Skip to content

Author: John Chacona

Re-Birth: The Iconic Cleveland Improvising Trio Returns to the Happy Dog

Published 27 March, 2022 By John Chacona
Birth Josh Smith, Jeremy Bleich Joe Tomino
from left: Josh Smith, Jeremy Bleich, Joe Tomino

If you were born any time after 1975, you couldn’t avoid Jefferson Starship’s spectacularly dreadful “We Built This City on Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even if that lyrical flex were true, it pales before the real-life exploits of the band Birth, who built the stage at one of the city’s great rock landmarks, literally. Next Saturday, the Cleveland-born band will return to that stage for the first time in many years, not with power tools, but with their instruments, for a long-overdue homecoming gig at the Happy Dog.

Read moreRe-Birth: The Iconic Cleveland Improvising Trio Returns to the Happy Dog
Comments closed

A Man A Plan: Michael Formanek Brings A Palindromic Trio To Bop Stop

Published 22 March, 2022 By John Chacona
Michael Formanek Drome Trio: Vinnie Sperazza, Chet Doxas, Michael Formanek
from left: Vinnie Sperazza, Chet Doxas, Michael Formanek

When you think of the tradition of getting together to play music on the back porch, you probably imagine a bunch of guys with guitars and fiddles and maybe a washtub bass deep in a backwoods hollow. But when the back porch is in suburban North Jersey, things look a little different.

So when Chet Doxas and Vinnie Sperazza joined bassist Michael Formanek outdoors last summer, they brought saxophones and a drum kit respectively. And though the gatherings started as a way to make music collectively in those dark, pre-vaccine days, they ended as the Michael Formanek Drome Trio, a new band that makes its Cleveland debut Tuesday, March 29 at Bop Stop.

Read moreA Man A Plan: Michael Formanek Brings A Palindromic Trio To Bop Stop
Comments closed

For Their Tuesday Bop Stop Show, Céline Iris and Eddie Henderson Prove That You Gotta Have Hart

Published 19 March, 2022 By John Chacona

Ce?line Iris and Eddie Henderson“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” the familiar saying goes. True enough, but sometimes it’s not who you know, but who they that matters. Take rising vocalist Céline Iris who asked an all-time trumpet great, Dr. Eddie Henderson, to join her on the bandstand for a show Tuesday night at the Bop Stop.

Henderson was delighted to help his former Oberlin Conservatory student and convinced high-profile drummer Greg Bandy to join them. When Bandy had to bow out, the 81-year-old Henderson quickly stepped in with a more than suitable replacement.

Read moreFor Their Tuesday Bop Stop Show, Céline Iris and Eddie Henderson Prove That You Gotta Have Hart
Comments closed