Performers

Aravod Ensemble

Established in 1997, the Aravod Ensemble (Aravod meaning “morning” or “dawn”) is based in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. The ensemble’s mission is to spread the joy and festive atmosphere that is inherently associated with Armenian dance music. Through the medium of vibrant live performances, complemented by insightful and unique musical interpretations, Aravod stands out as one of the most exciting and dynamic ensembles performing today. In addition, the ensemble’s members view their music and their work as a form of cultural preservation, and strive to perform Armenian and Middle Eastern song in the most authentic and accurate manner possible.

The group’s vast and unprecedented repertoire is truly diverse. It includes songs composed, sung and performed by our ancestors of hundreds of years ago, music preserved and revered by Armenian Diaspora communities, as well as contemporary music not typically associated with traditional Armenian “Kef” ensembles.

The ensemble’s influences are as diverse as their repertoire, spanning traditional Armenian Folk and Dance, Middle Eastern “Kef”, Modern Armenian Continental/Estradayin and Rabiz, Arabic, South Asian, Latin, Rock, Blues, Jazz and Western classical music. Aravod is the only Armenian group in the country to be equally adept at performing traditional and modern Armenian dance styles. Aravod has performed from coast to coast throughout the United States, Canada, and England and looks forward to performing near you soon.

Aravod is:
(top row, L to R) Antranig Kzirian, James Kzirian
(bottom row, L to R) Aram Hovagimian, Armen Sevag
Aram Hovagimian is the group’s keyboardist. His family is from the historical Armenian city of Van. The Genocide took his family to Baghdad then America. He is also the group’s “techie” and he engineered and mixed the group’s new album “Gamar.” He works as a professional consultant. His musical influences include Armen Aharonian, Hrair Aprahamian, Arayik Darakjian, Levon Aprahamyan, Jacques Kodjian, and Hayko Ghevondyan.

Antranig Kzirian is an accomplished performer on the Oud, Bouzouki, Guitar, Saz, and Bass. His family is from the historical Armenian areas of Sepastia and Marash. The Genocide took his family to Aleppo and America. He has released two successful solo projects, “History Volumes 1 and 2.” He works as an attorney. His musical influences include George Mgrdichian, John Bilezikjian, John Berberian, Richard Hagopian, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Tool, and Primus.

James Kzirian is the group’s percussionist and talented vocalist. His family is from the historical Armenian areas of Sepastia and Marash. The Genocide took his family to Aleppo and America. He has also performed on Clarinet, Drums, and Dhol. He works as a professional consultant. His musical influences include Onnik Dinkjian, Hachig Kazarian, Mal Barsamian, Joseph Tayoun, and Elias Sarkar.

Armen Sevag is the group’s violinist and vocalist. His family is from the historical Armenian areas of Van, Sis, Kghi, and Aintab. The Genocide took his family to Yerevan and America. He completed a thesis on the legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz as part of his undergraduate work at Villanova. He is currently a physician in internal medicine outside Philadelphia. He has researched the group’s lyrics at conservatories in Yerevan, and is committed to the proper linguistic presentation of Armenian song. His musical ambitions extend to the Oud and Kanun as well. His musical influences include Jascha Heifetz, Maxim Vengerov, Levon Aprahamyan, Arayik Darakjian, John Bilezikjian, John Berberian, Mal Barsamian, Hachig Kazarian, Led Zeppelin, Rebetika, modern Greek and Arabic music, Bill Aliferis, Garo Hayrabedian, and Yervand Kalajian.

www.aravod.com

Arev Armenian Folk Ensemble

The Arev Armenian folk ensemble was first established in 1989 and has since been performing traditional Armenian music for a variety of audiences. The goal of the ensemble is to present the musical traditions of the Armenian people to the world community by incorporating both traditional folk as well as contemporary instruments, a union that reflects the ever-evolving nature of music in the Armenian Diaspora.

The Arev Ensemble diverged from the traditional avenues once sought for artist relationships. In 1999 the ensemble increased its membership and began to gather at the Hamazkayin Hamasdegh Library of Armenian Cultural and Educational Center in Watertown, MA. The success of the ensemble has coincided with this avant-garde relationship formed with the Boston chapter of the Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Society.

Ashot Logian & the Hayasa Band

Members
Ashot Logian - Vocals
Hovanes Epoyan - Keyboard
Markos Shahbazyan - Drums
Tigran Nanian - Director

The band plays contemporary Armenian folk and pop music under the direction of Juilliard alumnus, Tigran Nanian.  The band members have played together for over 15 years at a variety of events and festivals in New York and New Jersey.  The band has recorded an album and has released two singles thus far.

Mal Barsamian

Mal Barsamian represents the third generation of oud (lute) players in his family. Having obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in classical guitar performance under Robert Paul Sullivan at the New England Conservatory of Music, he went on to become a sought-after player of the oud and clarinet). He has played within Armenian, Greek, and Middle Eastern musical communities throughout the country for over thirty years, and also performs on guitar, dumbeg and saxophone.

Classic Groove

Members
Karen Ranieri - Lead Vocals
Ed "Face" Korman - Keyboard
Dave Dillon - Percussion
Ross Hahn - Guitar
Steve Tashjian - Saxophone

Classic Groove draws on the versatility of its members to perform a diverse mix of music, including Smooth Jazz, Standards, Latin, Soul, R&B, Motown and Blues. We've performed at great venues in our seven years, like the famed Ryles Jazz Club in Cambridge, to excellent review. Classic Groove has also has worked with highly acclaimed Oud virtuoso John Berberian, doing a fusion of Middle Eastern, Standard and Smooth Jazz, leaving the audience wishing for one more number. The Armenian
Library and Museum of America (ALMA) also hosted us at a very successul Jazz Concert Series. Classic Groove has been reviewed in the Boston Globe and several Armenian weekly newspapers, repeatedly distinguished in the Boston area by a sound that evokes vision and plenty of soul.

www.classicgroove.net
For more information, please contact Steven Tashjian at 617-930-6105 or at myspace.com/classicgroove

Element Band

Element Band's greatest aspiration has been to apply new styles and innovation to musical traditions and to perform more contemporary compositions laced
with their own sensibilities. The band's music has met that challenge, in the process immediately gaining a unique identity. The bold arrangements partner rock melodies, traditional American, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Arabic, Persian and Armenian renditions, as well as the warm sounds of the Mediterranean. Fiery and passionate notes waft in and out of the music with pulsing cadences, infusing listeners with an upbeat energy unique to Element Band.

Element Band, with its 7-members, come to life through the use of unique instruments, trademark arrangements, and a rare chemistry, to make their performance unparalleled.

Phil Brenadier - Trumpet
Will Slater - Bass
Karen Kocharyan - Drums
Jerry Bergonzi - Sax

Recent piece about Karen Kocharyan in Yerkir Media
http://www.yerkirmedia.am/?lan=hy&act=prog&id=13

Jerry Bergonzi Bio
Tenor saxophonist, Jerry Bergonzi, is an internationally recognized jazz performer, composer, author and educator. His music is renowned for its innovation, mastery, and integrity. Relentless drive, inner fire, total command, awesome technique, elastic lyricism, rich resonance, world-class, a musical visionary, are among the rave reviews credited to his sound. Bergonzi's music has been applauded throughout the world at festivals, concert halls, and jazz venues and his dedication to jazz music has been well documented by an extensive discography.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Bergonzi became interested in music early on. He started playing clarinet when he was eight years old listening to Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Lester Young. His uncle, who was a jazz musician and lived upstairs, used to write out solos for him to play. At twelve years old he got his first saxophone, an old Conn alto, and a year later when a friend introduced him to Miles, Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins, there was no turning back! At thirteen, Jerry was already playing gigs with a band called The Stardusters. During his high school years he switched to tenor, and in addition to weekly sessions with Berklee College students, Jerry also played in John LaPorta's youth band. He recalls, "It was a great experience, I learned so much, John would tell you like it was. He'd let you know what your shortcomings were, he would stop the band to tell you! "Bergonzi attended Lowell University but left after one year because he was continually being thrown out of the practice rooms for playing jazz. "If I had heard me practicing in one of those cubicles I might have thrown myself out!" he adds. He and fellow student, Charlie Banacos, used to begin their day in the practice rooms at 6:00 am. After a year at Berklee College, he returned to Lowell for financial reasons and graduated in 1971. He then played bass in local bands behind singers, strippers, and comedians, saving up enough money to move to New York City in 1972.

During 1972 and 1978 Bergonzi lived in New York City and experienced what he considers his real college education. There, where he had a third floor loft and friend and bass player, Rick Kilburn, lived on the first floor, was the scene of many sessions. "Often, there was one drummer, one bass player, and five saxophone players!" Bergonzi remembers. "Sometimes I was the drummer, each guy would tell a friend, everyone was hungry to play and it was great experience." Joe Lovano, Steve Slagle, Billy Drewes, Paul Moen, Pat LaBarbera, Dave Liebman, John Scofield. Mike Brecker, Bob Berg, Tom Harrell, Steve Grossman, and Victor Lewis were a few of the many players who came to play.

During this time, Bergonzi gained worldwide recognition while performing with, Two Generations of Brubeck. The group, with Dave Brubeck and his kids, Darius, Chris, and Danny, also featuring Perry Robinson on clarinet and Mad Cat Ruth on harmonica, toured extensively from 1973 through 1975. Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, London's Royal Festival Hall and Alexander's Palace, Lincoln Center, and the Hollywood Bowl were among the many stages their music was applauded, as well as, at the JVC Newport, New York Kool, North Sea, Monterey, and Nice jazz festivals, to name a few.

Returning to Boston at the end of 1977, Bergonzi was gigging five nights a week at the many local venues including Michael's Pub, 1369 Jazz Club, Pooh's Pub, Ryles, and the Sunflower. "It was exactly what I needed at that point," says Bergonzi, "making a statement on a tune in front of an audience is a lot different than playing a jam session". It was during this period that the innovative group, Con Brio, formed. Including bassist Bruce Gertz, drummers Bob Kaufman and Jeff Williams, pianist Eric Gunnison, and guitarists Mike Stern and Mick Goodrick, the group has played on throughout the years in various incarnations. At that time they recorded six records for their own independent label called Not Fat Records. These recordings featured Bergonzi's talent as a composer. Today he has almost one hundred tunes recorded and registered with ASCAP, his most recent compositions are available in a book and play-along published by Jamey Aebersold and five of his tunes can be found in the pages of Chuck Sher's All-Jazz Real Books. During these years, Bergonzi also played with the dynamic trio called, Gonz, including Gertz and Bob Gullotti on drums. Gonz sometimes became Gargonz when they added the talents of another Boston based saxophonist, George Garzone, as well as, bassist John Lockwood of The Fringe.

While in the midst of the Boston jazz scene, Jerry received a call from Dave Brubeck asking if he'd again like to join his group in a quartet setting. From 1979 until 1981, Jerry toured the world with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. On the road for about 200 days a year, the group recorded Back Home, Tritonis, and Paper Moon for Concord Records between stops.

Bergonzi also began his career as an educator in the early 80's. He established his private practice teaching all instruments how to improvise and during those years developed the systems described in his series entitled Inside Improvisation. In this six volume series published by Advance Music, Bergonzi offers a tangible pathway to inside the creative imagination by getting inside the harmony, inside the changes. Today, he is a world renowned educator, a full time professor at New England Conservatory, Bergonzi travels throughout the United States and Europe as a clinician and performer. Some of the many places he has taught include; master classes at Berklee College of Music, North Texas State University, Eastman College, the Paris Conservatory, the Manheim Jazz School, Taller de Musicos in Madrid, S.A.C.A.E. in Adelaide, Australia , and jazz conservatories in Pitea and Haperanda, Sweden, and Oulunkyla, Finland, to name a few.

The mid to late 80's brought some changes to Bergonzi's career as work in Boston slowed while work abroad became more plentiful. So too, did the recording industry begin to change. Bergonzi's acclaimed quartet release for Blue Note Records, called Standard Gonz, was among the first of his extensive discography. He later again recorded for Blue Note with pianist Joey Calderazzo on, To Know One and In The Door. While keeping his ties with the many musicians of the Boston and New York jazz scenes, Bergonzi also developed associations abroad yielding many musical collaborations.

The Italian label, Red Records, was Bergonzi's greatest supporter. "Red Records was the first label that really believed in my music." says Jerry. They released four CD's with Bergonzi as the leader, including, Lineage, a live recording featuring Mulgrew Miller, Dave Santoro, and Adam Nussbaum. Jerry later played with the Red Record all-stars including Kenny Barron, and Bobby Watson, as well as on a number of other Red releases with Salvatore Tranchini, Fred Hersch, and Alex Riel. He has also performed and recorded with the George Gruntz Big Band, the Gil Evans Orchestra (Miles Davis in Montreaux), and 12 Jazz Visits in Copenhagan for Stunt Records. The Riel Deal, on Stunt, featured drummer Alex Riel, Kenny Werner and Jesper Lundgaard, and was awarded a Grammy in Denmark for best jazz recording in 1997. An association with Daniel Humair and the late J.F.Jenny Clark yielded a number of recordings for the French, Label Bleu. One of which was Bergonzi's CD, Global Summit, it featured Tiger Okoshi, Joachim Kuhn, Daniel Humair and Dave Santoro. This was the product of one of three National Endowments awarded Bergonzi. Another project with pianist Kuhn won the accolade Best Jazz Album in France 1992. Among the many other artists that Bergonzi has performed and recorded with are; John Abercrombie, Nando Michelin, Antonio Farao, Bill Evans (with the National Jazz Ensemble), Joe D'Orio, Eddie Gomez, Miroslaz Vitous, George Mraz, Billy Hart, Andy Laverne, Steve Swallow, Hal Galper, Roy Haynes, Charlie Mariano, Bob Cranshaw, Ray Drummond, Billy Drummond, Danny Richmond, Danny Gottlieb, Dave Holland, Jack DeJonette, Paul Desmond, Bennie Wallace, Gerry Mulligan, Hal Crook, Herb Pomeroy, Mike Manieri, Mark Johnson, Michel Portal, Marcel Solal, Pat Martino, Franco Ambrosetti, and many more.

The Double-Time Records label has released most of Bergonzi's recent work. Just Within, Lost in the Shuffle, Wiggy, and A Different Look, were recorded by Bergonzi's burning organ trio, with Dan Wall and Adam Nussbaum. Also on Double-Time, The Dave Santoro Standard recordings feature Bergonzi's swinging tenor along with drummer Tom Melito and pianists Bruce Barth and Renato Chicco. As a band leader, Bergonzi has performed worldwide at the Red Sea, San Remo, Moomba, and North Sea Jazz festivals, to name a few. He has appeared at the World Saxophone Congress in Montreal, Canada and Valencia, Spain with fellow saxophonist Philippe Geiss. Bergonzi's performance at the Subway in Cologne has been featured on the German TV series, Round Midnight. His quartet performs at Duc de Lombarde in Paris, the Fasching in Stockholm, the Jazz House in Copenhagan, and the Bird's Eye in Basel, and many others.

Today, Bergonzi makes his home in Boston area with his wife and two children. He continues to teach and perform worldwide. He endorses Selmer Saxophones, Rico Reeds and Zildjian Cymbals.

"This guy is the real tower of power.....His bold penetrating tone and furiously paced streams of notes make for a commanding voice indeed. His passionate improvisations are marked by a consistency of strength in every register and a penchant for harmonic development." Bill Milkowski

Phil Grenadier bio
Born in San Francisco, California trumpeter Phil Grenadier hails from a musical family. His father shared his passion for trumpet, his brother Larry turned to bass and his brother Steve developed a love for guitar. The Grenadier brothers grew up playing music together, starting in their home, school band and in various other bands before graduating to such renowned festivals as The Monterey Jazz Festival, The Russian River Jazz Festival, and The San Francisco Jazz Festival. At the age of 17 both Downbeat Magazine and The California Music Educators Association voted Phil "Best Jazz Soloist."

At 16 Phil entered his professional music career, performing in San Francisco as a sideman in the jazz, commercial and recording worlds alongside such famed artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, George Shearing, Tony Bennett, Carlos Santana, James Brown, Sammy Davis Jr., Dionne Warwick and Steve Smith's Vital Information.

In 1988 Phil moved to New York City to soak up inspiration from some of the greatest musicians in the world. Phil was invited to teach jazz trumpet at The Mannes College Of Music, and recorded as a sideman for Blue Note Records on 2 Bob Belden CD's, as well as recording for drummer Owen Howard's 2 CD's on Koch, featuring Chris Potter and Seamus Blake.

In 1995 Phil relocated to Boston where he currently resides playing, traveling, recording and teaching. He has released 2 CD's as a leader for Fresh Sound/New Talent; "Sweet Transients" featuring Ethan Iverson and Bill Stewart, as well as "Playful Intentions" featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jeff Ballard.
Phil has appeared on 50 CD's, recording with such artists as Kenny Barron, Larry Goldings, Kevin Hays, Marc Copland, Bill Carrothers, Chris Potter, Jerry Bergonzi, Anthony Braxton, George Garzone, Mick Goodrick, Brad Shepik, Tronzo, Billy Kilson, John Hollenbeck, Gerald Cleaver, Bob Moses, Drew Gress, Larry Grenadier, Ira Coleman, etc.

In 2007 to 2009 Phil toured across Europe, South America and the United States with guitarist John Scofield, alongside bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart, which recently culminated in a sold out performance at NYC's Carnegie Hall.

Tata Simonyan

Tata Simonyan is one of the most well-known Armenian pop artists. Tata's passionate performances and lively stage presence, not to mention his great voice, have endeared him to Armenian's the world-over. He was the Honored Artist of Republic of Armenia in 2006, and was nominated for the King of Pop Music in Moscow in 2008 In April 2010, Tata Simonyan won the Best Album Category for his "Amenalave Du Es" at the world famous Tashir Armenian Music Awards held in Moscow. To date, Tata has performed for audiences in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Holland, Belgium, England, France, Spain, Greece, Cuprous, numerous Middle Eastern countries and 45 cities in Russia.

He has released eight albums for which he wrote the music and lyrics. His songs top the charts and receive countless nominations. He has also collaborated with such well-known singers as L. Uspenskaya, "Reflex", A.Dneprov, and "Otpetie moshenniki."

Yerevan Band

Vocals - Samvel Galstian
Piano - Gegham Margarian
Guitar - Shahan Nercessian
Trumpet - Phil Grenadier
Bass - Will Slater
Drums - Karen Kocharyan

A group of excellent performers playing favorite Armenian tunes

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