GRANTHAM, N.H., February 20, 2019 – Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon (JOSA) brings two popular Boston-based musicians – saxophonist Cercie Miller and vocalist Dominique Eade – together for a performance on March 10th, followed by a March 24th show featuring Steve Marvin, the legendary jazz singer known for his Sinatra tributes, at the Center at Eastman in Grantham.
Now in its 27th season, JOSA brings internationally acclaimed jazz musicians – backed up by pianist Bill Wightman and the JOSA Ensemble – to the Upper Valley every other Sunday from December to April. These performances give New Hampshire audiences rare opportunities to experience joyous and spontaneous jazz sessions led by some of the nation’s most exciting and talented jazz artists.
Alto saxophonist Cercie Miller has been a dynamic presence on Boston’s jazz scene since 1986, when she founded the Cercie Miller Jazz Quartet and the avant-garde jazz collective, Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet. Miller is a member of the MCM Trio and performs frequently with the artists Deborah Henson-Conant and Rebecca Parris, as well as with the Lisa Thorson Quintet, Didi Stewart and Friends and the Patty Larkin Band.
The Boston Globe jazz critic describes Miller a “direct and commanding” performer whose solos can be “scorching.” The Boston Herald’s jazz writer calls her a “versatile stylist with a penchant for melody” and a “take-no-prisoners streak that shows itself in her slashing alto solos.”
Miller is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, where she was mentored by jazz sax legend Joseph Allard. She is a composer who has released eight jazz recordings and she teaches music and performance at Wesleyan College and the Berklee School of Music.
Known for her radiant and evocative voice, Dominique Eade has been the featured artist at the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Jazz in Toulon Festival in France, and the What Is Jazz? Festival in New York. She has been honored as an outstanding jazz vocalist at Boston Music Awards and by Entertainment Weekly. Several of her recordings – When the Wind Was Cool, The Long Way Home, Open” and My Resistance is Low – have appeared on jazz critics’ top ten lists.
Eade studied at the New England Conservatory, where she is now a faculty member and a recipient of the school’s outstanding alumni award.
After attending one of Eade’s performances, New York Times critic Ben Ratliff wrote: “Her voice was rich and clear and strong in all ranges; she had musicianship and cool intelligence.” He also observed that “she had absorbed some of Sarah Vaughan’s fearsome technique.”
Roxbury, Masachusetts, native Steve Marvin is a versatile jazz vocalist and entertainer who effortlessly spans the musical genres of jazz, blues and cabaret. He is well known for his outstanding jazz voice, his ease and authority with scat, and his popular musical tributes, for which he expertly mirrors the style, attitude and stage presence of Frank Sinatra.
Marvin studied percussion and voice at the Berklee School of Music and went on to perform as a drummer and vocalist for the Top 40 Boston Doo-Wop group the G-Clefs. He later joined the military and played with the U.S. Army Band in France, where he had opportunities to refine his vocal styling during performances at left bank clubs in Paris such as the famed Blue Note.
“Performing the Great American Songbook, Steve sings with the style and soul of Frank Sinatra, the jazz feel of Jon Hendricks and the balladry of a Mel Torme,” wrote the Jazz Messenger.
JOSA shows are held at the Center at Eastman in Grantham, N. H., from 4 to 7 PM, with doors opening at 3 PM. A bistro menu and full beverage selection is offered during all performances by the award-winning restaurant, Bistro Nouveau. Tickets are $20 for adults; $18 for seniors (62+) and students ( under 17).
To reserve tickets for JOSA performances, call the Wightsteeple Box Office at 603.763.8732 or 603.381.1662 (cell); email bill.wightman@nullcomcast.net; or visit www.josajazz.com. For reservations after 2 PM on the day of the show, call the Center at Eastman at 603.863.8000.