Sunday, July 15, 2018 at 4:00 pm

Duo Jota Sete  

A program of jazz classics and Brazilian music, as well as original compositions.
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Jason Ennis, 7-string guitar

Michael Zsoldos, Saxaphone

​Guitarist Jason Ennis is an exciting voice in the world of jazz guitar. His unique sound, deep groove and sensitive feel, along with a diverse background in jazz, blues, Brazilian music and classical music have made him highly in demand as a soloist, sideman, bandleader and musical director. A graduate of Middlebury College (BA in music), Jason attended Berklee College of Music (Boston) and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music. 

Ennis has performed and/or recorded with Tessa Souter (Motéma Music), Charles Neville (The Neville Brothers Band), Paul McCandless (Oregon, The Paul Winter Consort), The Sonya Kitchell Band (Velour Music, Starbucks Hear Music), Todd Reynolds (Bang on a Can, Steve Reich), The I/O Ensemble under the direction of percussionist Matthew Gold, actor and musician Joe Morton, Mary Ann McSweeney’s Urban Fado Project, The Ramón Ángel-Rey Trio, Samirah Evans and Her Handsome Devils, Choro da Manhá, The Julio Botti Quintet, Pablo Ziegler and others. In summer of 2016, he played in the world premier at the Williamstown Theater Festival of the musical Poster Boy, by Craig Carnelia and Joe Tracz. Ennis transcribed and edited a collection of solo guitar arrangements by his friend and mentor, Gene Bertoncini, which was published in 2012 by Hal Leonard Publishing.

Ennis leads his own instrumental group, Trio Jota Sete, and co-leads the world jazz trio, La Voz de Tres, which has toured extensively throughout the United States and Chile and has released two CDs: La Voz de Tres (2010) and Sueños y Delirios (2014). His searing blues style is a corner stone of the NYC-based jazz/blues powerhouse group, Opius Bliss, fronted by vocalist Michelle Walker. He is a member of The Thomas Bergeron Ensemble, whose May 2015 release, Sacred Feast, presents re-imaginings of selected works by French composer Olivier Messiaen, and is co-composer and musical director for En Diablada, an original music project by Chilean vocalist Natalia Bernal, inspired by Andean folkloric traditions.

Since Fall of 2015, Ennis has been a Lecturer in Music at Dartmouth College, where he teaches jazz, world and popular guitar styles. Currently residing in Pittsfield, MA, he teaches guitar privately and at the Berkshire Music School, is a faculty member at Interplay Jazz in Woodstock, Vermont and has given workshops at colleges and Universities throughout the US and Chile. Jason uses K and K pickup systems and DiGiacomo Custom Switches. For more information and a current listing of upcoming performances, please visit www.jasonennis.com.

​MICHAEL ZSOLDOS holds a Bachelor of Music degree in saxophone performance from the Eastman School of Music (1993) and a Masters in music theory from Michigan State University (2000).  His saxophone teachers have included Ramon Ricker, Andrew Speight, and Branford Marsalis.

Michael has performed with jazz musicians such as Paquito D’Rivera, Sheila Jordan, Ernie Watts, Jim McNeely, Matt Wilson, Rebecca Parris, and Jerry Bergonzi and has opened for piano legend McCoy Tyner with his group The Other Three Tenors.  His debut CD as a leader was released in spring of 2010.
 
Since 2004, Michael has arranged for and performed with the horn section of the dynamic Dartmouth Gospel Choir and Chicago’s One Accord, featuring Walt Cunningham.  DCGC and One Accord have performed at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, completed two tours of Italy, Chicago House of Blues, Jazz @ Lincoln Center, and President Obama’s Inauguration, sharing the stage with Bebe Winans, Yolanda Adams, and Carole King.  In June 2009, Michael was the musical arranger for Oprah Winfrey’s “Trip of a Lifetime” Mediterranean cruise for Harpo productions.
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Teaching has always been an important part of Michael’s life. For six years, Michael inspired students as the Band Director at Woodstock Union High School and Middle School, conducting Concert Band, beginner band, and jazz bands, as well as teaching music theory to students in grades 7-12.  He has been a frequent conductor of District Jazz Bands in Vermont districts, has served as the chair of VMEA District VI, and has been a repeat clinician for the Vermont and Maine Music Educators Associations. He is currently on the teaching faculties of Castleton State College, the University of Vermont, Interplay Jazz Camp, and the Festival Internazionale del Sassofono in Faenza, Italy.

(www.michaelzsoldos.com)