Essex County Guitarist Will Lead Quintet At Jersey Jazz Show

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An up-and-coming guitarist in Essex County will be leading a quintet of local musicians at a concert to open the New Jersey Jazz Society's Jersey Jazz LIVE! concert on Sunday, March 3.

Sally Shupe of Maplewood, a senior at Columbia High School, will be performing in the opening act at the Madison Community Arts Center at 10 Kings Road in Madison at 3 p.m.

The concert will feature a performance from vocalist Lucy Wijnands, who will celebrate the centennial birthday of jazz legend, Sarah Vaughan. Learn more or purchase tickets here.

Shupe was the guitarist in the All-State Jazz Ensemble that performed at the TD James Moody Jazz Festival last November at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She plans to study jazz at Montclair State's John J. Cali School of Music in the fall.

The other members of the quintet include drummer Beckett Diehl, a freshman at William Paterson University; tenor saxophonist Abhik Mojumdar, a senior at South Brunswick High School; pianist Thomas Dinh, a sophomore at Robbinsville High School; and bassist Jeff Andolaro, a senior at Shawnee High School. Mojumdar, Dinh, and Andolaro were also members of the All-State Jazz Ensemble. Diehl is a graduate of Ridge High School in Basking Ridge and was an active participant in Montclair's Jazz House Kids program.

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