Garmany Music Series: A Tribute to Duke Ellington with the Bloom Funkhouser Jazz Duo

The show will feature classics like Take the A Train, Mood Indigo, Don't Get Around Much Anymore, and In a Sentimental Mood, plus a wide range of other Ellington tunes like Cottontail, Drop Me Off in Harlem, and Warm Valley, and Billy Strayhorn's Chelsea Bridge. Bloom and Funkhouser have performed together for more than 20 years, and they each have impressive credentials as touring and recording artists. Both are veterans of the legendary Aardvark Jazz Orchestra (46th season).

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Peter H. Bloom, flute, concertizes in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Far East and is featured on more than 45 recordings (Leo Records, 9Winds, Sony Classical, other labels). His career encompasses jazz standards, blues, bebop, exploratory jazz, free improvisation, and chamber music from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The Boston Globe called his playing "a revelation for unforced sweetness and strength," while ArtsFuse wrote, "Bloom's solos on flute and amplified flute are always highlights of a performance." Bloom is a 40-year veteran with the legendary Aardvark Jazz Orchestra ("lush sonorities worthy of Ellington's finest reed sections" - JazzTimes), and has appeared with jazz luminaries Charles Neville, Jaki Byard, Sheila Jordan, and Geri Allen. He is a faculty member of the Snow Pond Composers Workshop; serves as contributing editor for Noteworthy Sheet Music; and is a winner of the American Musicological Society's Noah Greenberg Award.

John Funkhouser, piano, has shared the stage with Grammy nominees Luciana Souza and Tierney Sutton, and appeared with notables like Ran Blake, Herb Pomeroy, Laszlo Gardony, Stan Strickland, piano savant Matt Savage, and Mark Harvey's Aardvark Jazz Orchestra. As the leader of his own band Funkhouse and as a sideman (piano and string bass), he has performed at Birdland, Blue Note, and Dizzy's in New York; New Orleans Jazz Festival; the Kennedy Center in Washington DC; Pittsburgh's Mellon Jazz Festival, and others. He has played Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City, and other U.S. cities, and has toured in Paris, Toulon, Zurich, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Toronto, and Montreal. Among others, Funkhouser has recorded with James Merenda's Masked Marvels, Pierre Hurel, Laura Allen, Willie Myette, Thomas Luescher, the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Matt Savage, John Lockwood, and FunkHouse. He teaches Bass, Ear Training, and Ensembles at Berklee College of Music.

This event is made possible by Richard P. Garmany through a grant awarded by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving. The Farmington Libraries host a variety of performances throughout the year as part of the Richard P. Garmany Music Series.