Our First Friday host, jazz pianist and accompanist Joe Holt, has come up with another intriguing gathering of talent for his May show.

?Nate Grower is perhaps best known as the fiddle player for David Bromberg’s band. He has played with the late Allen Toussaint, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, John Oates, KebMo and Arlo Guthrie.

Seth Kibel is highly regarded as a jazz and ethnic Klezmer music sax and clarinet player. He is the winner of 28 Washington Area Music Awards (Best World Music Instrumentalist and Best Jazz Instrumentalist).

The evening celebrates what Klezmer, bluegrass, and Jazz have in common – improvisation.

Vance Gilbert is an integral part of the national folk scene, and one of the originators of the R&B/Folk/Jazz crossover genre. He was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. Starting out, he hoped to be an R&B and jazz singer but soon discovered his affinity for the storytelling sensibilities of the acoustic singer-songwriter genre. Word spread quickly about Gilbert's stage-owning singing and playing, and national recording artist Shawn Colvin invited him to be the opening act on her Fat City tour where he took much of America by storm. In his 30-year career he has also shared the stage with artists as varied as Arlo Guthrie, Anita Baker, The Milk Carton Kids, and Southside Johnny. The mid 2000’s found Gilbert opening 150+ shows for comedian George Carlin.

Gilbert is known for his humorous, comfortable, improvisational stage manner with audiences during his shows. His repertoire has a wide range, covering Joni Mitchell one moment and doing what sounds like a jazz classic (but is actually his own) the next. Many songs, such as "Old White Men", "Charlene", and "Unfamiliar Moon" tell profound stories and touch on important topics.

30 years into his career, the songwriter’s influence can be felt all over the contemporary national Folk and Americana scene as he has helped pave the way for many of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color musicians artists who have followed.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram described him as having “the voice of an angel, the wit of a devil, and the guitar playing of a god.”  Richmond Magazine commented that “If Joni Mitchell and Richie Havens had a love child, with Rodney Dangerfield as the midwife, the results might be something close to the great Vance Gilbert".

Gilbert has also been a prominent presence at some of the world’s most prestigious gatherings and halls, among them the Newport, Winnipeg, Rocky Mountain, Calgary, Ottawa, and Falcon Ridge Folk festivals, the Kate Wolf Music Festival, and Australia’s Woodford Folk and Mullum Music Festivals, Mountain Stage, Boston's Symphony Hall, Nashville’s Lyman Auditorium, and The Barns at Wolftrap.

Don Vappie, musician/ composer/ educator, is a legend in the Creole Jazz circles of New Orleans, and has received numerous awards for his efforts to preserve Creole Culture through music and film. He plays with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders. His music credits include performances at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis and recordings with Bette Midler, Terrence Blanchard, Diana Krall, Peggy Lee, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Eric Clapton, and many others. He has produced 7 of his own albums, and co-produced and starred in a PBS documentary. Vappie's highly regarded unique and original tenor banjo style is equal only to his love of his Creole heritage and tradition.

Although Vappie’s reputation is of international stature, he has chosen to mostly stay close to home in New Orleans, his hometown. His appearance at The Mainstay, backed by the Conservatory Classic Jazz Band, is a fortunate by-product of his visit with close friends in our area. 

On Saturday, May 31 The Mainstay welcomes back International Brazilian music star Daniela Soledade and virtuoso jazz guitarist Nate in a show they have titled “Love and Bossa Nova -- an intimate performance of Bossa Nova music”. 

The Love & Bossa Nova show has been selling out houses in jazz loving capitals such as Paris and London, in clubs and concerts in North America, and homecoming dates across their native Brazil. The songs, sung in English and Portuguese, sway and swing and gently build into the upbeat with syncopated beats over a samba rhythm. 

Daniela’s performances celebrate her family’s rich legacy that stretches over three generations of her family’s influential bossa nova aesthetic. Her grandfather wrote songs that became hits in Brazil. Her father recorded hits as well. In concert, Daniela tells the stories behind some of these songs and the masters of song who composed them. 

Nylon-string guitarist Nate Najar has been cited by music critic A. D. Amorosi as “the heir apparent to Charlie Byrd.” Years later, Najar would get the stamp of approval from no less than The Mainstay’s very own Becky Byrd, who said, “There is no doubt that there is a piece of Charlie’s soul in Nate’s mind, heart and fingers Byrd’s.” Nate has appeared numerous times at The Mainstay, often in the company of Chuck Redd. 

Their musical partnership is a unique romantic celebration of Brazilian music that showcases Daniela’s irresistible voice, Nate’s guitar prowess and their deep love for the venerable music they embrace.