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Merrimans' Playhouse Jazz Performance Series presents Ben Schmidt-Swartz-Vincent Davis Duo - CANCELLED

Merrimans' Playhouse
South Bend, IN

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Merrimans' Playhouse Jazz Performance Series presents Ben Schmidt-Swartz-Vincent Davis Duo - CANCELLED

A duo project with Ben on tenor saxophone and drummer Vincent Davis. Vincent Davis, who is one of Chicago's leading avant-garde drummers, and up-and-coming saxophonist Ben Schmidt-Swartz have been playing together in a duo format for over a year now. What began as a student/mentor relationship has blossomed into a high-energy and vibrant approach to improvisation that is highly narrative and exploratory. They recorded a record called "Live at Grace" last July which showcases these musical features. Vincent has been a member of Roscoe Mitchell's band for about 30 years, and during that time he's toured with David Murray, Jodie Christian, Cecil Taylor, and Richard Davis.

http://www.schmidtswartzmusic.com/

More About Ben:

Upon graduating high school, Ben elected to go to Western Michigan University to study music. Saxophone guru Trent Kynaston was Ben's teacher and mentor. At WMU Ben also studied intensively with Dr. Scott Cowan, a master trumpet player and composer/arranger, who pushed and encouraged Ben to immerse himself in the jazz tradition, and to study bebop for its harmonic, rhythmic and melodic discipline. Ben was also given opportunities to study and perform with some of the worlds most influential, and prolific musicians including Paquito D'Rivera, Kurt Elling, Fred Hersch, Billy Hart, Bob Mintzer, Stefon Harris, and Donny McCaslin. Through WMU, Ben had the opportunity to perform at the Detroit International Jazz Festival, The Monterey Next Generation Jazz Festival, and at the Jazz Educators Network (JEN).

At the end of Ben's time at Western, he joined up with his colleague and friend Nelson Oliva, a drummer hailing from Chile, to record and release his first CD. After a successful campaign on Kickstarter.com and a series of grants and awards given by the university, Ben and Nelson released Mastermind in November of 2012. The Ben Schmidt-Swartz/Nelson Oliva Group was inactive for a year before getting together to organize a tour to Chile. In January and February 2014 Ben and Nelson traveled and played throughout Chile, and were greeted by large and enthusiastic audiences.

In Chicago, Ben has partnered up with the great drummer Rusty Jones, with whom he performs regularly in his own trio as well as with a collaborative project affectionately called the Rusty Jones Quintet. Ben hopes to record with his trio soon, as well as with the Rusty Jones quintet. Ben and Nelson are also planning the future of their group, adding trumpeter Jon Ailabouni to the role of co-leader. They plan to return to the studio in August with another tour to South America also in their sights.

$10 Advanced, $13 Door, $8 Student
PLEASE NOTE - you may use CREDIT CARD or PAYPAL: Once you've added the tickets to your cart in the Brown Paper Tickets site, click on the ORANGE "Pay via PayPal" button on the Buyer Details page, and this will take you to Merrimans' PayPal account. You will then have the option to pay with your credit card or your PayPal account.