Join Us for a Fantastic Evening with
Legendary Jazz Vocalist & Jazz Harmonica Master
Legendary Jazz Vocalist & Jazz Harmonica Master
SHARON JONES and MIKE TURK
With John Hyde (piano), Marty Ballou (bass), and Les Harris, Jr. (drums)
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Music from “Ella Fitzgerald” to “Frank Sinatra” and
“The Great American Songbook”
77 Daniel Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Two Shows: Friday, July 5
1st Show: 6-7:15 pm (doors open 5:30)
2nd Show: 8:15-9:30 pm (doors open 7:45)
Two Shows: Friday, July 5
1st Show: 6-7:15 pm (doors open 5:30)
2nd Show: 8:15-9:30 pm (doors open 7:45)
Reserved Seating: $20 (Pre-Sale), $25 (At Door)
(Note: Due to an unforeseen health issue, Jim Porcella will not be able to perform as previously announced. Instead Mike Turk with join Sharon on stage.)
Join us for a fabulous new show with legendary jazz vocalist, Sharon Jones and jazz harmonica virtuoso Mike Turk, who will be entertaining you with a mix of jazz standards made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan, among others, and the “Great American Songbook.”
SHARON JONES
Sharon Jones has made her name in clubs and performances across the. U.S. She has been named “Portsmouth’s Gem,” by “Portsmouth Spotlight Magazine” for her many shining performances over the years at The Music Hall, Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club, the Seacoast Jazz Festival, Top of the Hub, and much more!
She is admired and loved for her inimitable, energetic, multi-dimensional vocals, whether singing a ballad, a hard jazz tune, a funky blues composition, or a ‘60s rock song. A born performer, she infuses emotion into every song and draws you into the experience with her.
Growing up in Portsmouth in a family of 13 children, she launched her career shortly after high school, traveling extensively with world renowned jazz organist, Johnny Hammond Smith and saxophonist Houston Person before settling in Los Angeles where she sang in popular clubs, was a studio backup singer, and studied voice.
During the summers she performed at resorts from New York to LA to Boston and Montreal, before returning to New England to make Portsmouth her permanent home. In 2007 during Black History Month, the Portsmouth Postal Service presented Sharon with the “Ella Fitzgerald Commemorative Stamp” honoring Sharon’s community service as well as her tremendous talent.
MIKE TURK
Nationally prominent jazz harmonica musician, Mike Turk, got a passion for the harmonica beginning in 1967 at age 14 in Bronx, NY, son of Dick Richards, a jazz bassist and vocalist from the 1940s to 1970s. Mike gravitated to the sounds of Chicago Blues music, Rhythm & Blues, and even the Folk Blues that was surging from the depths of New York’s Greenwich Village night clubs at that time.
By the early 1970s Mike developed his technique on the “blues” or diatonic harmonica and found his way to Boston where he soon became a local figure in its vibrant music scene. Turk performed or “sat in” with performers such as Bonnie Raitt, Lowel Fulsom, Hound Dog Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite Band and even Dave Van Ronk and Steve Goodman. Eventually, Turk landed in the prominent New England country and western band of John Lincoln Wright & The Sourmash Boys.
It was this period, in the mid 1970s, that Turk began to explore the possibilities of the chromatic or “Jazz” harmonica and spent the period from 1978 to 1981 at the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with the world’s preeminent harmonica player, Toots Thielemans. It was here that Mike began to formulate his ideas on the harmonica using the techniques and jazz phrasing established by Thielemans. Sometime later Mike was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to study privately with the great saxophonist and jazz educator Jerry Bergonzi, and this furthered his mastery of the chromatic harmonica.
Eventually, Turk’s influences would come from a virtual textbook of Bebop and Modern Jazz written by the likes of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stiit, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderly, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Milt Jackson, Bill Evans, Lucky Thompson, Hank Mobley, and many more, East Coast Bop & West Coast Cool!
In the 1980s and 1990s Turk remained in Boston as a working jazz harmonica musician performing in concerts, clubs and as an “on call” studio musician. Turk traveled to New York City during this period to work on various TV and Radio commercials.
In the 1990s Turk performed and collaborated with great Boston players such as Gray Sargent and Marshall Wood and had the great honor to play with Dave McKenna from time to time, as well as many other top-notch Boston players such as Jeff Stout, Dick Johnson, Jon Wheatley, Lou Columbo, Bruce Getz, Danny Harrington, Cassandra McKinley, Phil McGowan, Ray Santisi, Paul Schmelling, Paul Broadnax, John Lockwood, Bob Guilloti, the great jazz drummers Joe Hunt and Alan Dawson...and more!
In recent years, Turk had the great pleasure of sharing the Scullers Jazz Club concert stage with jazz vocalist Rebecca Parris and her band consisting of Brad Hatfield, Peter Kontrimus, and Jim Lattini.
Along with Sharon and Mike, these outstanding musicians will perform:
JOHN HYDE
John Hyde is a native of Beverly, Massachusetts, who majored in composition while studying classical piano under Ed Bedner at Berklee College of Music. Hyde cultivated his jazz chops under the guidance of famed pianists Charlie Banacas and Paul Schmeling, and has performed with Bobby Hebb, Maria Muldaur, Whoopie Goldberg and Harry Belafonte. Hyde also performs solo and with his quartet and has the distinction of having played at the Cheers bar in Boston for several years.
LES HARRIS, JR.
By the age of twelve, Les Harris, Jr. was accompanying his eminent percussionist dad at gigs and has since played drums with Teddy Wilson, Dick Johnson, John LaPorta, and Don Doane, among others. Harris studied percussion with Joe Hunt and Robert Kaufman at Berklee College, and later with legendary drummer and educator Alan Dawson. He has traveled the world with the jazz vocal group The Ritz and has toured with The Artie Shaw Orchestra.
MARTY BALLOU
Marty Ballou grew up in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and studied acoustic bass with John Lockwood; improvisation with trombonist Hal Crook; jazz guitar with Leo Amitrano; and classical guitar with Vincent Fraioli. While performing and recording with The Ritz, Ballou played at the Fresno and Helsinki Jazz Festivals, the Newport Jazz Festival in Japan, and a variety of clubs throughout the world. While with The Ritz, Ballou recorded six internationally released albums and played alongside jazz trumpet and flugelhorn legend Clark Terry.
SHARON JONES
Sharon Jones has made her name in clubs and performances across the. U.S. She has been named “Portsmouth’s Gem,” by “Portsmouth Spotlight Magazine” for her many shining performances over the years at The Music Hall, Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club, the Seacoast Jazz Festival, Top of the Hub, and much more!
She is admired and loved for her inimitable, energetic, multi-dimensional vocals, whether singing a ballad, a hard jazz tune, a funky blues composition, or a ‘60s rock song. A born performer, she infuses emotion into every song and draws you into the experience with her.
Growing up in Portsmouth in a family of 13 children, she launched her career shortly after high school, traveling extensively with world renowned jazz organist, Johnny Hammond Smith and saxophonist Houston Person before settling in Los Angeles where she sang in popular clubs, was a studio backup singer, and studied voice.
During the summers she performed at resorts from New York to LA to Boston and Montreal, before returning to New England to make Portsmouth her permanent home. In 2007 during Black History Month, the Portsmouth Postal Service presented Sharon with the “Ella Fitzgerald Commemorative Stamp” honoring Sharon’s community service as well as her tremendous talent.
MIKE TURK
Nationally prominent jazz harmonica musician, Mike Turk, got a passion for the harmonica beginning in 1967 at age 14 in Bronx, NY, son of Dick Richards, a jazz bassist and vocalist from the 1940s to 1970s. Mike gravitated to the sounds of Chicago Blues music, Rhythm & Blues, and even the Folk Blues that was surging from the depths of New York’s Greenwich Village night clubs at that time.
By the early 1970s Mike developed his technique on the “blues” or diatonic harmonica and found his way to Boston where he soon became a local figure in its vibrant music scene. Turk performed or “sat in” with performers such as Bonnie Raitt, Lowel Fulsom, Hound Dog Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite Band and even Dave Van Ronk and Steve Goodman. Eventually, Turk landed in the prominent New England country and western band of John Lincoln Wright & The Sourmash Boys.
It was this period, in the mid 1970s, that Turk began to explore the possibilities of the chromatic or “Jazz” harmonica and spent the period from 1978 to 1981 at the Berklee College of Music, where he studied with the world’s preeminent harmonica player, Toots Thielemans. It was here that Mike began to formulate his ideas on the harmonica using the techniques and jazz phrasing established by Thielemans. Sometime later Mike was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to study privately with the great saxophonist and jazz educator Jerry Bergonzi, and this furthered his mastery of the chromatic harmonica.
Eventually, Turk’s influences would come from a virtual textbook of Bebop and Modern Jazz written by the likes of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stiit, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Cannonball Adderly, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Pepper Adams, Ben Webster, Stan Getz, Wes Montgomery, Milt Jackson, Bill Evans, Lucky Thompson, Hank Mobley, and many more, East Coast Bop & West Coast Cool!
In the 1980s and 1990s Turk remained in Boston as a working jazz harmonica musician performing in concerts, clubs and as an “on call” studio musician. Turk traveled to New York City during this period to work on various TV and Radio commercials.
In the 1990s Turk performed and collaborated with great Boston players such as Gray Sargent and Marshall Wood and had the great honor to play with Dave McKenna from time to time, as well as many other top-notch Boston players such as Jeff Stout, Dick Johnson, Jon Wheatley, Lou Columbo, Bruce Getz, Danny Harrington, Cassandra McKinley, Phil McGowan, Ray Santisi, Paul Schmelling, Paul Broadnax, John Lockwood, Bob Guilloti, the great jazz drummers Joe Hunt and Alan Dawson...and more!
In recent years, Turk had the great pleasure of sharing the Scullers Jazz Club concert stage with jazz vocalist Rebecca Parris and her band consisting of Brad Hatfield, Peter Kontrimus, and Jim Lattini.
Along with Sharon and Mike, these outstanding musicians will perform:
JOHN HYDE
John Hyde is a native of Beverly, Massachusetts, who majored in composition while studying classical piano under Ed Bedner at Berklee College of Music. Hyde cultivated his jazz chops under the guidance of famed pianists Charlie Banacas and Paul Schmeling, and has performed with Bobby Hebb, Maria Muldaur, Whoopie Goldberg and Harry Belafonte. Hyde also performs solo and with his quartet and has the distinction of having played at the Cheers bar in Boston for several years.
LES HARRIS, JR.
By the age of twelve, Les Harris, Jr. was accompanying his eminent percussionist dad at gigs and has since played drums with Teddy Wilson, Dick Johnson, John LaPorta, and Don Doane, among others. Harris studied percussion with Joe Hunt and Robert Kaufman at Berklee College, and later with legendary drummer and educator Alan Dawson. He has traveled the world with the jazz vocal group The Ritz and has toured with The Artie Shaw Orchestra.
MARTY BALLOU
Marty Ballou grew up in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, and studied acoustic bass with John Lockwood; improvisation with trombonist Hal Crook; jazz guitar with Leo Amitrano; and classical guitar with Vincent Fraioli. While performing and recording with The Ritz, Ballou played at the Fresno and Helsinki Jazz Festivals, the Newport Jazz Festival in Japan, and a variety of clubs throughout the world. While with The Ritz, Ballou recorded six internationally released albums and played alongside jazz trumpet and flugelhorn legend Clark Terry.
Reserved Tickets: $20 (pre-sale) $25 (at the door)
About the Seacoast Jazz Society
This show is part of the Jazz All-Stars Series sponsored by the Seacoast Jazz Society. The Society, founded in 1990, is a nonprofit organization serving northern Massachusetts to Portland, Maine. Its mission is to keep jazz alive in the community, support local musicians, offer jazz education and events, and provide scholarships for young artists. To become a member or join the mailing list, click here.
This show is part of the Jazz All-Stars Series sponsored by the Seacoast Jazz Society. The Society, founded in 1990, is a nonprofit organization serving northern Massachusetts to Portland, Maine. Its mission is to keep jazz alive in the community, support local musicians, offer jazz education and events, and provide scholarships for young artists. To become a member or join the mailing list, click here.