5:30pm • NO COVER!
Special guest: Chuck Karner on drums
• Drummer Chuck Karner is one of Baltimore’s jazz treasures. “Chuck is a unique musician who brings a childlike mischievousness to his jazz stylings,” says pianist Matthew George, who has often played with Karner. “He is an entertaining person as well as performer, and it has been a pleasure playing with him these many years.” Liz Fixsen, who has been involved with Karner in various jazz settings, gives testimony to his playfulness. She recalls how once at a Django jazz jam at The Avenue Kitchen in Hamden, he played “percussion” while seated at the bar, using metal twizzle sticks and beverage glasses with various quantities of liquid, and other objects. Fixsen says, “Chuck’s playing is always confident and tasteful. He is never intrusive, but he is never just marking time. He is always playing something interesting and inventive, sometimes changing the groove in the middle of the tune, just to liven things up.”
• A collaborative musical endeavor between drummer Byron McWilliams, bassist Mark Lysher and guitarist Chuck Underwood. The trio’s main goal is to create reactionary improvised music across the complete musical spectrum. Although most of the group’s repertoire is from the jazz canon it is by no means limited to that genre, borrowing from folk, rock, blues, and avant-garde. With equal parts of finesse and energy, the trio creates an irresistible musical experience.