Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music keeps the jazz flowing each week with a wide variety of local and regional talents. This Friday is no exception with the jazz wizardry of fiddler Andy Carlson and guitarist Tom Carroll and their group, SpeakEasy. SpeakEasy is a quintet playing in the music style of Django Reinhart and Stephan Grappelli with music ranging from the Swing Standards of the 30’s and 40’s to Blues, Latin and a number of originals. They have performed at festivals, colleges and many other venues around Central Ohio and the USA since 2009.
Andy Carlson is currently on faculty at Denison University where he teaches classical violin and bluegrass while leading the Bluegrass Ensemble and the University Orchestra. With the Georgia State Fiddling Championship and the Ohio Grand Fiddler Champion titles under his belt, Carlson was also the recipient of the Iowa Performance Fellowship and the Pelzer Competition Fellowship. As a studio musician and string arranger, he has recorded for Warner Bros., Atlantic, Elektra and Polydor. He plays a wide range of music, including traditional old-time Appalachian, bluegrass, swing, blues, “newgrass,” classical and contemporary acoustic.
Tom Carroll has served on the Denison University music faculty since 1980 as the instructor of guitar and coordinator of Jazz Studies since 2000. Besides leading his own trio, Carroll has performed with Louis Bellson, Jack McDuff, Rusty Bryant, Hank Marr, Bobby Pierce, Jimmy Heath, Ernie Watts, Frank Foster, Cal Collins, Gene Bertoncini and Howard Alden. Carroll now can be heard around Columbus playing with Andy Carlson in his rockabilly band Lay-Z-Boy and the Recliners. He is also an affiliate of the Jazz Arts Group.
SpeakEasy is a five-piece gypsy jazz group led by Andy Carlson and Tom Carroll. Other members include:
Casey Cook, Guitar
Doug Richeson, Bass Fiddle
Seth Rogers, percussion
SpeakEasy
Friday, December 14th at 9pm
Natalie’s