings release, Mettle, as well as their 10th anniversary as a working unit.

Following a private event tonight at Youngstown State University, the group will perform at Robinwood Concert House in Toledo on Saturday night and Adelino’s Old World Kitchen (presented by The Jazz Club) in Lafayette on Sunday afternoon.

“Musillami’s trio, his alliance with his longtime friends and collaborators, bassist Joe Fonda and drummer George Schuller, is a superb, finely tuned unit, empathetic, swinging and dramatically expressive of emotions sweeping from joy to sadness,” explains the Hartford Courant's Owen McNally in his recent feature article. “More impressive than longevity, however, is the trio’s remarkably tight, cohesive unity. Nurtured by Musillami’s celebratory music, the band functions as a musical family, a democratic clan in which everyone expresses himself.”

Critics have called the group’s music “truly original” (Michael G. Nastos, AllMusic.com), “challenging and adventurous” (Bill Beuttler, Boston Globe), “scintillating and provocative” (Bill Milkowski, The Absolute Sound) and “honest, frequently surprising and consistently exciting” (Ron Wynn, JazzTimes). “Working on an almost telepathic level,” adds Cadence reviewer Troy Collins, “they have developed an innate familiarity with each other that enables them to second guess abrupt tempo changes and harmonic detours with split second timing. Although the trio certainly doesn’t need any help navigating Musillami’s compelling tunes, they are occasionally joined by a few guest soloists, always to remarkable effect.”

Musillami’s career spans more than 25 years and includes extensive work as a performer, bandleader/composer and educator. In addition to his trio, which has performed across Europe and North America and released five other recordings since 2002, he has earned international acclaim as the leader of groups ranging from duo to octet. When not working with his own bands, he also teaches at The Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, and manages Playscape Recordings, the highly regarded independent label he founded in 1999.

Learn more at http://michaelmusillami.com and http://playscape-recordings.com

[Frisco]

In case anyone near Lafayette, IN is reading this.........
GO see this trio. They tore it up in Toledo last night!
75 minute set had all the inventiveness of the best of improvised
music, the swing of the best bebop, the raw power of the best free-jazz
music, the subtlety and melody of the best creative jazz, and the
abstract sounds of the best of the avant-garde. They hit on all cylinders!