Providence musician and graphic artist Brian Chippendale first fell in love with the drums when he was a toddler. No, seriously.

The Philadelphia-raised vocalist for noise rock outfit Lightning Bolt says he vividly remembers using large spoons as a kid to pummel pots and pans in his parents’ kitchen. Later, he’d evolve to markers, which he’d tap against glass bottles of varying size, and play along with the radio.

Today, he is considered one of the world’s most innovative drummers, and was even enlisted by Björk to handle the drums on her 2007 album Volta. He’s also recognized for his cartoons and graphic novels, like Puke Force and Maggots. Doing both requires a subtle balance.

“We’re a loud band,” Chippendale says of Lightning Bolt, which first took shape in 1994. They’ve released six full-lengths, including 2015’s Fantasy Empire. “I am a fairly aggressive physical drummer and I drum for about an hour each day. Then, I have the rest of my time to work on art and chase my 1-year-old around.”

According to Chippendale, he’s been sketching for as long as he can remember, and, if he gets lost in his work, ends up drawing for hours on end. He says he’s been in New England since 1991, when he came to Providence for printmaking classes at the Rhode Island School of Design.

While at school, Chippendale met his wife, Korean-American artist Jungil Hong, who was studying ceramics. “We produced a pretty cute little kid,” Chippendale says. “So far, he’s gotten the best of us.”

The self-proclaimed workaholic admits that living in Providence has helped inspire much of his work, both audio and visual. “For years, I really was shaped by this kind of mill living scene in Providence,” he explains. “I barely left the studio. Providence, specifically, was really abandoned for years, so you get these huge spaces for really cheap. The forgotten industry of Providence provided Lightning Bolt with places where we could create and be loud, and an opportunity to form what we are today.”

Chippendale says that many of his artist friends have, in recent decades, left Providence for the likes of New York and Los Angeles. But that’s not his plan. “Those cities are so difficult to thrive in,” he explains. “Ten years ago, you saw people fleeing but now, they’re returning because they’ve got kids and they just want to mellow out.”

Chippendale says that he has become enchanted by Rhode Island’s beauty, including its glorious beaches, and loves the vibe of the capital city and its dwellers. “The slowness of Providence has really allowed me the chance to do stuff that doesn’t make money,” he jokes. “I get to decorate things and I get lost in that, and forget about not making money — until I look in my wallet.”

Want to know what Chippendale is listening to when he’s not playing? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify Channel to hear. While you’re there, check out what’s on the playlists of other musicians we’ve featured.

Brian Chippendale, graphic artist and drummer for Lightning Bolt
Providence, Rhode Island
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The post Lightning Bolt and Puke Force appeared first on Take Magazine.

There was a time, and it wasn’t all that long ago, when you would have to wait for stuff. No joke. For instance, musicians would spend years working on albums, release them, and then, it’d be years—sometimes decades—before fans could expect new music from them.

Not so in this digital age, where everyone’s free to binge virtually all forms entertainment. Today, music is released online in dribs and drabs, because appetites are never fully sated.

For three decades, lifelong musician Philip B. Price—who is perhaps best known for his enchanting work with Massachusetts indie rock outfit Winterpills—has written and recorded solo tunes he was just too busy to release. That is, until now.

Over the last year and a half, Price has been digging through his past, coming away with a dozen albums’ worth of material he has remixed, re-mastered, and in some cases, reinterpreted. “It’s been a little stressful because, well, it’s kind of a lot,” Price confides. “I’ve wanted to work on this project for years, and I really thought it would go quickly. For a while, I felt like maybe I bit off more than I could chew.”

But he got through it, and on Dec. 8, the 12 solo LPs—the result of Price’s “neurotic compulsion to write songs” in his downtime from 1980s art rock act Memorial Garage and 1990s power pop group The Maggies—will be released digitally. “I couldn’t help myself,” Price admits of the group of songs, which range from dance-noise to shoegaze. “And now, I’m quietly dumping a huge load of music on the world.”

Price understands 143 songs is a lot of music to unleash all at once, so he’s compiled a 39-track best of album he’s titled Without Your Love I’d Be Nowhere At All. “I’m glad this stuff is seeing the light of day and I can finally distribute it properly,” says Price, adding he’s working on new tracks for a solo album he’ll issue in 2018. “It feels good to get it all out there.”

Price, who plays guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, has been a New Englander for most of his adult life, and lives in Northamption with his wife, Winterpills keyboardist Flora Reed. But he grew up outside of New York City before moving to Los Angeles, where his father, Eugene, worked as an established screenwriter.

He says he can’t imagine what his life would be like had he not moved to Massachusetts after graduating from Bennington College in Vermont. Price—a member of Fountains of Wayne frontman Chris Collingwood’s solo band, Look Park—says his songs are largely influenced by New England’s landscape, although he doesn’t discount the influence his peers have had on his style. “For an area of this size, it has a lot going on, and it has cycles of renewal,” Price says. “It’s like every eight years, it feels like it’s dying off and then, it surges back with all these new artists.”

A sampler from Price’s new collection is available here. To hear what’s on his playlist when he’s not combing through his musical archives, check out our Take a Listen Spotify Channel. You can also hear the playlists of other musicians we’ve featured.

Philip B. Price, guitarist and vocalist, Winterpills
Northampton, Massachusetts
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The post The Price is Right appeared first on Take Magazine.

Laini Marenick’s life has long been filled with song, but for a stretch there, the siren from Seymour, Connecticut, took a step back from music to devote her days to remediating children with severe emotional and behavioral issues. For 10 intense years, Marenick questioned whether she should have abandoned performing. So, in August, after much deliberation, Marenick made a monumental decision.

“There was this creative part of me I wasn’t nurturing,” Marenick says. “So, I left my job as a therapist after working at the same place for almost seven years. I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was. It has not been an easy road.”

Not surprisingly, that conflict between caregiver and creative factors into a majority of the songs on Wandering, the debut full-length from Marenick’s piano-driven pop band, Laini and the Wildfire. “The whole album was really inspired by this journey I’ve been on,” Marenick says. “I am reflecting a lot on things I regret, like not doing this sooner. I think that there are a lot of people who have a fear of change, and that’s a big theme on the album.”

Marenick—a pianist since the age of 12—fronts the band, which is bolstered by the elite bass playing of her husband, Shelton native Mark Marenick, and the addictive drumming of Rob Siraco, also from Shelton but a current resident of Southbury. “We have had a really great reception,” Marenick says. “People seem to like what we’re doing, because I believe what we create is different than what anyone else is doing.”

Of course, growing up in Shelton and living in New England has had a profound impact on Marenick’s artistic endeavors. “I think that for a lot of writers, they take influence from the seasons and the weather and the atmosphere,” she explains. “Because I am from this region, it really is inflected into the songs a bit.”

Marenick says Laini and the Wildfire will always be a Connecticut band, because there’s no place they’d rather be. “It’s funny, because we went out to visit a friend in California recently, and it is so beautiful out there, but I don’t know,” starts Marenick. “I thought I would really like it but, my heart belongs to New England. I love the seasons, and this area just has so much charm and history. I think that other places don’t really have that same kind of history we’re fortunate to have up here.”

She adds: “Besides, I don’t think I could live anywhere else for the pizza alone.”

Want to hear what Marenick is listening to when she’s not performing? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify Channel to hear her playlist. While you’re there, check out the playlists from other musicians we’ve featured.

Laini Marenick, singer and keyboardist for Laini and the Wildfire
Seymour, Connecticut
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Top image: Laini and the Wildfire. All photos by Chris McCarty.

The post She’s on Fire appeared first on Take Magazine.

When people think of Vermont, they may think snow-capped mountains, maple syrup, evergreen forests, skiing, snowboarding. Rare would be the person who’d associate Vermont with surfing. Yet, an extremely adept, technically proficient surf rock act is turning heads in the state, bringing the carefree spirit of Southern California to Burlington. Meet the High Breaks, a tight, instrumental surf band that is composed of close college friends who all started working together in the ’90s alt-rock outfit Lendway.

Guitarist Matthew Hagen, who is open about his inability to surf, says the High Breaks have been going strong for several years now, slowly building a loyal base of fans. The people of Burlington, Hagen says, have taken to the band’s sound like a surfer to water.

“Like me, people just love the tone and texture of it, but more than anything, that music sort of exemplifies a vibe that resonates with them,” Hagen says. “The music embraces that culture of catching that wave, riding it, having it be over—one and done—but hey, there’s always another one coming at you. It’s very accessible and kind of universal.”

Photo by Jessica Green

Hagen says the High Breaks—with bassist Kevin Lynam, guitarist Mike Clifford, and drummer Todd Gevry—tell stories with their songs in each live performance. Before each track, Hagen paints a picture for the audience, “so they know what to listen for.”

But the High Breaks aren’t Hagen’s sole project. In fact, he’s quite eclectic musically, which is something he says Vermonters embrace. “I feel lucky up here and take advantage of Burlington as a creative vessel,” Hagen says. “Like, on Halloween, I performed a live score to the film Pumpkinhead with a cello player and a drummer. You can put stuff together like that up here, and it is welcomed and people support it and people love it.”

Hagen performs hip-hop tracks as Matt Hagen MC, plays bass in a doom metal band called Savage Hen, and has a narrative-noir solo act called Matt the Gnat and the Gators. Oh, and don’t forget about the High Breaks’ alter ego: Surf Sabbath, which sees them performing surf rock renditions of the metal godfathers’ most beloved tracks.

“I do the spectrum of everything, because you get the support from the scene and the venues and the fans—the mutual artists and musicians,” Hagen says. “We’re all in it together.”

Next up? The lifelong New Englanders will be hitting the recording studio to track their third LP. “I can’t tell you when we’ll be releasing it,” Hagen says, “but we will be recording a Surf Sabbath album as well.”

Want to what’s on Hagen’s playlist? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify Channel. You can also hear the playlists of other musicians we’ve featured.

Matthew Hagen–guitarist, High Breaks
Burlington, Vermont
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Top image: High Breaks. All photos by Jessica Green

The post High Jinks from the High Breaks appeared first on Take Magazine.

For the last six years, Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band have quickly risen through the ranks of the Vermont music scene, becoming one of New England’s more beloved musical acts. But Wright’s own varied musical career began well before 2010, the year she met the seven other members of the group.

At one point, Wright was one half of the popular folk duo Loveful Heights, and currently, the dynamic chanteuse also performs with Steady Betty, an all-female ska collective. Wright is also known for pairing up with other local musicians for collaborations and duets, as she did last fall for then-presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. Her cover of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land” was shared by Sanders’ campaign; to date, the video for the song has generated more than 200,000 views on YouTube.

“It was amazing working with so many talented musicians, performing that song with my community, with no egos, for Bernie … it felt and continues to feel like the mission of my life,” Wright says. “Vermont is incredible: the politics, the food culture, the nature. For a long time, it has been a haven for radical and inspirational artists and thinkers.”

Wright, whose sultry, nuanced voice is reminiscent of Bonnie Raitt and, to a lesser extent, Stevie Nicks, moved to Burlington from Rochester, New York, after graduating from college. She quickly injected herself into the local music scene, working with her best friend, Maggie Clifford, in Loveful Heights.

In time, the lifelong singer landed a waitressing job at the Radio Bean Coffeehouse, where she met her husband, owner Lee Anderson. “When I first arrived, the scene here was really something I had never experienced before,” Wright explains. “It was like a real community of people who were friends, and cared for each other and were inspired and inspiring. I fell in love with it. I love the legacy of Vermont, the people of Vermont. It’s just an incredible place.”

Wright also appreciates the state’s abundance of sustainable farms—a subject she’s been interested in for years. “If I wasn’t a touring musician, I’d be a farmer,” Wright says. “An organic farmer, because I’m all about sustainability.”

If you’ve never seen Kat Wright live, rectify this mistake as soon as possible. Fortunately, Kat and the Indomitable Soul Band tour often, both nationally and locally. Wright also said the band is working on their third album, which should surface within the next year.

Want to hear what’s on Wright’s playlist? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify Channel to hear. While you’re there, take a listen to the playlists of other musicians we’ve featured.

Kat Wright, Singer-Songwriter
Burlington, Vermont
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Top image: Kat Wright. Photo by Arielle Thomas

The post The Indomitable Kat Wright appeared first on Take Magazine.

In late 2007, Heather Maloney was studying music theory and operatic vocals at a New Jersey college when she decided to go on a meditation retreat in Barre, Massachusetts, between semesters. It was a transformative event for the accomplished songstress.

“It was just immediately clear to me that I needed to spend more time here,” says Maloney, a pianist and self-taught guitarist. “The retreat, it leveled me—turned my world upside down. I tried to get back onto a musical path, but I couldn’t shake my initial experience at this retreat.”

Not long after Maloney’s first visit to the Bay State, she returned, filling a vacant post at the meditation center. “I worked there for three years, and I’ve never left,” Maloney says.

Slowly, Maloney began writing, returning to her musical roots. She credits New England with restoring her creative nature. “When I play a show here in New England, I feel like [the audience is] really thinking about the concepts and the stories and the characters in my songs,” Maloney says. “They’re sort of thinking of the songs critically, and that can be super intimidating. If I play shows out West, people aren’t necessarily thinking of songs critically; they’re more ‘feeling’ them.”

“Living in this area made me more of a storyteller,” she adds, “and has made me more of a thinker when it comes to my songwriting.”

Both critics and fans love Maloney’s eclectic, rapturous indie-rock sound and her hypnotic, lush vocals, which have drawn comparisons to the likes of Joni Mitchell and Aimee Mann. She’s released four full-length offerings, including 2015’s Making Me Break, and a single EP. But soon, she’ll issue her second—a 6-track EP called Just Enough Sun.

Maloney says the forthcoming, mostly acoustic effort is “raw and cathartic,” and calls it “the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever created”—the kind of record she wouldn’t have been able to make in the Garden State. “I really have a love/hate relationship with New Jersey; yet, to be fully honest, I didn’t realize what it felt like to belong somewhere until I left,” she says. “I realized, living in Massachusetts in particular, that this is what it feels like to belong somewhere. It has a little bit of an edge but it’s a place where the arts are appreciated, and the people are creative. At this point, I’m definitely a Masshole.”

Want to hear what Maloney listens to when she’s not performing? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify channel. While you’re there, you can listen to what other musicians we’ve profiled have on their playlists.

Heather Maloney, Singer-Songwriter
Northampton, Massachusetts
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Top image: Heather Maloney. All photos by Kevin Hill.

The post Heather Maloney: From Opera to Singer/Songwriter appeared first on Take Magazine.

It’s an exciting time to be Elder. This summer, the three-man outfit—which faultlessly blends the best elements of progressive rock, stoner rock, and doom metal into an awe-inspiring, riff-rife amalgamation that, at varying times, recalls the likes of King Crimson, Yes, and Mastodon—released its fourth album, Reflections of a Floating World, and not long after, fans and critics alike were branding it 2017’s finest offering.

At the moment, the band that formed 12 years ago in New Bedford, Massachusetts, is on a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S., and plans to write more tunes for Elder’s fifth opus in the van, as they make their way from one city to the next. “The Elder train has been rolling so, to stop that now would be stupid,” explains Jack Donovan, who grew up in Marion and plays bass in the band. “We’ve been pretty established in Europe for years, but building our audience in the States,” he says, “and it shows because we’ve been playing bigger and bigger venues. It’s been insane.”

Donovan grew up with Elder’s singer and primary songwriter, Nick DiSalvo, who handles guitar and keyboards in the group. Throughout their high school years, the two took guitar lessons together. Eventually, they taught themselves to play the drums and the bass guitar, but starting a band wasn’t in the cards.

Photo by Constant Decay

“I was a year older, so I went away to college, and that’s when Nick and Matt (Couto) started the band,” Donovan explains. “The first band I was in was called Tchaikovsky, and we played hardcore music. That’s how I met Matt; he was guitarist of that band.”

He introduced Couto to DiSalvo, and while Donovan was away at school, the band took shape with another musician on bass. “At first, it was pretty sludgy; almost Bongzilla-worship kind of stuff,” Donovan says. “They recorded something, and during the summer holiday, I joined the band as second guitarist. When the original bass player went off to school in New York, it was like, ‘Jack, you need to play bass.’ Because we can all play all the stuff, but we’ve settled into the iteration that Elder is now and have just been sticking with that.”

Elder by Falk-Hagen Bernshausen

Donovan says that growing up in New England definitely had a positive influence on him as a musician. “If I’d have grown up in, say, Florida, I’d probably be in a power metal band right now,” he jokes.

Being a born and raised Bay Stater also prepared Donovan for the touring life. “I can tour wherever, because I’m used to everything, so I will never complain that it’s raining or it’s snowing or it’s too hot, because … it will change eventually,” he says. “I hear people complaining about the weather and it’s like, ‘Come on.’”

In the meantime Elder’s burgeoning notoriety in the rock world continues to astound Donovan. “We started out playing VFW halls in New Bedford, and graduated to places like O’Brien’s in Boston and Great Scott in Allston,” he says. “It’s really crazy how it has progressed. I grew up listening to bands like Sleep and Electric Wizard, and now I know those guys on a first name basis, and we end up playing right behind these guys. It’s surreal.”

Want to hear what’s on Donovan’s playlist? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify Channel to hear his playlist and those of other musicians we’ve featured.

Jack Donovan-bassist for Elder
Marion, Massachusetts
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Top image: Elder by Ben Stas

The post Listen to Your Elder appeared first on Take Magazine.

You would think—given 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue’s current inhabitants—that there would be more bands out there raising hell about the Trump administration’s divisive policies. But this isn’t the 1960s, and sadly, most folks would rather not mix their music with their politics. Obviously, this hasn’t stopped bands like Rise Against or Public Enemy from espousing their beliefs, but a larger movement of furious, vitriolic rockers—one many anticipated Trump’s presidency would inspire—has yet to manifest itself.

Perhaps Rhode Island’s Downtown Boys can lead the charge. They’ve already been touring the country for months, bringing their unique brand of politically-charged, socially-conscious punk rock to venues both big and small, and inspiring Rolling Stone to declare them one of America’s “most exciting” punk bands.

Downtown Boys formed in late 2011 in Providence, and this summer, issued their third full-length record, Cost of Living, which was produced by Guy Piccioto, guitarist for post-hardcore legends Fugazi. “We were searching for a producer fairly last minute for this record,” explains Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, who plays guitar and sings in Downtown Boys. “Our bassist Mary (Regalado) originally reached out to Allison Wolfe to produce, but she was unavailable, but she recommended Guy to us. Originally, it didn’t seem it was going to work with his schedule, but just a few weeks before, he decided to go for it and it was a wonderful experience to work with him.”

Downtown Boys/. Photo courtesy of Sub Pop Records

The members of Downtown Boys are all self-taught musicians, who’ve come from far and wide, for myriad reasons, and ended up settling in Providence. Only La Neve DeFrancesco and saxophonist Joe DeGeorge are lifelong New Englanders.

“We’re on tour pretty constantly right now so we mostly live in a van,” La Neve DeFrancesco says. “I think wherever you are right now, whatever job you’re in, the goal is destroying white supremacy, tearing down the structures that have been in the process of destroying humanity for a long time and are only ramping up the effort at the moment.”

Singer Victoria Ruiz is the face of the band, which is rounded out by drummer Norlan Olivo and bassist Mary Regalado. On the Downtown Boys’ latest for Sub Pop Records, Ruiz uses her powerful voice to promote Chicana, queer, and Latino issues.

The new offering opens up with “A Wall,” which scoffs at the notion a wall could ever shatter the spirits of those it is being designed to suppress.

“Providence has a long and full music history and that seeps into what we do,” La Neve DeFrancesco says. “There is also a long political history of violence and resistance here, and that comes in as well. So much of Providence’s musical and political past, including our band’s, is centered around the mill buildings in the city and the accompanying history of industrial capitalism and slavery, and the resistance movements to those two systems, and so whatever you’re doing here, there’s that weight you have to take seriously.”

Want to know what’s on Joey La Neve DeFrancesco’s playlist? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify channel. While you’re there, take a listen to the playlists of other musicians we’ve interviewed.

Joey La Neve DeFrancesco, guitarist and singer for Downtown Boys
Providence, Rhode Island
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Top image: Downtown Boys. Photo by Miguel Rosario

The post Joey La Neve DeFrancesco Heads Downtown appeared first on Take Magazine.

Listening to Resolver, the latest offering from Footings, you’d never know that the main creative force behind the distinctive rock outfit got his musical bearings playing in hardcore bands. Footings blend acoustic sounds with electronic elements and straddle that fine line between folk and indie rock. The band produces moody, stark, and downright haunting sounds, all punctuated by the wry lyricism of Eric Gagne, a name you may recognize for a number of reasons.

Gagne and his wife, Mary Goldthwaite-Gagne, co-founded the annual Thing In The Spring arts festival. In addition, Gagne—who has been writing songs since the age of 13—has done time with several distinguished groups, including Death to Tyrants, Redwing Blackbird, Dweller, and Passerine.

“I also had a band in high school, [and did] some embarrassing stuff in college, but thankfully this was before the Internet as we know it,” Gagne quips. “I’m pretty happy to have the chance to go out and play music, and have people interested in the songs I write.”

Footings. Photo by Michael Gunlach

Footings is Gagne, who was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, but grew up in Rindge, New Hampshire, and Elisabeth Fuschia, who has been playing viola since the age of 3 and has lived for years in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Since the band’s inception, Footings have rightly drawn comparisons to both Songs: Ohia and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. But even fans of acts like Dinosaur Jr. and Andrew Bird will find themselves transfixed by Footing’s brilliant compositions.

Gagne says the band spent nine months on Resolver, which was released in early August. “When I am thinking about or writing a song, I always feel like I’m accessing memories from growing up, which all took place in the woods, or with people who are from the same kind of area,” Gagne says. “So even when I’m thinking about driving down 95 to Washington, D.C., it’s like we’re shooting out of a deep forest into this strange and uncanny place.”

Footings play live throughout New England, and can be seen regularly at venues in Burlington, Vermont, Portland, Maine, and up and down New Hampshire’s seacoast. “We love that you can tour for two weeks for under $200 of gas,” Gagne says. “Generally, it’s amazing that such a small geographical area can support so many artistic communities. I have friends that I see once a year on tour whom I would drop anything for if they needed me. That is a special thing; fostering those kinds of relationships.”

He adds about being a New England musician: “It’s amazing to get to hear so many artists too; to keep up with all of my friends who write and perform, as well as getting to meet new people and hear new things.”

Want to know what’s on Gagne’s playlist when he’s not performing with Footings? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify channel to find out. While there, listen to what the other musicians we’ve profiled have on their playlists.

Eric Gagne — Guitarist and vocalist for Footings
Peterborough, New Hampshire
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Top image: Footings. Photo by Britt Shorter

The post Footings’ Musical Foundations appeared first on Take Magazine.

Not surprisingly, Mike Casey was the only kid in his high school that listened to jazz. While all the other kids extolled the virtues of various pop starlets or idolized tragic rock gods, the Connecticut native was busy grooving to the likes of Sonny Rollins, Art Tatum, and John Coltrane. He was also mastering the saxophone, and today, at the young age of 24, is considered one of the genre’s most invigorating artists.

Two of the songs off his latest offering, The Sound of Surprise: Live at the Side Door, have been streamed more than 123,000 times on Spotify since the LP was released in February—a feat practically unheard of for a young, independent jazz musician. Casey has also been selected for a slot at the BRIC Jazz Fest in Brooklyn this fall, where he’ll shared the stage with Maceo Parker, Miles Mosley, Butcher Brown, and Sun Ra, among others.

“It is amazing to see,” Casey says of his mercurial rise in the jazz ranks. “It has taken a lot of work. I don’t have a manager, and I have no agent. It’s just me coordinating all this stuff, emailing people every day, and making it happen. It has been fulfilling to see it working so far.”

Mike Casey, image by Chorus Photography

Casey owes his love of jazz to his parents, who encouraged him to pick up the saxophone when he was 9. As a teen, he split his time between classes at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs and his training at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts. “That place single-handedly changed my life,” Casey says. “It was my first time playing music with other people who wanted to be playing this music. Jazz is response based, it’s improvisational—you need to play with people better than you if you’re serious and want to fully develop.”

Casey has been gigging since high school and performed as a hired gun through much of his time at the renowned Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the Hartt School of Music, where he met the two members of his band: drummer Corey Garcia, who hails from New York, and bassist and Connecticut denizen Matt Dwonszyk.

Mike Casey with bassist Matt Dwonszyk, image by Anna Yatskevich Photography

“Those guys can come together to create a distinct group sound and people can hear it and it affects them,” Casey says. That distinct sound is evident on the Mike Casey Trio’s latest single, an ambitious and wholly rewarding cover of The Beatles classic “Norwegian Wood.”

Growing up in Connecticut continues to affect Casey’s work today. “Environment, with any artist, is very key. There’s a song on my album called ‘Dagobah’ that is about Hartford and my journey and not choosing to go to school in a major city. The Connecticut jazz scene has more going on then people think it does, and you can experience a lot of different styles and see your heroes as they pass through the state, often for little or no money.”

Want to hear what Casey is listening to on his playlist? Check out our Take a Listen Spotify channel. You can hear what other musicians we’ve featured are listening to as well. Enjoy!

Mike Casey–jazz saxophonist, Mike Casey Trio
Hartford, Connecticut
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Top image, Mike Casey, image by Airen Photography

The post All That Jazz appeared first on Take Magazine.