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EAST END UNDERGROUND LIVE CONCERT SERIES IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ART OF SONG PRESENT
Harmony for the Holidays with Duchess
Duchess is bringing sweet-toned harmonies, insouciant swing, and “jovial esprit” (Downbeat), to light up the holidays! Vocalists Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner, and Melissa Stylianou comprise the acclaimed New York-based trio, channeling the inspiration of vintage vocal jazz into an up to date, sparkling package, irresistible to audiences from coast to coast.
Duchess (Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner and Melissa Stylianou) was honored with the 2021 Vocal Group of the Year award from the Jazz Journalists Association.
AMY CERVINI, SINGER
Singer Amy Cervini has the big ears and free spirit to reach far and wide for great material, whether it's Rodgers & Hammerstein or Lyle Lovett, Blossom Dearie or Willie Nelson. The Toronto-bred, New York-based vocalist has released five solo albums and is currently recording for NYC-based Anzic Records. These albums have established Cervini as one of the more individual talents on the North American scene for her intrepid sense of song and pure-toned, ever-swinging vocalism. Cervini was included in the Rising Star Downbeat Critics poll for multiple years. The New York Times has enthused over her as "a thoughtful and broad-minded jazz singer," while All Music Guide recommends her recordings for the "honest, self-assured and honey-dripping presence clearly heard.” In addition to her work as a vocalist, Amy is also making a name for herself as a producer. She recently produced the Juno nominated album, Joy by Ernesto Cervini and multiple podcasts for the Peabody Award Winning company, GZM Shows.
Cervini is also 1/3 of the award-winning vocal group, Duchess. In addition, Amy is co-owner of TPR Records and Wooden Bird Productions.
“Amy Cervini stands out from the pack in her generation.”
— Allmusic.com
Photo by James Stenson
www.duchesstrio.com
Cervini is also 1/3 of the award-winning vocal group, Duchess. In addition, Amy is co-owner of TPR Records and Wooden Bird Productions.
“Amy Cervini stands out from the pack in her generation.”
— Allmusic.com
Photo by James Stenson
www.duchesstrio.com
HILARY GARDNER, SINGER & WRITER
I'm a singer and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. I share my August 22 birthday with Dorothy Parker, and my first gigs were as a teenager in Wasilla, Alaska, where I sang Patsy Cline tunes in dive bars for tipsy but supportive patrons. Classical voice study helped build my musical foundation, but equally formative was the time I spent singing along with records by Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Joni Mitchell, and Tom Waits, to name just a few.
My new album, On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines, combines elements of jazz and Western swing with lyrics that evoke the spaciousness and romance of the American West. The record was The TImes’ Jazz Album of the Week, and Will Friedwald described it in The Wall Street Journal as “a sound suggestive of the vast expanses of the open plains, a huge empty canvas that paints an internal picture—a surreal, extraplanetary prairie of the mind….something new and wondrous.”
I’ve made three other albums as a leader or co-leader: The Great City (Anzic Records), The Late Set (Anzic Records), and a tribute to The Bird and the Bee (SmallsLIVE).
I was indeed willing to be lucky when I moved to New York in 2003, and New York has been generous to me ever since. My more eclectic gigs include performing for Ralph Lauren and Naeem Khan during New York Fashion Week; guesting with Jeff Goldblum on the opening night of his run at Café Carlyle; singing a track on a Moby record; and performing the national anthem at a Mets game (full disclosure: I'm a Yankees fan). In 2010, I sang duets with Frank Sinatra on Broadway in Twyla Tharp’s COME FLY AWAY and in 2017, I played a jazz singer in Errol Morris's critically acclaimed Netflix documentary-drama, WORMWOOD.
Together with Amy Cervini and Melissa Stylianou, I’m a founding member of Duchess, a close-harmony trio inspired by the Boswell Sisters. Duchess has released three critically acclaimed full-length albums and a holiday EP on Anzic Records and performed at jazz festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Israel. We performed with the Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center, singing the music of the Andrews Sisters for Taylor’s seminal piece, COMPANY B. Duchess won Vocal Group of the Year in the 2021 and 2022 Jazz Journalists Association awards and was named Best Vocal Group in the 2021 Jazz Times Critics’ Poll.
I’m also a staff singer in the professional chamber choir at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. When I'm not performing or rehearsing music, I can usually be found pottering in the kitchen or out and about in this city I love so much.
“No one should come to new york to live unless he is willing to be lucky.” -E.B. White
Photographer: Margherita Andreani
www.duchesstrio.com
Photo by James Stenson
My new album, On the Trail with The Lonesome Pines, combines elements of jazz and Western swing with lyrics that evoke the spaciousness and romance of the American West. The record was The TImes’ Jazz Album of the Week, and Will Friedwald described it in The Wall Street Journal as “a sound suggestive of the vast expanses of the open plains, a huge empty canvas that paints an internal picture—a surreal, extraplanetary prairie of the mind….something new and wondrous.”
I’ve made three other albums as a leader or co-leader: The Great City (Anzic Records), The Late Set (Anzic Records), and a tribute to The Bird and the Bee (SmallsLIVE).
I was indeed willing to be lucky when I moved to New York in 2003, and New York has been generous to me ever since. My more eclectic gigs include performing for Ralph Lauren and Naeem Khan during New York Fashion Week; guesting with Jeff Goldblum on the opening night of his run at Café Carlyle; singing a track on a Moby record; and performing the national anthem at a Mets game (full disclosure: I'm a Yankees fan). In 2010, I sang duets with Frank Sinatra on Broadway in Twyla Tharp’s COME FLY AWAY and in 2017, I played a jazz singer in Errol Morris's critically acclaimed Netflix documentary-drama, WORMWOOD.
Together with Amy Cervini and Melissa Stylianou, I’m a founding member of Duchess, a close-harmony trio inspired by the Boswell Sisters. Duchess has released three critically acclaimed full-length albums and a holiday EP on Anzic Records and performed at jazz festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Israel. We performed with the Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center, singing the music of the Andrews Sisters for Taylor’s seminal piece, COMPANY B. Duchess won Vocal Group of the Year in the 2021 and 2022 Jazz Journalists Association awards and was named Best Vocal Group in the 2021 Jazz Times Critics’ Poll.
I’m also a staff singer in the professional chamber choir at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. When I'm not performing or rehearsing music, I can usually be found pottering in the kitchen or out and about in this city I love so much.
“No one should come to new york to live unless he is willing to be lucky.” -E.B. White
Photographer: Margherita Andreani
www.duchesstrio.com
Photo by James Stenson
MELISSA STYLIANOU, JAZZ VOCALIST, LYRICIST, AND EDUCATOR
Jazz vocalist, lyricist, and educator Melissa Stylianou, hailed by piano master Fred Hersch for her “gorgeous instrument, superb musicianship, and great taste,” has garnered acclaim as both a gifted songwriter and a bold, imaginative interpreter of wide-ranging material spanning diverse genres, from the Great American Songbook to Johnny Cash to Joanna Newsom. Stylianou is also one-third of the infectious, Boswell Sisters-inspired close-harmony vocal trio Duchess, which has amassed many mentions in year-end critics’ polls and received the 2021 & 2022 Vocal Group of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association.
In addition to her five albums as a leader and four with Duchess to date, Stylianou has documented her close musical bond with guitar legend Gene Bertoncini and sought-after bassist Ike Sturm on the 2022 album Dream Dancing (awarded 5 stars in Downbeat Magazine). This intimate, collaborative, highly spontaneous trio focuses on standards, with Bertoncini’s astute nylon-string voicings and arrangements in the forefront. She has made numerous top festival and club appearances, toured internationally, and is currently developing a project that will combine her Irish and Greek-Cypriot musical roots.
Melissa has been teaching voice lessons privately for over 20 years and was on the faculty of the 92NY School of Music from 2009- 2023. She is also an early childhood music educator, teaching Music Together family classes as well as music in various preschools in the NY-area.
www.duchesstrio.com
In addition to her five albums as a leader and four with Duchess to date, Stylianou has documented her close musical bond with guitar legend Gene Bertoncini and sought-after bassist Ike Sturm on the 2022 album Dream Dancing (awarded 5 stars in Downbeat Magazine). This intimate, collaborative, highly spontaneous trio focuses on standards, with Bertoncini’s astute nylon-string voicings and arrangements in the forefront. She has made numerous top festival and club appearances, toured internationally, and is currently developing a project that will combine her Irish and Greek-Cypriot musical roots.
Melissa has been teaching voice lessons privately for over 20 years and was on the faculty of the 92NY School of Music from 2009- 2023. She is also an early childhood music educator, teaching Music Together family classes as well as music in various preschools in the NY-area.
www.duchesstrio.com
JANE HASTAY, PIANIST
“…a labor of love for Jane Hastay, whose beautifully understated and delicate phrasings are the real centerpiece.”
– Michael Nastos, All Music Guide
“Hastay packs a punch on the piano keys. It’s shocking that big sound comes from the efforts of such a petite woman.” – Eileen Casey, hamptons.com
After graduating from Mills College where she won the Flora Boyd Memorial award for piano performance, Minnesotan Jane Hastay immersed herself in the San Francisco music scene. She toured Europe with Lilith Theater Company, danced with Brazilian samba troupe Escola Nova de Samba, played in the American Hawaii Cruise Lines Orchestra, accompanied Concord recording artist Denise Perrier, and had a long-standing engagement leading a trio at the Fairmont Hotel. She earned her masters degree from Manhattan School of Music, toured Japan with the Kit McClure Big Band, and played at The Blue Note, The Lenox Lounge, The Five Spot, Kitano Hotel, St. Peter’s Church, New Haven Jazz Festival. Choral performance/conducting/teaching credits: Yamaha Music School, Fontbonne Hall Academy, The Ross School, Southampton Players, The Canby Singers, Choral Society of the Hamptons.
Jane is currently the organist, chancel choir and handbell conductor at the historic First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton. She has produced many concerts including an International Women in Jazz-sponsored performance at Saint Peter’s Church in NYC, featuring Etta Jones. Jane enjoys producing engaging, diverse concerts for music lovers of all ages.
“Hastay packs a punch on the piano keys. It’s shocking that big sound comes from the efforts of such a petite woman.” – Eileen Casey, hamptons.com
After graduating from Mills College where she won the Flora Boyd Memorial award for piano performance, Minnesotan Jane Hastay immersed herself in the San Francisco music scene. She toured Europe with Lilith Theater Company, danced with Brazilian samba troupe Escola Nova de Samba, played in the American Hawaii Cruise Lines Orchestra, accompanied Concord recording artist Denise Perrier, and had a long-standing engagement leading a trio at the Fairmont Hotel. She earned her masters degree from Manhattan School of Music, toured Japan with the Kit McClure Big Band, and played at The Blue Note, The Lenox Lounge, The Five Spot, Kitano Hotel, St. Peter’s Church, New Haven Jazz Festival. Choral performance/conducting/teaching credits: Yamaha Music School, Fontbonne Hall Academy, The Ross School, Southampton Players, The Canby Singers, Choral Society of the Hamptons.
Jane is currently the organist, chancel choir and handbell conductor at the historic First Presbyterian Church of East Hampton. She has produced many concerts including an International Women in Jazz-sponsored performance at Saint Peter’s Church in NYC, featuring Etta Jones. Jane enjoys producing engaging, diverse concerts for music lovers of all ages.
PETER MARTIN WEISS, BASS
”Bassist Peter Martin Weiss brings an elegant intimacy to the music.”
Rico Mitchell, Los Angeles Times
Peter studied the guitar and string bass as a teenager and later attended the Berklee School of Music. He received his Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Oneonta and a Master’s from Manhattan School of Music. One of his greatest mentors was Homer Mensch, principal bassist of the NY Philharmonic, with whom Peter studied for six years. He became an established bassist on the New York Jazz scene. Venues include Birdland, Tavern on the Green, The Village Vanguard, a six-year engagement at the Blue Note for Saturday brunch, and many live radio broadcasts from the West End Cafe. He also performed with the Bronx Symphony, the Greenwich Village Symphony, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. From 1986-1996, Peter was a member of the Etta Jones/Houston Person Quintet. He toured internationally and recorded on over 40 CDs, including Bass Hits, on the Savant record label. The group was like a family, the music swinging and passionate, performing at premier jazz festivals and concerts. His 35 years of performance credits include playing with Nat Adderly, Ray Bryant, Randy Brecker, Frank Wess, Winard Harper, Michael Carvin, Lew Soloff, Claudio Roditi, Donald Harrison, Hank Crawford, Richard Wyands, Gloria Lynn, Grady Tate, Kenny Washington, Melvin Sparks, Lorez Alexandria, and Della Griffin. As an educator, Peter taught on the jazz faculty at the State University of NY at New Paltz. Now living in East Hampton, sings with the Choral Society of the Hamptons, and performs locally on bass and guitar.
Peter met pianist Jane Hastay in San Francisco while on tour, and soon after, they were married. The couple produced two CDs, “Never Never Land,” named after a song encouraging us to follow our dreams, and “The Good Life.”
Peter studied the guitar and string bass as a teenager and later attended the Berklee School of Music. He received his Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Oneonta and a Master’s from Manhattan School of Music. One of his greatest mentors was Homer Mensch, principal bassist of the NY Philharmonic, with whom Peter studied for six years. He became an established bassist on the New York Jazz scene. Venues include Birdland, Tavern on the Green, The Village Vanguard, a six-year engagement at the Blue Note for Saturday brunch, and many live radio broadcasts from the West End Cafe. He also performed with the Bronx Symphony, the Greenwich Village Symphony, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. From 1986-1996, Peter was a member of the Etta Jones/Houston Person Quintet. He toured internationally and recorded on over 40 CDs, including Bass Hits, on the Savant record label. The group was like a family, the music swinging and passionate, performing at premier jazz festivals and concerts. His 35 years of performance credits include playing with Nat Adderly, Ray Bryant, Randy Brecker, Frank Wess, Winard Harper, Michael Carvin, Lew Soloff, Claudio Roditi, Donald Harrison, Hank Crawford, Richard Wyands, Gloria Lynn, Grady Tate, Kenny Washington, Melvin Sparks, Lorez Alexandria, and Della Griffin. As an educator, Peter taught on the jazz faculty at the State University of NY at New Paltz. Now living in East Hampton, sings with the Choral Society of the Hamptons, and performs locally on bass and guitar.
Peter met pianist Jane Hastay in San Francisco while on tour, and soon after, they were married. The couple produced two CDs, “Never Never Land,” named after a song encouraging us to follow our dreams, and “The Good Life.”
“Three fine singers join in swinging harmony to whip up music that traffics in delight. Referencing vocal icons from Peggy Lee to the Boswell Sisters, this fresh-voiced triumvirate plays it straight from the heart, leaving any trace of camp or postmodern irony at the door.”
– The New Yorker
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Harmony for the Holidays with Duchess
Friday, December 13 @ 7:30PM
Tickets
General Admission: $25 in advanced, $30 at the door
VIP Cafe Seating: $55
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