Ron Netsky

Talk about a power trio. Drummer Harvey Sorgen (pictured) has played with a host of jazz greats, including Ahmad Jamal, Dave Douglas, and Anthony Braxton. But that’s not half of it: On the pop side, Sorgen’s worked with Hot Tuna, Bob Weir, The Allman Brothers Band, and many more. Saxophonist Erik Lawrence has a similar […]

Bossa nova’s kind of laid-back like a gentle breeze, but once it migrated from Brazil to our shores in the 1960’s, it never quite let go. Everyone knows “The Girl from Ipanema” and the songs of Antonio Carlos Jobim, but there’s so much more. And that’s where the Bossa Nova Bradley Brothers come in. With […]

To call it an embarrassment of riches would be an understatement. Pianists Bill Dobbins and Gary Versace will share the stage with trumpeter Clay Jenkins, saxophonist Charles Pillow, guitarist Bob Sneider, trombonist Mark Kellogg, bassist Jeff Campbell and drummer Rich Thompson. Between them are dozens of albums, tours and recordings with giants like Buddy Rich, […]

You may have caught guitarist Mel Henderson laying down a Wes Montgomery-like solo in the Grammy-nominated band Paradigm Shift. Or you may have seen him play a burning solo with an out-of-town visitor like Dr. Lonnie Smith. And you’ve probably heard guitarist Joe Chiappone’s fluid riffs when he’s on stage with Rochester’s great horn band […]

After studying with upstate guitar heroes Bob Sneider and Steve Brown, Chris Potter has emerged as a major player in a variety of groups, from the quartets of Mike Kaupa and Doug Stone to bands including Organzola and The Swooners. Whether he’s playing original tunes or jazz standards from the Great American Songbook, Potter unfurls […]

Few musicians have had as rich a career as Buffalo-born tenor saxophonist Don Menza. Over the past six decades, Menza has toured with the bands of Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones, and others. You might have caught his solos on television during his long tenure with Doc Severinsen’s NBC Orchestra. If that’s […]