The Mahavishnu Project & Friends Extravaganza
Gregg Bendian is throwing himself a 60th Birthday blow-out featuring The Mahavishu Project playing the music of "Birds of Fire," "Inner Mounting Flame," Jeff Beck's "Wired," and more! With very special performances by Trio Pianissimo (featuring Neil Alexander), Tim Motzer (guitars), Olias (drums) and Peter Furlan (saxophone), "It will be epic! I love playing our brand of electrifying music at this epicenter of the NYS creative music scene - my favorite venue, The Falcon!" shouts Bendian. See you there!
The Mahavishnu Project has remained as the only ensemble to have the blessing and praise of every original Mahavishnu Orchestra member, including founder, guitarist and composer John McLaughlin.
“...a little note of appreciation for what you are bringing back to life. ....the beginning of finding my own way in music, and to hear you guys playing those tunes ....is quite amazing.” - John McLaughlin
"What is primary to me is that they are all great musicians. Everyone has to be a good improviser. You have to be able to take them to another place. These guys get there." - Jan Hammer
Featuring:
Gregg Bendian: Drums
https://www.bendianmusic.com/
Drummer/composer/producer GREGG BENDIAN founded THE MAHAVISHNU PROJECT in 2001, making it the first jazz-rock special repertory ensembles, and the only one to receive the endorsement of guitar wizard Mahavishnu John McLaughlin and all original Mahavishnu members. During Gregg's wide-ranging career he has toured internationally and recorded with Todd Rundgren, Jan Hammer, Keneally-Bendian-Lunn, The Musical Box, John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Nels Cline, Cecil Taylor, Pat Metheny, Ornette Coleman, and Zoot Horn Rollo. Gregg teaches drumming, production, and conceptual composition through his website www.bendianmusic.com and in addition to being the producer of The Bottom Line Archive for Grammy-winning Omnivore Recordings, is the chief interviewer at the Yale Oral History of American Music in New Haven CT.
Neil Alexander: Keys
Master pianist, synthesist, keyboardist and composer Neil “Nail” Alexander remains passionately involved in performance and production across multiple genres - including jazz, rock, funk, blues, electronica, ambient and contemporary classical. In a career spanning more than 4 decades Neil has made his mark on the regional and international music scenes. In addition to his long running original music project Neil Alexander & NAIL, he has worked with numerous notable artists and toured worldwide with Pink Floyd Tribute “The Machine“, where he was a driving force in the group’s sound and subsequent success.
Robbie Mangano: Guitar
https://www.robbiemangano.com/guitar
After touring with Zappa Tribute band PROJECT/OBJECT, Robbie joined RCA recording artists The Sound of Urchin and toured for 6 years. He was the lead guitarist for the Zappa-alumni group, The Grandmothers of Invention featuring Napoleon Murphy Brock, Don Preston, Roy Estrada, and Tom Fowler. He later joined Sean Lennon’s The GOASTT. He toured with Banned from Utopia featuring Zappa-alumni Ray White, Albert Wing, Robert Martin, and Tom Fowler. Robbie then toured with Rickie Lee Jones in which he played guitar, bass, keyboard, and backing vocals.
Brian Mooney: Bass
Bassist, composer, solo artist, Mooney, is also the bandleader and founder of Jazz-Rock fusion group Piktor's Metamorphosis. He performs regularly with Neil Alexander and NAIL, Rob Paparozzi, Glenn Alexander's Jan Hammer/Stretch, Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie, Ritchie "LaBamba" Rosenberg and Mark Pender (Conan O'Brien).