Jazz Quartet to Perform February 12 in Marlborough

Jazz Quartet to Perform February 12 in Marlborough
 
            For an afternoon of light jazz, there is no need to “Take the A Train.” Just show up at Saint Stephen Lutheran Church, 537 Bolton Street, Marlborough on Sunday, February 12 at 3 p.m. The Rebecca Pagano quartet, a group of well-known area musicians, will entertain with jazz standards.

            The quartet will include Pagano, tenor sax/flute; Alexei Tsiganov, piano, John Hotchkiss, bass, and Charles Weller, drums. Although the final play list is not set, Rebecca indicated a working list includes Cheesecake, Ceora, There Will Never Be Another You, Alice in Wonderland, I Could Write a Book, Voce’ e Eu, Sunday Kind of Love, and I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart.

            “I'm very grateful for this opportunity to bring my music to St. Stephen Luterhan Church and the greater Marlborough community,” Pagano said. “This band is cooking! We can't wait to bring some joy into everyone's day, and leave everyone with hearts and minds full of songs.” 

            Music lovers are asked to bring a donation to the Fresh Start Furniture Bank as their admission fee. NEW kitchen gadgets, such as Pyrex baking dishes, cookie sheets, mixing bowls and cutting boards would be especially welcome along with “gently used” small appliances such as hand mixers and toasters. Cash donations for Fresh Start will also be accepted. With a Valentine’s Day theme, refreshments will be available from 2:45-3 pm, during intermission, and after the concert.

            All four jazz musicians not only perform locally and regionally but also teach their craft.

            Saxophonist and flutist Rebecca Pagano has performed in concert halls and jazz venues throughout New England, including Sanders Theatre, Jordan Hall, Berklee’s David Friend Recital Hall, the POST Underground jazz club, and New Hampshire’s Mount Washington Hotel. She is a founding member of the Boston-area District 5 Jazz Band.  Rebecca earned both an M.M. and an M.M.Ed from The Boston Conservatory, and a B.M.E. from Indiana University. She currently studies jazz in New England Conservatory’s Continuing Education Jazz Program, improvisation with Mike Tucker, and teaches band, jazz band, and music at Wayland Middle School.

            Alexei Tsiganov is a composer, pianist, vibraphonist and educator.  At age seventeen he began playing at St. Petersburg Jazz Philharmonic Hall, the largest jazz club in the Soviet Union. After winning several competitions, in 1991 he came to the United States to continue his career in the motherland of jazz. He has appeared on WERS-Boston radio and  WGBH-Boston. He studied with Gary Burton at Berklee College of Music, and at the New England Conservatory with Charlie Banacos and George Russell. Tsiganov  performed solo and with his group in and around  New England, well-known jazz clubs in New York City, and has toured throughout the United States, Europe, South America and Asia.

            John Hotchkiss grew up in a musical household outside Chicago where he learned to play both jazz and classical double bass. Moving to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music, he performed widely appearing with many jazz artists including Bruce Torff, Mark Kross, David Arteaga, Nat Simpkins, and Jennifer Hruska. He has performed in faculty recitals at the New England Conservatory and Berklee and with Rufus Reid of the Boston Bass Bash. John plays throughout New England as a member the District 5 Jazz Band.  In the classical domain, he has served as principal bass for the Concord Orchestra, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and MassOpera.

            Charles Weller has worked extensively as a performer, composer and educator. He holds a B.M. from Berklee College of Music, and an M.M. from the New England Conservatory. A native Californian, Weller moved back west after college, where he shared the stage with such artists as Charles McPherson, Mike Wofford, Peter Sprague, Sinne Eeeg, and Gilbert Castellanos, and taught at San Diego State and Cal State San Marcos. Weller studied drums and percussion with Terri Lyne Carrington, Bob Moses, Billy Hart, and others. He currently resides in Boston, and is a faculty member for the New England Conservatory Jazz Prep and Continuing Education, where he teaches private lessons, ensembles, and jazz ear training.
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            The program is the second in a series of Performances at St. Stephen, with one concert offered each season. In the fall, a folk duo performed, and the spring program, still tentative, may feature piano, organ, and handbells.