January's Bach's Lunches Feature Jazz, Funk, 'n' Boogaloo

CONCORD, N.H.—The groovy sounds of jazz, funk, and boogaloo are the theme for the next two installments in the Bach’s Lunch Series of lectures and concerts at the Concord Community Music School.

On Thursday, January 7, Music School Jazz Department faculty member Matt Langley will give a lecture titled “Funk ’n’ Boogaloo? Who Knew?” The following week, on January 14, the jazz trio Bangkok Disco, featuring Music School Jazz Department faculty member Tom Robinson on piano, Music School alumnus Scott Kiefner on bass, and guest artist Jared Steer on drums, will give a concert titled “Get in the Groove: Funk, Boogaloo, & Jazz.” Bach’s Lunch programs are free and open to the public, and take place from 12:10 to 12:50 p.m. on the first and second Thursdays of each month in the Music School’s Recital Hall, 23 Wall Street, downtown Concord.

Musical styles? Dance crazes? Exotic viruses from a faraway land? Let’s investigate! In anticipation of Bangkok Disco’s performance, Music School Jazz Department faculty member Matt Langley will explore what Funk and Boogaloo is all about in his January 7 lecture.

Bangkok Disco’s January 14 concert will feature music from classic soul-funk artists such as Grant Green, Rusty Bryant, and Charles Earland to modern day artists Medeski-Martin-Wood and David Tronzo, as well as original music. Bangkok Disco includes Music School Jazz Department faculty member Tom Robinson on piano, Music School alumnus Scott Kiefner on bass, and guest artist Jared Steer on drums.

For more information, please call 603-228-1196 or visit www.ccmusicschool.org.

About the Speaker and Artists

Matt Langley (saxophone) had a great band director at Rundlett Junior High School in Concord, NH who turned him on to the paradoxical joy of improvisation at an early age. Thus began a largely self-guided musical journey that has also included a brief period of lessons with saxophonist Stan Strickland, an Aebersold Jazz Camp encounter with “Blue Lou” Marini and David Baker, and a visit to UNH’s Summer Youth Music School. Matt began his professional career directly out of high school, and his love of music has taken him from blues bars in Waterville, Maine to the famous Green Mill in Chicago, Illinois, and from the Boston Globe Jazz Festival to Sunday Services at the Second Congregational Church in Kittery, Maine. Matt has recorded extensively. Most recently with Sojoy, the five horn chord-less little big-band, whose self titled CD became available in December 2015 at sojoy.bandcamp.com. Matt performs with numerous groups in the area in addition to teaching at CCMS, the Portsmouth Music and Arts Center, the Shaker Road School and at his home studio. Matt has also shared the stage or recording studio with Ron Carter, Richie Cole, Fred Hersch, John Tchicai, John Medeski, Billy Martin, Chris Wood, Dave Fuzinski, Matt Wilson, Charlie Kohlhase, Tiger Okoshi, Roswell Rudd, Gene MacDaniels and many others.

Tom Robinson (piano) received his B.M. in Jazz Studies from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. He studied saxophone with Michael Cox and piano with Mark Flugge and Joe Hunter. He performs throughout New England with several groups. He has been a featured artist at the Catamount Arts Center and Mountaintop Music Center. He recorded a collaborative CD with Tim Gilmore and John Hunter in 2006 called “Skylight”. Tom teaches at the Concord Community Music School and St. Paul’s School as well as at his home studio. Tom is currently involved in several projects including Donkilo and Bangkok Disco.

Scott Kiefner is a bassist from Concord, NH. In 2012, he graduated from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music in Montreal, QC, where he studied with Fraser Hollins and Chris McCann. In the summer of 2013, he was selected to attend the School for Improvisational Music Intensive workshop in New York City. He has since returned to New England, where he performs regularly with Jonathan Lorentz, Jim Dozet, Chris Klaxton, and many others. He began his musical life in Music & Movement at the Music School, continuing on to study piano until he discovered the bass. He studied bass with Don Williams at the Music School and was a member of the Scholarship Jazz Ensemble.

Jared Steer (percussion) is a well rounded performer who plays with a vast number of projects as a band member and freelance artist. His projects include Donkilo! (voted Best of NH Band in 2011), The Randy Roos’ Urethane, Ben Rudnick and Friends (numerous awards including several parents’ choice awards), Bangkok Disco, and many others. Jared has also has recorded on numerous albums with many of the region’s top artists. He has performed and or recorded with the likes of Shawn Monteiro (jazz vocalist), Randy Roos (guitar great), Philip Hamilton (Pat Metheny), Sayon Camara (master drummer from Guinea), Steve Rucker (Bee Gees), Steve Hunt (Alan Holdsworth). In addition to his busy performing schedule, Jared is a sought-after drum set/percussion instructor.

About the Concord Community Music School

Concord Community Music School is a full member of the National Guild for Community Arts Education and is recognized nationally for program innovation and management excellence. Welcoming adults, teens and children of all musical abilities, 53 artist teachers reach more than 33,000 people in four states with educational programs, concerts, workshops and community partnerships. CCMS has received major funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Hearst Foundation, New Hampshire State Council on the Arts, Jane’s Trust, and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and is the 2005 recipient of the NH Governor’s Arts Award for Cultural Access Leadership.
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