The Soular Jazz Concert Series presents the Lee Fish Quartet on Friday, April 14 from 7:00 – 8:30 at First Parish Unitarian Universalist located at 40 Church Street in Northborough.
ORDER TICKETS IN ADVANCE ONLINE: $15/adult, $25/couple, $10/student w/ID advance tickets
ABOUT THE BAND
Lee Fish. “A dextrous young drummer”— DownBeat. Acclaimed Boston-born drummer and composer Lee Fish has been part of the thriving Brooklyn music scene since 2018. A fixture at Wally’s Cafe during his student tenure at Berklee — playing with such distinctive leaders as Jason Palmer, Esperanza Spalding, Nadia Washington, and Evgeny Lebedev — Lee became a highly sought collaborator in Boston, who’s now flexing his breadth as a leader in New York City. Having earned his master’s degree on full scholarship at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, Lee received his earliest musical education on the road. Long before he studied under Danilo Pérez, Terri Lyne Carrington and Joe Lovano, at age 3, he would perform with his parents’ band Amante at venues across North America, from Florida to Quebec. Since then, he’s performed all over the world on nearly every continent, appearing on more than 50 recordings, including Mike Tucker’s 2014 release Live! Featuring Warren Wolf, and Jason Palmer’s critically acclaimed 2019 release Sweet Love that received four stars from DownBeat Magazine. “Lee Fish is one of my favorites — inventive, tasteful, and exciting — a creative force to watch for on the instrument” – Terri Lyne Carrington.
In the studio and on the bandstand, Lee has enjoyed artistic associations with a range of icons, including Danilo Perez, Warren Wolf, Gary Burton, Julian Lage, John Ellis, David Gilmore and Ryan Scott, among others. Lee’s artistry allows energy to inform his choices on the bandstand. His aesthetic reflects joyful confrontation. He seeks to challenge traditional constructs, mingle genres and push the music in soulful new directions, always inviting the listener along for the ride. According to DownBeat critic Matthew Kessel, Lee’s “funky rhythms bring to mind a New Orleans snare player.” The centerpiece of Lee’s expression is groove. At once thoughtful and unpredictable, he plays with a vitality as pervasive as the heartbeat that pulses from one moment to the next. His dynamic sensitivity serves the music wherever it wants to go. And his familial connection to harmony influences textural intentions and experimentation. “Explosive and prodding and propulsive, and incredibly subtle and nuanced when the moment calls for it” – All About Jazz
In 2017, Lee began an extended project study of the vast repertoire of his late mother Lori Starr’s unrecorded music. “Sounds of a Starr” incorporates new interpretations of his mother’s original compositions Lee arranged for unique instrumentation, as well as themes, excerpts and inspiration from her library of journals and poetry albums. View “Sounds of a Starr’s” first presentation here.
Lee performs regularly throughout New York City including at The Jazz Gallery and Bar Next Door in downtown Manhattan and Sunny’s in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He has been a Zildjian artist since 2018, and looks forward to releasing new music in the coming months and his debut recording in 2023. For more information, or to follow Lee’s tour schedule, visit www.leefishmusic.com
Charles Overton. Equally at home in an orchestra or in a jazz club, it is the goal of Boston-based harpist Charles Overton regardless of the genre of music, to create a musical environment that is accessible, exciting and can resonate deeply with any audience. He began his harp studies at the age of ten under the direction of Lynelle Ediger, where as a member of her “American Youth Harp Ensemble” he was afforded the opportunity at an early age to perform internationally in notable venues such as the Salle Gaveaux in Paris and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. In 2009 Charles went on to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy to further his musical development and studied with Joan Raeburn Holland. During his matriculation at Interlochen Charles fine tuned his performance and competition skills. Of note during this time Charles was a prizewinner in the Young Artist Harp Competition as well as placing twice as a finalist for the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition.
Originally from Richmond, VA Charles moved to Boston in 2012 to attend the Berklee College of Music where he was the first harpist to be accepted to Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute – a prestigious and highly specialized program at the school in which students are able to study and work intimately with master jazz artists such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and Terri-Lynn Carrington. In Boston, Charles was able to continue his study of classical music as well as pursue his interest in jazz, improvisation and other genres of music. Charles studied with Jessica Zhou principal harpist of the BSO and Felice Pomeranz jazz harp professor at Berklee. Charles successfully competed in the 2013 American Harp Society National Competition where he was a finalist. In his Senior year, Charles performed his Senior recital as a featured act at one of Boston’s premiere jazz clubs at the time, “Scullers” jazz club. That performance was the formal beginning of what has become known as the Charles Overton Group. Charles and the group went into the studio several months after his graduation from Berklee where they worked on and released their very first album, Convergence in July of 2017. Also while in school, he attended summer music festivals such as the Pacific Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Castleton Festival.
Since graduating in 2016, Charles has quickly been making a name for Himself. Over the course of his musical career, Charles has continuously expanded his musicianship by sharing the stage with other artists. Charles has continued to perform all genres of music and has shared the stage with various groups, artists and orchestras. Charles, when not teaching, looks forward to performing with as many different artists as possible. As a jazz musician he has played in festivals abroad like the Harpes au Max festival in Ancenis, while locally frequenting jazz series like Jazz at Indian Hill, and Mandorla Music’s Dot Jazz Series. As a classical musician, he appears frequently with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with Boston-based ensembles the Walden Chamber Players, and Collage New Music, as well as at the Marlboro Music Festival. His most recent concerts are : Harvard-Epworth Church Concert ( February 17, 2022), Boston Landmarks Orchestra (February 26, 2022), Music From Grove (March 6, 2022), The Blue Journal Tour with Ester Wiesnerova in which Charles participated and contributed musically in launching their debut album with 11 original compositions comprised of 5 highly-talented International artists. (May 20-30, 2022), The Yellowbarn Concert Series (July 19 to August 6, 2022), Orpheus Chamber Concert (August 13, 2022), The Memorial Concert for Stephen Sondheim with Keith Lockart (Conductor), Nikki Renée Daniels, Conrad Ricamora and Emily Skinner (Vocalists), and Alton Fitzgerald White (Violinist) ( August 19, 2022), The BSO Tanglewood Concert Series; John Williams’s 90th Birthday Celebration (August 20, 2022), BSO Tanglewood concert with renowned conductor, Michael Tilson (August 27, 2022). To top it all, Charles was a part of the Experiential orchestra that won a Grammy in 2021 for the Ethyl Smyth piece. Charles, a musician, composer and educator who currently serves on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory at Berklee will continue to grow his musicianship, keeping his feet grounded while soaring high for his dreams and passion.
Devon Gates. Devon Gates is a bassist, vocalist, and composer enrolled in the Harvard/Berklee joint five-year AB/MM program concentrating in Social Anthropology and jazz performance. She has studied with Terri Lyne Carrington, Linda May Han Oh, Vijay Iyer, Danilo Perez, Claire Chase, and Esperanza Spalding, and has performed with Carrington’s group Social Science, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Alexa Tarantino, Immanuel Wilkins, Susie Ibarra, Kenny Werner, Michael Mayo, and Tia Fuller. At Harvard, she has composed two works for the Choruses (and performed in both as a featured soloist), created interdisciplinary collaborations with the Ballet company, scored a short film honoring ethnomusicologist Dr. Eileen Southern, and performed at commencement ceremonies for the class of 2021. Additionally, she has completed Jen Shyu and Sara Serpa’s M3 fellowship program, premiered a recently commissioned work at Boston’s MAAM Museum, and recently worked as a curatorial assistant with Berklee’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice on a multi-disciplinary gallery exhibit in Detroit, Michigan exploring jazz without patriarchy.
She has appeared in Oscar-nominated producer Gabe Foxpeck’s live gospel album “Glorybound”, Ganavya Doraiswamy’s project “Let’s Go Out and Play” at Roulette Intermedium, and Terri Lyne Carrington’s “New Standards” Library of Congress concert. In summer 2020, she released a solo EP available on Bandcamp, “Voice/Bass”, and, most recently, her composition “Don’t Wait” was published in Berklee Press’s New Standards book of 101 pieces by female jazz composers.
She is part of the live album quartet release “Awakening” with Dream Alliance (Marco Pignataro, Kenny Werner, Nadia Washington) on Zoho Records, and has performed at venues such as Joe’s Pub (The Public Theater), Winter Jazzfest, SFJazz, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Edmar Colón. Puerto Rican-born Edmar Colón is a Saxophonist, Pianist, Composer, Arranger, and Educator. As a saxophonist, Colón has performed all over the world, including at the Detroit Jazz Festival, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival, Toronto Jazz Festival, Panama Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival, among others. He performed alongside artists such as Esperanza Spalding, Dianne Reeves, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Patti Austin, Ledisi, Judith Hill, and Danny Rivera. Colón has also performed with Bob “Rakalam” Moses, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci, Danilo Pérez, Kenny Werner, Jean Michel Pilc, David Sanchez, Arturo Sandoval, and George Garzone, among others. In 2016, Colón was awarded the Latino 30 Under 30 Award New England. He was also awarded first prize at the “Keep An Eye” International Jazz Awards in Amsterdam as a part of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute. In 2017, he was honored in the annual Patron Saint festivities of his hometown of Coamo, Puerto Rico.
As a composer, arranger, and orchestrator, Colón’s work has included being the copyist for Wayne Shorter’s opera, Iphigenia; being commissioned to write an orchestral piece for the Detroit Jazz Festival Symphony Orchestra honoring pianist Geri Allen; writing orchestrations for the title track of Esperanza Spalding’s Grammy Award-winning album, 12 Little Spells; copying/arranging for the Kennedy Center Honors Award ceremony honoring Wayne Shorter, and arranging/orchestrating for Terri Lyne Carrington’s acclaimed GRAMMY-nominated album Waiting Game. In October 2019, Edmar arranged and orchestrated a commission consisting of 16 orchestral pieces for the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center celebrating the centennial of Nat King Cole on a show entitled Nat King Cole at 100.
Most recently, Edmar completed a commission for the legendary Boston POPS, where he re-imagined Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol’s, “Caravan”. Following two successful performances at Symphony Hall, many additional commissions are now in the works. Additionally, Colón will soon be releasing four recorded projects featuring him as a saxophonist. One of the four recording projects will feature the iconic Puerto Rican vocalist Danny Rivera.