Sat

3/24/2012

7:00pm

Jazz

John Shea Trio

with Paul Keller and Pete Siers - 7:00PM

• $30 Assigned Rows 1-2
• $20 Assigned Rows 3-5
• $15 General Admission
• $10 Student

• John Shea, piano
• Paul Keller, bass
• Pete Siers, drums

Event Details

MAKE A RESERVATION FOR THE 9:00PM SET

 

The John Shea Trio Reunion concert will be a truly special jazz event that's been a long time in the making. These shows will be a sentimental trip down Memory Lane for pianist John Shea, string bassist Paul Keller and drummer Pete Siers, who performed as a working unit for many years in West Michigan. Kerrytown Concert House audiences will feel the love and admiration that these great musicians have for each other and will get a sense of their long history together. John Shea will "swing his brains out" on the Kerrytown Concert House's exquisite Steinway grand piano! John Shea plays a smooth and swinging, straight-ahead jazz style that incorporates bits of Oscar Peterson, Erroll Garner, Duke Ellington and Bill Evans. For fun, John also sings on occasion, the "good old" standards and sometime during the evening the entire trio will sing in 3-part harmony a light-hearted tune from Nat King Cole, Bobby Troupe or Irving Berlin.

John Shea

John Shea is a marvelous and well-respected jazz pianist from Grand Rapids, MI. He is the mentor and former bandleader of our local jazz heroes string bassist Paul Keller and drummer Pete Siers. With his typical humility, John considers himself to be just a barroom piano player but, in reality, he is much more than that. John Shea is West Michigan's well-kept secret jazz treasure. His loyal fans follow him all over West Michigan to enjoy his entertaining and energetic brand of jazz and swing music.

Throughout the 1980s, John Shea, Paul Keller and Pete Siers played literally thousands of gigs together at their home base, a five-night-a-week steady gig at The Harley Hotel of Grand Rapids and also at Billie's Boathouse in Saugatuck. The John Shea Trio became a landmark on the West Michigan jazz scene and created a bit of Michigan musical history.

According to Paul and Pete, "John Shea really showed us how to play in a trio format. He taught us hundreds of tunes and instilled in us a love of the Great American Songbook. We learned lots of important professional lessons from John including a work ethic that stays with us to this day. We made our first recordings with John Shea and made a lot of people happy with our music for nearly a decade. John Shea is our dear friend and an important part of our musical pedigree. We are thrilled to finally get an opportunity to share John Shea with our Southeast Michigan jazz friends!" 

Paul Keller

Paul Keller is one of the busiest bassists in the Detroit area today, earning the nickname “The House Bass Player For The State Of Michigan.” Since 1989, Paul has led the 15-piece Paul Keller Orchestra, which plays original, obscure and classic big band material from all periods of jazz history, and performs every Monday night at the Keystone Underground in Ypsilanti. Paul also plays in the popular Keller/Kocher Quartet and in The Paul Keller Ensemble, a three-horn sextet that features creative arrangements by Keller and his bandmates. Keller’s groups are well-known and highly regarded throughout Michigan. His jazz groups have appeared at many regional music festivals, including the Detroit International Jazz Festival, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, the Ann Arbor Jazz and Blues Festival, The Michigan Jazz Festival and the Flint Jazz Festival. They have presented successful concerts for the Thunder Bay Arts Council, the Crooked Tree Arts Center, the West Michigan Jazz Society, The Dennos Museum Center at NWMU, the Windsor/Detroit Jazz Club, Bay City’s State Theatre, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Keller tours with his long-time bandmates drummer Pete Siers and vibraphonist Cary Kocher as members of clarinetist Dave Bennett’s Benny Goodman Tribute band. Paul has been recognized internationally for his association with pianist/singer Diana Krall and guitarist Russell Malone.

Pete Siers

A Michigan native, Peter Siers can be heard performing in groups throughout the region, including the Latin group Los Gatos and his own trio and quartet. Siers is an original member of the award winning Paul Keller Orchestra (PKO), which plays original, obscure and classic big band material from all periods of jazz history. He also performs and has recorded with Bess Bonnier, Mr. B, guitarist Ray Kamalay and his Red Hot Peppers, The Easy Street Jazz Band, The Motor City Classic Jazz Band with Marcus Belgrave, The Ron Brooks Trio, The Tad Weed Freedom Ensemble, and James Dapogny & his Chicago Jazz Band.