Stony Brook, NY - January 6, 2015 - An impressive array of internationally acclaimed jazz artists will perform at Ward Melville Heritage Organization’s festive “Here’s to the Ladies” Valentine event on February 12 at their Educational & Cultural Center in the Stony Brook Village Center. The quartet, led by trumpeter Tom Manuel (pictured), includes legendary trombonist Ray Anderson; bassist Peter Coco and guitarist Steve Salerno, who have each shared the stage with some of the finest musicians in the world.
The evening will offer performances of love songs from the American Song Book “written for, to and about the ladies we love,” says Tom Manuel, who has collaborated with many leading jazz figures including Teddy Charles, Anita O'Day, Joe Wilder and others. He is Director of Jazz Studies at Long Island University, C.W. Post campus in Brookville and was recently the commencement speaker at a school in Africa where he started a music program. Manuel is also President and Curator of The Jazz Loft, a performance and education venue coming to Stony Brook Village in 2015.
For five straight years Ray Anderson was named as “best trombonist” in the Down Beat Critics Poll and declared “the most exciting slide brass player of his generation” by the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. He is Director of Jazz Studies at Stony Brook University and has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Oberon Foundation, Chamber Music America and more. In 2001 he became a John S. Guggenheim Fellow.
Bassist Pete Coco has also toured across the globe with artists such as Matt Wilson, Bucky Pizzarelli, Frank Vignola and many more. He is an Adjunct Professor of Music at Hofstra University, where he teaches courses in jazz and history. Pete plays on a German bass built circa 1850 that previously belonged to jazz bass legend Milt "The Judge" Hinton.
Steve Salerno, guitarist/composer, has performed throughout Europe and the U.S. as well and is the author of Planet Wave’s Chord Master (an 8,000 chord voicing dictionary) that was voted the number one music app for Apple’s iPhone 2010. His bio includes a duo with Christopher Lamb (principle percussionist with the NY Philharmonic). Salerno was Music Director for the nationally broadcast PBS special Shoreline Sonata.
The event will begin at 6:30 pm and includes a three-course buffet dinner, wine, salad entrée, dessert, coffee or tea catered by Latitude 121 Restaurant. Reservations are required and the cost is $80 pp. For additional information call 631-689-5888/631-751-2244 or visit the website.
