Performing Arts

The Boston Brass National Livestream from The Ramsdell Regional Center for the Arts, Sponsored by West Shore Community College.  The Boston Brass will be playing live at the Ramsdell to bring you a one of a kind virtual experience.

BOSTON BRASS – ARTS ACROSS AMERICA: COMMUNITY, TOGETHER

This real-time/live-streamed performance and educational initiative was created by Boston Brass in recognition that presenting organizations and music programs across the country are also experiencing the COVID-related difficulties of keeping their doors open, maintaining the interest of their patrons and helping school music programs in their communities to keep students engaged. With over 35 years of international touring behind them, Boston Brass offers a terrific, artistically entertaining “something-for-everyone” program featuring familiar classical works to popular jazz standards, all delivered with the ensemble’s signature audience interaction and charming rapport.

A link to this online presentation is available below!
*Archived content will be available following the scheduled date and time of the livestream.*

WSCC Performing Arts Living Room Series Featuring Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo

With over 1000 engagements in the last five years alone, Frank Vignola has become one of the most popular and sought after guitarists on the international music scene. His dynamic genre-spanning music has brought him to 14 countries on three continents – and still growing – performing in some of the world’s most illustrious venues, including the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Carnegie Hall, The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, New York’s Lincoln Center and the world’s oldest indoor concert hall, Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy.

*This Content is Archived and Will Be Available Indefinitely For Your Enjoyment*

WSCC Performing Arts Living Room Series featuring Michigan’s own, Jim Alfredson & Organissimo

You might notice something different at an Organissimo performance. The audience isn’t the typical homogenous “jazz” audience. You’ll see a healthy mix of people from all walks of life; young and old, black and white, from hippies to corporate professionals and everything in between. Organissimo’s music skirts over fences and satisfies a diverse range of tastes. You’re as likely to see people dancing as a group of folks intently listening.As American cultural critic Elvis Mitchell wrote after witnessing a show at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, “The group’s toned, muscular playing keeps the crowd rapt, a condition noticeable by the fact that almost no one is talking.“

*Archived content will be available following the scheduled date and time of the livestream.*

WSCC Performing Arts Living Room Series Featuring Sierra Hull

In her first 25 years alone, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sierra Hull hit more milestones than many musicians accomplish in a lifetime. After making her Grand Ole Opry debut at the age of 10, the Tennessee-bred virtuoso mandolinist played Carnegie Hall at age 12, then landed a deal with Rounder Records just a year later. Now 28-years-old, Hull is set to deliver her fourth full- length for Rounder: an elegantly inventive and endlessly captivating album called 25 Trips.

Revealing her profound warmth as a storyteller, 25 Trips finds Hull shedding light on the beauty and chaos and sometimes sorrow of growing up and getting older. To that end, the album’s title nods to a particularly momentous year of her life, including her marriage to fellow bluegrass musician Justin Moses and the release of her widely acclaimed album Weighted Mind—a Béla Fleck- produced effort nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

“There’s a lot of push-and-pull on this record, where in some moments I feel like everything’s happening so fast and I wish I could slow it all down so I can really enjoy it,” Hull points out. “But then there are also times where I’m looking forward to the day when the craziness has died down a bit, and life’s a little calmer.”

*Archived content will be available following the scheduled date and time of the livestream.*

WSCC Performing Arts Living Room Series featuring
A Musical Evening with WSCC’s Alumnus, Singer/Songwriter Chloe Kimes

Americana singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Chloe Kimes defines the next generation of folk-singing troubadours with relentless honesty across her poignant tunes. The Michigan native was bred on bluegrass festivals and family harmony but relocated to Nashville in 2016. With over a decade of writing and performing and a degree in Recording Industry/Songwriting under her belt, Kimes pulls influence from the flourishing Bluegrass/Americana community in her Nashville home, as well as from her backwoods, Michigan roots. An inspired storyteller, her organic sincerity is sure to capture listeners at first listen.

Click Here to Listen to Chloe Kimes on Spotify

*Archived content will be available following the scheduled date and time of the livestream.*

WSCC Performing Arts Living Room Series: The Fred Knapp Quartet Feat. Randy Napoleon

Fred Knapp: Drums
Matthew Fries: Piano
Rob Hartman: Bass
Randy Napoleon: Guitar

Fred Knapp: Drums

Fred Knapp is a drummer, vocalist, pianist, composer, and educator. He is known for having a special touch on the drum set with the ability to adapt to any playing situation. Fred has studied with Quincy Davis, Keith Hall, Tim Froncek, and Rupert Kettle. He also studied jazz piano with Dr. Steve Zegree and drum set with legendary jazz drummer Billy Hart, while getting a music degree from Western Michigan University. For more than two decades Fred has been busy performing in the Mid West with his trio, the John Shea Trio, and working as a freelance musician. He was named “Jazz Musician of the Year” in 2019 by the West Michigan Jazz Society. Fred also has a thriving teaching studio where he teaches piano and drum set. The Fred Knapp Trio recently released its seventh CD, “Song for Jaden”. Their previous release, “How Deep is the Ocean” received an editors choice award from CDBaby.com. Fred has performed and/or recorded with Terrell Stafford, Xavier Davis, Walter White, Chris Vadala, Conrad Herwig, Randy Napoleon, The Glenn Miller Orchestra, Paul Keller, Diego Rivera, Randy Johnston, Sunny Wilkinson, Tad Weed, Tom Knific, Jeremy Siskind, Shawn “Thunder” Wallace, and a who’s who of local greats such as John Shea, Steve Talaga, Mike Frost, Rob Smith, Terry Lower, Betty Joplin, Jim Cooper, Edye Evans Hyde, Tom Hagen, Robin Connell, the Grand Rapids Jazz Orchestra, Big Band Nouveau, the Kalamazoo Big Band, and award winning area jazz ensemble Evidence.

Click Here to Listen to Fred Knapp On Spotify

Randy Napoleon: Guitar

Born in Brooklyn and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Randy Napoleon began his journey in jazz immediately after finishing his studies at the University of Michigan. Jeff Hamilton of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra invited the young Napoleon to do a series of performances with them at the Hollywood Bowl. From there, Napoleon’s career took off, first touring with pianist Benny Green nationally and internationally for a year, and then full time with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. A three-year stint with crooner Michael Buble followed; Napoleon is featured on Buble’s Grammy-nominated CD “Caught in the Act.”
Guitarist George Benson calls Napoleon “sensational.” Detroit Free Press critic Mark Stryker says Napoleon “plays with a gentle, purring tone that makes you lean in close to hear its range of color and articulation.” Washington Post critic Mike Joyce praises his “exceptionally nimble finger-style technique.” Comparing him to Wes Montgomery, music critic Michael G. Nastos says, “he displays an even balance of swing, soul, and single-line or chord elements that mark an emerging voice dedicated to tradition and universally accessible jazz values.”
Napoleon currently tours with the legendary singer/pianist, Freddy Cole, and is featured on Cole’s 2009 album, “Live at Dizzy’s Club: The Dreamer in Me.“ He is the main arranger and the guitarist on “Freddy Cole Sings Mr. B,” a 2010 Grammy-nominated release from High Note that features songs from the Billy Eckstine song book, as well as on “Talk to Me,” Cole’s 2011 album, and Cole’s most recent album “This and That.”
Today, Napoleon is one of the most sought-after guitarists in New York, where he is known as a forward-thinking musician with a passion for the jazz guitar tradition. In addition to backing the best, he leads his own bands, an organ trio, a trombone trio, a quartet with piano, and a three-horn sextet that includes organ, drums, trumpet, tenor sax, and trombone.

Click Here to Listen To Randy Napoleon on Spotify

*Archived content will be available following the scheduled date and time of the livestream.*

WSCC Performing Arts Living Room Series Presents

A collaborative effort of hundreds of musicians, vocalists, and recording artists. Enjoy the West Shore Community College Wind Symphony and Concert Choir Virtual Project presentation!