Sat
Feb 3, 2024
Split Bill
Main Stage

Will Bernard and the Freelance Subversives

No reservations
With opening act:  
Dining 5:30-9pm. Music 7pm.

Ft. Will Bernard (guitar), Eric Kalb (drums), Ben Zwerin (bass), Moses Patrou (percussion and vocals), Henry Hey (keyboards)

“…one of the most potent, if under recognized, guitarists on the post-Frisell/post-Scofield scene.” – Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times

“Will Bernard is one of the best-kept jazz-guitar secrets on the planet.” – Dan Ouellette, Billboard

Will Bernard and the Freelance Subversives
Feb 3, 2024
  •  
Main Stage
  •  
Dining 5:30-9pm. Music 7pm.

Although currently a New Yorker, Grammy nominated guitarist Will Bernard's unique voice was formed from the most part from the rich cultural roots of the San Francisco Bay Area. Along the way he studied classical music, jazz, played in basements and coliseums, and absorbed the Bay Area Multi-Kultii, the New York downtown edge, and the loose funk of New Orleans. He has performed or recorded with Charlie Hunter, Stanton Moore, Robert Walter, John Medeski, Dr Lonnie Smith, Ben Sidran, Peter Apfelbaum, Jai Uttal, Tom Waits, Bill Laswell, Dr. John and a lot of other known and unknowns. Will can be seen working in a chameleon-like way to fit into his current habitat. His 2007 CD "Party Hats" as well as his 1997 collaborative project T.J. Kirk's If Four Was One were both nominated for Grammys, and he is nominated yearly in Downbeat Magazine's Critics Poll for "Best Rising Star" Guitar Player. Will is a regular fixture at New Orleans Jazz fest, Jam Cruise and other similar events, and has toured extensively in the US and Europe. Currently, Will performs with John Medeski's Mad Skillet, Club D’elf, Peter Apfelbaum's Sparkler, Frequinox with Stanton Moore and Robert Walter, Pleasure Drones, Brian Charette's Mighty Grinders, Freelance Subversives, and the Will Bernard Trio and Quartet. Will’s 11th record as a leader was released in 2022 on Dreck to Disk records and was on many best of 2022 lists. In 2023 Will released a duo record with SF clarinetist Beth Custer.

Over the course of his thirty year career Eric Kalb has taken to both studio and stage with a dazzling array of influential and innovative artists. He’s laid it down hard for the supernatural force of Miss Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, the seven-string guitar wizardry of Charlie Hunter, quintessential Chicago Soul group The Impressions, fully celebrated jazz guitarist John Scofield and Hammond B3 organ legend Dr. Lonnie Smith; to name but a few. Hunter calls Kalb’s drumming “A funky Clyde Stubblefield/ Jabo Starks kinda way of relating (to Jazz) …really cool and refreshing“. Notable film recording sessions include soundtracks for the major motion pictures “American Gangster” and “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story“.

Upon moving to NYC, Ben Zwerin began touring internationally (“Montreux Jazz Festival”, “Jazz a Juan”, “Jazz a Vienne”, “North Sea Jazz”, “Playboy Jazz Festival”, “Newport Jazz Festival”…) as well as playing in local NYC venues (Carnegie Hall, Roseland, Bowery Ballroom, Bitter End, Joe’s Pub, Mercury Lounge) with talented and diverse artists such as Lizz Wright, Angelique Kidjo, Lila Downs (Sony), Nouvelle Vague (EMI), Claudia Acuna, Lionel Loueke (Blue Note), Kellylee Evans (Universal France), Otis Clay, The Revelations feat. Tre Williams, Oliver Mtukudzi, Ycare (Sony France), Brendan James (Decca/Universal), Souldiggaz (Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige), Frenchie Davis (The Voice, Rent and American Idol), Ellen Greene (of The Little Shop of Horrors), Antonique Smith (of Rent and Notorious), Forro In The Dark (Nublu/Nat Geo), Running Still (East/West/Atlantic). Ben has also played in the Off-Broadway shows Bat Boy and A Broadway Diva Christmas.

Henry Hey has an innate curiosity and unique ability to bring multiple musical influences together. This is probably because everything from the Beatles to Bach to Count Basie to the sound of Henry’s own father playing various musical instruments could be heard at any time in his Midwest childhood home. One famously curious artist, David Bowie, identified with this spirit in Henry during the making of The Next Day, on which Henry played piano and keyboards. Bowie then chose him as arranger and musical director to help reimagine his classic songs and to shape new ones, creating the sound for what would be Bowie’s final work, Lazarus.