Sunday, May 15th
4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Ocean City Music Pier
Tickets: All Events Tickets | Sunday Events Only Tickets | Music Pier Only Tickets
Along with David O’Rourke and Sachal Vasandani, the personnel for this performance will include:
SAXOPHONES:
Tim Ries – Alto and woodwind
Saxophonist, composer, arranger, producer and educator Tim Ries received degrees from both The University of North Texas (BM) and The University of Michigan (MM). He has had a unique and varied career, which began in 1983 with the great Maynard Ferguson. Tim moved to New York City in 1985 and since that time his performing and recording credits include a who’s who of jazz, rock, pop and world music icons: The Rolling Stones from 1999 to the present, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Donald Fagen, Michael Jackson, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Rod Stewart, Lyle Lovette, and jazz greats Red Garland, Donald Byrd, Hank Jones, Jack DeJohnette, Phil Woods, Tom Harrell, Chico Hamilton, Michael Brecker, Joe Henderson, Tony Bennett, Louie Bellson, Dave Liebman, Al Foster, John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, Bela Szakcsi Lakatos and Maria Schneider. Tim was a member of the Prism Saxophone Quartet from 1993-2003. He has released 9 CDs as a leader. His last two discs, Tim Ries Quintet and Tim Ries Quintet Vol II, are live perfomances at Smalls Jazz Club. In 2005 and 2008 respectively, he released The Rolling Stones Project (Concord) and Stones World (Sunnyside), both are his versions of Stones classics arranged in jazz and world music genres. Both CDs have drawn rave reviews across the globe. Some of the guest artists featured on these discs include: all four Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow, Milton Nascimento, Sara Baras, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, Lisa Fischer, Bernard Fowler, Larry Goldings, Franck Amsallem, Eddie Palmieri, Brian Blade and Ana Moura. His latest colaborations are performing with the great flamenco dancer Sara Baras and with The East Gipsy Band from Budapest. Tim has taught saxophone and composition at The New School, Rutgers University, The City University of New York and The University of Toronto.
David Lee Jones – alto and woodwinds
David Lee Jones was born and raised in Houston, Tx, a city that is deeply rooted in Blues, R&b and Soul music. At the age of 8 he began to study the violin and piano until he reached age 10 where he decided the saxophone was to be the instrument for him. David’s early influences were HankCrawford, Grover Washington, Gary Bartz, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Ronnie Laws, David “Fathead” Newman, Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, Arnett Cobb, Eddie Harris and Julian “Cannonball” Adderly.
In January of 1990 David moved to New York City to further pursue his career as a professional musician. Subsquentley he landed his first gig with organist Jack McDuff. After a short tenure with McDuff David went on to work as a sub for saxophonist / flautist Jerome Richardson on the Broadway musical “Black and Blue”.
Since his residence in New York, David has worked and recorded with many artist including Sade (toured as opening act), Onaje Allan Gumbs, Digable Planets, Phyllis Hyman, Melba Moore, Jennifer Holliday, American Idol; Jordin Sparks, Anita Baker, Regina Carter, The Mingus Big Band, The Ellington Orchestra, The Cab Calloway Orchestra, George Benson, Clark Terry, Jimmy McGriff, The Dells, The Chi-Lites, Stanley Turrentine, Shirley Scott, Jean Carne, “Brother” Jack McDuff and Roy Ayers.
Mary Lou Newnam
Mary Lou Newnam has been playing music professionally since 1973. A native of Wilmington Delaware, Mary Lou began her musical education at a young age with piano, and continued studies at the Wilmington Music School on classical guitar, flute, music theory, and saxophone. While in high school, she began sitting in at jam sessions in Wilmington and Philadelphia, and as an applied flute major at Duquesne University, she studied classical flute with Bernard Goldberg while playing lead tenor sax in the jazz band. Later in Wilmington, Mary Lou began playing professionally at the Hotel DuPont Playhouse and with a succession of big bands including those led by Ray Eberle, Les Elgart, Charlie Spivak, Lee Castle and the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Warren Covington and the Pied Pipers, Bob Crosby, and Cab Calloway. She has performed with the Temptations, Rosemary Clooney, Bob Hope, Tony Bennett, the Manhattan Transfer among many others in the house orchestra at Trump Plaza and the Claridge Casino, in addition to most of the other Atlantic City showrooms.
At the age of 23, Mary Lou joined the Jimmy McGriff Quartet traveling throughout the South, and performed with him at the Kool Jazz Festival, the Blue Note Jazz Club, NYC JazzMobile and the Apollo Theatre. Additionally, she has performed at Eddie Condon’s Jazz Club and the Rainbow Room, and has been a featured artist with the West Chester University Jazz Band and the Ed Vezinho/Jim Ward Big Band. Mary Lou received her MM in saxophone at Manhattan School of Music, studying with the legendary Joe Allard. While in New York, she was on the faculty of the Roosevelt Island School of Music.
For the last 25 years, Mary Lou has lived in the Atlantic City area and in recent years, among many others, she has worked with the George Mesterhazy trio, the Midiri Brothers Orchestra, guitarist Sonny Troy, and the Brooks Tegler Orchestra. She has been a member of the New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Atlantic City Musicians union. Since 2003, Mary Lou has been music director at St. Augustine College Preparatory School in Vineland NJ, and the Artistic Director of the University of Pennsylvania Jazz Band since 2013, while continuing to perform in the Atlantic City, Philadelphia, New York and Washington DC areas.
Jonathan Ragonese
Jonathan Ragonese, composer-arranger-saxophonist, is a native of New Cumberland Pennsylvania. He has lived in New York City for seven years, where he attended the Manhattan School of Music. As a saxophonist he has performed and recorded with Terell Stafford, David Liebman, Jon Faddis, Tim Warfield, JD Walter, The Harrisburg Symphony & Stuart Malina, Steve Rudolph, Steve Wilson and James Moody. As a composer his works have been commissioned and premiered by saxophonist Steve Wilson, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra, the Harrisburg Symphony, and the The Righteous Girls, Bucknell University, West Chester University and the Harrisburg Youth Symphony. In 2014 Ragonese premiered his ‘Not-this’ for two saxophones, at Carnegie Hall. Jonathan is an active educator, his educational endeavors continue to broaden with lectures, writings, and the development of an early childhood music program at Explore + Discover Learning Center in Manhattan. In the fall of 2013 Ragonese released his first album, Ardent Marigolds with long-time musical father Steve Rudolph on PACT Records.
Doug DeHays
