RICH GREENBLATT-MARK SHILANSKY BAND

The Rich Greenblatt and Mark Shilansky Band Rich Greenblatt - vibes, Mark Shilansky - piano, Greg Toro - bass, Mike Connors - drums, Nick Grondin - guitars, Pete Kenagy - trumpet/flugelhornCelebrate the release of the meeting of these two local musical minds, their new recording, Green Sky. Rich Greenblatts lyrical and sophisticated vibraphone has been featured in others bands (John Baboians Bebop Guitars, The Jazz Composers Alliance, Kurt Elling) and his own recordings (My Take, Hat Trick, Hot and Dry and Mooin) which also feature his stylistically versatile and melodically memorable compositions. Rich Greenblatt is a musician who is continually in a process of growing. Hat Trick shows him further down the road, both as a player and a writer. Whether it is the swinging modality of Locked In, the heartfelt lyricism of Moon Girl, the compositional angularity of Bobble Head or the dark beauty of The Pensieve, Richs unique musical personality comes through, with a clarity of purpose and a beautiful sound. Joe LockePianist Mark Shilansky balances sideman work with hosts of singers and instrumentalists (most recently with guitarist Steven Kirby, and vocalists David Thorne Scott and Isabel Stover) with his artistic output as a bandleader, including the eponymous debut of his Americana/Jazz crossover project Fugue Mill and his comic contemporary jazz outfit Join the Club,of which Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix, said Shilansky knows how to make every moment engage, [with] long arcs of melody as he works through the chord changes... this club is one anyone would be happy to join. As well as busy music educators at a variety of institutions, Greenblatt and Shilansky are colleagues at Berklee College of Musics Ear Training Department, and decided to pool their instrumental and compositional resources into a collaborative project. The music reflects their shared influences, from the hard swinging of Milt Jackson and the Ray Brown trio (Opus De Funk, Beautiful Friendship) to the G