"A Park Slope Bistro right in the Green Mountains"

The New York Times 2006

Basement Music Series
 
Photo Basement Music Series

In the winter of 2004 VAE converted their downstairs basement studio into a cabaret-club atmosphere with the plan to present once a month, high quality music that is culturally diverse. With tablecloths, flowers and candles on the tables, professional lighting and a bar, the 140 seat venue was ready for an audience. From October through April each year (the cold weather seasons), VAE brings in bands from as far away as Cuba to Virginia and many from New York City to an 80% sell out crowd. From Grammy nominated Omar Sosa, Howard Fishman, Now it's grown to twice a month. The people come for one reason, to listen to music, and this what the bands love the most. That and the intimate setting in which they perform, allows for an experience that both artist and audience go home not forgetting and anticipating a return.

Tickets are generally $15. in advance and $18. at the door with the exception of the concerts with Omar Sosa (a tad more) and Alex Torres shows (a bit less). Tickets available online through ticketalternative.com or call toll free 877-725-8849. Libations served. Seating is limited.

Don't miss this spectacular summer concert event.

Alex Torres and his Latin Orchestra

Friday, July 11th Hildene Estate

Buy tickets Online or call toll free today 877-725-8849.


Gates open at 5:00pm, Concert begins at 7:00pm

Latin Dance lessons 5:30-7:00 ( $10 per person included in Concert/Dance lesson ticket package)


Tickets: General Admission
Concert: ADVANCE: Adults $14 Students $10.
Concert/Dance Lesson Package: ADVANCE: Adults $24 Students $20.


Concert: AT GATE: Adults $19 Students $15.
Concert/Dance Lesson Package: AT GATE: Adults $29 Students $25.


Children under 5 are free. Food & Libation available.
State Law Requires that no Alcohol to be brought in.


Please note that state law requires that alcoholic beverages cannot be brought onto the Hildene estate, however Kevin's Sport Pub and Restaurant of North Bennington will be serving libations and authentic food from around the world will also be for sale.


Formed more than 25 years ago, Alex Torres and his Latin Orchestra has played its spicy mix of salsa, merengue and Latin jazz throughout North and South America and has released eight critically acclaimed CDs, including 2005's "25 to Life," celebrating the band's 25th anniversary, 2003's "Mega Merengue Mix y Mucho Mas" and 2002's "Punto de Vista" ("Point Of View"). The band's earlier CDs, "Entre Amigos" and "Elementos," earned a Grammy and Latin-Grammy nominations, respectively.


Alex Torres and His Latin Orchestra draw from their roots in Amsterdam's Latino community, playing intricately orchestrated cha-chas, merengues and salsa - original songs in clave rhythm and Spanish.


Alex Torres
 

Past 2006-2007 Season...New season coming soon October 2008.

ALASH (Tuvan throat singers) All ages show

Sunday, January 13th, 2:00pm

Tickets in advance: Adults $12, Students $6

Tickets at the door: Adults $16, Students $9, Five and Under free

www.alashensemble.com


Alash is carrying the proud traditions of Tuvan music into the future. They are among the first of a new generation of Tuvan musicians who have matured in the musically fertile and adventurous post-communist period in Tuva. Having been students not only of well-known musicians such as Kongar-ool Ondar, they are also recipients of the musical knowledge of their own families and regions.

The ensemble was formed in 1999 in the basement of the Kyzyl Arts College under the name of Changy-Xaya and became the resident traditional ensemble at the school. At this time in Alash in 2002 Tuva there was occurring a great groundswell of support for the education of Tuva's "treasures," i.e. its unique artistic traditions especially concerning Xoomei, or throat singing. However, while the lads were playing traditional music on their own time in the damp basement on Kochetovo street, they were learning the ways of harmony, theory, staff notation and western classical music on instruments that were strange hybrids of Tuvan traditional instruments and violins and cellos etc. They found these instruments also appealing, and have now begun exploration in the new sound worlds that arise in their unique, dual musical consciousness.

Alash in BostonAlash2
 

Wiyos

Saturday, January 26th, 8:00pm

$15. advance $18. at door

www.truthfacerecordings.com/wiyos


Vaudevillian Ragtime Blues, Hillbilly Swing and Old Time Country.


The Wiyos play and compose music inspired by the early American musical idioms of the 1920s and '30s. Gleefully subverting genre distinctions, their music comes from a time before commercial formatting separated blues from country, ragtime from gospel, and swing from hillbilly. With an instrumentation of washboard/harmonica/kazoo, resonator guitar/banjo, upright bass and three harmony vocals, The Wiyos' live performance transports audiences back to an era before TV and mass-media were the main sources of entertainment. Their sound is reminiscent of days­gone-by when live bands could be heard both on the radio and at community dances, juke joints, and house parties. With infectious exuberance and theatrical skill, they create a visual spectacle in the tradition of vaudeville-esque performers such as Fats Waller, the Hoosier Hotshots and Uncle Dave Macon. Their on-stage physical comedy recalls the silent films of Laurel & Hardy, Keaton and Chaplin. Formed in New York City during the summer of 2002, The Wiyos took their name from the toughest gang to prowl the streets of old New York (The Whyos, circa 1890). Like the traveling bands of the depression era, they have taken to the road full­time, touring extensively in the USA, Canada, France, The Netherlands and The United Kingdom. Playing theaters, bars, street corners, art auctions, pig roasts, and listening rooms, The Wiyos unique charisma transcends typical social boundaries. They appeal to everyone from hipsters to seasoned music connoisseurs, from children to bikers Everywhere they play, The Wiyos charm and amuse audiences with their exuberant style of old­timey music, passionately carrying this rich musical heritage into the 21st century.

Wiyos in colorWiyos promo
 

Grupos Los Santos

Saturday, February 9, 8:00pm

$16. advance $19. at door

www.gruposlossantos.com


Grupo los Santos is a quartet of American musicians who, through a mixture of jazz with Afro-Cuban and Brazilian styles, are creating a new soul in the music of New York. Formed in 1998 to explore the blending of these traditions, Los Santos have performed in Cuba and throughout the U.S., worked and recorded with some of the greats of Cuban music, and have developed a strong following in the New York/Tri-state area


"The 'blessed' fusion of Grupo Los Santos consists of acoustic bass, electric guitar, a hint of rock energy, with drumset guided by the sound of batį drums and a sax played in the best style of bossa nova and samba." - Emma Hunt, el diario/LA PRENSA (Nueva York), August 2, 2002


". . . [T]he only faith to which these four American musicians appear to devote themselves is the impassioned and serious investigation of traditional Cubann and Brazilian rhythms, in order to incorporate them into their own jazz-based compositions. These interpretive experiments have succeeded in creating a mix at times explosive and sizzling, like the Brazilian coastline or Afrocaribbean flavor. . . others exude melodies that produce that certain languid sensation which beckons us to more intimate places." -Diana Vargas, VIDAHOY (NY), March 15, 2002

Grupo Los SantosGrupo Los Santos 2
 

Chris Bergson

Saturday, February 23, 8:00pm

$16. advance $19. at door

www.chrisbergson.com/music


"Bergson's stirring voice and glorious guitar command immediate attention." - Kay Cordtz, Blues Revue


"Gut-busting horn-bedecked NY blues." - MOJO


"Seriously street-smart songwriting and Allman-esque vocal prowess..." - Sean McDevitt, Gibson.com


Brooklyn based guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Chris Bergson creates his own brand of contemporary Americana where "...funk, soul, blues, folk and delectable jazz come together seamlessly." (All About Jazz). Bergson has performed with many leading names in blues and roots music including Levon Helm, Norah Jones, Little Sammy Davis, Ollabelle and Larry Campbell as well as jazz legends Annie Ross and Al Foster. The Chris Bergson Band has headlined at such top New York City venues as Joe's Pub, The Blue Note, The Living Room, and Jazz Standard. Chris has also performed at B.B. King¹s Blues Club (NYC), the Regattabar (Cambridge, MA) and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC). Bergson has appeared twice at the Cape May Jazz Festival in tributes to Ray Charles and Wes Montgomery and opened for Etta James, Levon Helm, Mose Allison, the Average White Band and Dr. Lonnie Smith.

Chris Bergsonon stage
 

Likeness to Lily

Saturday, March 8th, 8:00pm

$15. advance $18. at door

www.myspace.com/likenesstolily


Cultivated equally from jazz, folk and classical music traditions, likeness to lily is the acoustic quartet of composer, vocalist and founder susan oetgen, pianist tony melone, bassist ian m. riggs, and drummer evan pazner. sophisticated and versatile, likeness to lily performs repertoire from the great american songbook, pop and folk tunes from around the world, especially brazil and latin america, and their own original songs, which give voice to the perennial vagaries, intimacies and mysteries of the human heart. since the band's start in 2003, likeness to lily has performed regularly in new york city's downtown music venues, has been heard on A&E television's prime-time reality show random 1, and has independently recorded and released their debut record, solitude's dollhouse. in 2008, likeness to lily will be presented in residency at new york's historic caffe vivaldi, on the ico music series at tribeca¹s galerie icosahedron, and on the basement music series at the vermont arts exchange in n. bennington, vt. likeness to lily will also premiere an original song-cycle with brooklyn philharmonic chamber musicians as part of BP's music off the walls series at the brooklyn museum. plans for recording their second independent full-length release are underway for january 2008.

Likeness
 

Howard Fishman

Saturday, March 29th, 8:00pm

$20. advance $23. at door

Sunday, March 30th, 2:00pm (all ages show)

Advance: adults $12. students $8.
At door: adults $14. students $10.

www.howardfishman.com


Howard Fishman, composer, guitarist and bandleader, has come to be recognized as one of today's most agile interpreters of the American songbook. Whether he is performing his own compositions or drawing on a seemingly endless repertoire of American popular music, it is all filtered through a sensibility and aesthetic entirely his own. Fishman's performances combine the exuberance and spontaneity of jazz with a storyteller's sense of drama, emotional depth and play. The All-Music Guide has called him "an important force in creative music," and The New York Times has written that his work "transcends time and idiom."


Fishman began his musical career on the streets of New Orleans and in the subways of New York before making his debut at The Algonquin Oak Room in 1999. He has since headlined in major venues both in the States and abroad, including The Steppenwolf Theatre, The Blue Note, NJPAC, The Pasadena Playhouse, Joe's Pub, The Bottom Line, and Le Petit Journal in Paris. He made his Lincoln Center debut in February, 2007, when he was presented as part of this season's American Songbook series. Fishman has also been a frequent NPR guest, making feature-length appearances on FRESH AIR with Terry Gross, WORLD CAFE with David Dye, THE LEONARD LOPATE SHOW and SOUNDCHECK with John Schaefer, among others.

Howard FishmanHoward Fishman
 

Luminescent Orchestrii

Music to make you Dance, Kiss and Scream.

Saturday, April 12th, 8:00pm

$16. advance $19. at door

www.lumii.org


LUMINESCENT ORCHESTRII IS: Romanian gypsy melodies, punk frenzy, salty tangos, hard-rocking klezmer, haunting Balkan harmony, hip-hop beats and Appalachian fiddle, all eaten and spit out by two violins, resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonica and bass.


The members of the Orchestrii come from different scenes in New York City, yet come together through their love of Balkan and Gypsy music. Sxip Shirey is an international circus composer, Sarah Alden is an old-time fiddle player, Rima Fand is an experimental theater composer, and Benjy Fox-Rosen is a free-jazz bassist. It is not uncommon to find Sxip playing tampon applicators with the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, Rima composing music for a Lorca puppet show, Benjy schlepping his bass to a jazz gig, or Sarah fiddling away at some all-night old-time session.


The Luminescent Orchestrii formed in 2002 as a quintet, which included Kaia Wong playing fiddle and singing, and Aaron Goldsmith playing guitarron. Both Kaia and Aaron can be heard singing and playing on the live CD and on Too Hot to Sleep. Kaia is currently performing with Mixel Pixel, and Aaron is currently playing with Chad Parks and the Near Death Experience. Also included on Too Hot to Sleep is Julianne Carney, who spent a year with the Luminescent Orchestrii as a third violin.


The balancing of frenzy and finesse is evidently a trademark Luminescent Orchestrii approach, displayed to its utmost in the insanely frenetic dance tunes... The three violins flirt willfully with a cacophony teasingly offset by elegant classical flourishes, swirling and eddying above the rhythm section's bruisingly aggressive but sharply-aimed attack. -The Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland)

LumiiLumii2
 

Evening of Blues (local spotlight)

Friday & Saturday, April 25 & 26, 8:00pm

$12. advance $18. at door, students $10. adv $15. door


This evening will feature Kerry Ryer Parke, Peter King, Bob Stannard, Dave Mellinger and others.

An Evening of Blues
 

Brazztree

Saturday, May 10th, 8:00pm

$16. advance $18. at door

www.brazztree.com


"a sublime, surprising, bristling and hearty stew of Irish lyricism, daredevil jazz aerobatics and punk rock moxie...both the elegance and the energy are off the chain." Greg Tate, Village Voice


NYC-based violin/guitar duo Brazz Tree continues to astound and endear audiences across the country with their new brand of music: New World Acoustic Rock (otherwise known as Music NWAR). Though it draws on traditional forms born in places as far-flung as Ireland and India, Music NWAR remains firmly rooted in the exuberant, questing ethos of the New World.


After releasing their first CD "Quest" (DIY) in 2004 Brazz Tree spent over a year touring and writing before they brought the new songs to producers Alan Camlet and Pete Thompson. With a bevy of guest artists and producer Michael Leonhart (Steely Dan, Lenny Kravitz), Brazz Tree's newest creation "Spiral On" is the next step in the evolution of Music NWAR. With songs like "Out of Time" and "In a Hole" the listener is taken on a musical journey.


Brazz Tree has toured extensively throughout the country and the Netherlands playing colleges and Universities, Theaters, Clubs, and Art Centers. They were selected to perform at the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, were on the Relix magazine compilation cd, and in their "Listen Up" section, and have received Radio play from across the country including a spotlight on NPR and Acoustic Cafe (ACAFE) as "one to watch" and performed on the Woodsongs Radio Hour...

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