GRUPO ESCOBAR
Friday, September 17th @ 8:00 PM
Kerrytown Concert House celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with Cuban dance music! Cuba has long been a hotbed of cross-pollinating musical styles, especially when it comes to dance. This quartet — featuring Steve Jarosz (guitar and tres), Brian DiBlassio (piano), Eddie Caraballo (bass), and Owl DiBlassio (congas) — specializes in Cuban salsa and timba, seizing the spirit and energy of those forms, but allowing them to evolve by fusing them with cumbia, jazz, Arabic traditional and modern tropical rhythms. With musicians of diverse nationalities and backgrounds from Detroit and Ann Arbor, the members of Grupo Escobar deliver rich, high-energy music that brings all of these influences to bear.
COVID-19 Safety Policy for Indoor Concerts
- Moving forward, all patrons and artists who wish to attend or present performances indoors at KCH must provide a valid, complete COVID-19 vaccination card OR proof of a negative COVID-19 test performed within the previous 72 hours prior to entry. Such proof must be presented at concert check-in, may be displayed on a smartphone OR presented as a physical copy, and must also be accompanied by a matching, valid ID for verification.**
- Additionally, according to current CDC recommendations, masks are required for audiences inside the House and can only be removed when seated with a beverage (when available). When performing, artists may wear a mask, or not, at their own discretion.
**Proof of vaccination exceptions will be made for children under 12 and people with a medical condition or closely held religious beliefs that prevent vaccination. These guests must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within the previous 72 hours prior to entry.
Steve Jarosz has been a professional musician since 1987. He is experienced in rock, punk, avant garde, rockabilly, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, latin and flamenco classical. Mr. Jarosz has toured through Europe extensively, as well as Japan and the Eastern U.S. He has experience leading an 11 piece orchestra, and performing as a soloist on Rodrigo’s Concierto De Aranjuez.
Brian DiBlassio is currently Associate Professor of Music at the University of Michigan – Flint where he was awarded the Rosen Excellence in Teaching Award in 2011. DiBlassio composes and arranges for symphonic, chamber, vocal and jazz ensembles. His work has been performed by the Flint Symphony Orchestra and aired on national television.
DiBlassio performs and records with the Afro-Cuban groups Tumbao Bravo, Los Gatos, and Nuevo Rumbón. He has had the honor of sharing the stage in brief appearances with Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Palmieri, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Jon Hendrix, and Andy Narell. He has also given present ions at the 1st International Clare Fischer Symposium in Graz, Austria as well at the Jazz Education Network Conference.
DiBlassio has previously been a faculty member of Bowling Green State University and the School Performing Arts – Ann Arbor where he founded the Downbeat award-winning SPA-AA Jazz Combo program. He has received degrees in Jazz/Music Media & Industry, and Improvisation from the University of Miami and the University of Michigan.
