The Secondary Messengers are dedicated to promoting the music of the influential ensembles of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers recorded from the early ’50s to the late ’80s. Noted for improvisation in the funky hard bop idiom with close harmonic lines, an intense driving rhythm section, and meticulously crafted arrangements by composer-band members such as Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Woody Shaw, Benny Golson and Kenny Dorham, the Jazz Messengers served as a school for many young musicians who later went on to notable careers as leaders of their own groups. They were also an inspiration to generations of jazz musicians who never played with Blakey.
In living cells, secondary messengers are molecules that relay signals from receptors on the cell surface to target molecules inside the cell. In doing so they amplify the strength of the original signals. We hope to call attention to the great library of music that the “primary” Messengers have left for jazz musicians to work on and the world to enjoy.
Trumpeter Dave Bilodeau from Hadley, MA is also a professional freelance mechanical engineer. He has performed for over 50 yearsin various jazz, rock, show, pit and big bands as well as orchestras and brass groups locally and around the Northeast. He studied engineering at Northeastern University and music at The Boston Conservatory and Berklee College of Music.
Among the groups he has played with are The:Amherst Jazz Orchestra, Creacion Latin Big Band, the Premier Brass Quintet, the Premier Swing Band, Fanfare Brass Choir, Dixieland Stomp, Ragtime Five, Charles Neville and the Skeletones, Intertrip and the Interplay.Jazz Band.
Bassist Mark Dunlap, from Holyoke, MA, is a PASS Region I Assistant at the Federal Aviation Administration. He has studied bass with accomplished NYC bassists Santi DeBriano and Joe Fonda, and composition and improvisation with long-time mentor, Dr. Ed Byrne. He is a founding member and serves on the board of the Western New England Double Bass Society, a group of 200 performing double bassists that sponsors bass workshops and concerts in New England. Mark serves as the Chairman for the Holyoke Cultural Council under the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Mark co-leads The Interplay Jazz Band, Frain/Dunlap Jazz Trip, InterTrip and performs with other bands including Berkshire Jazz Underground, Eastern Standard Time, and Disciples of Cool in New England and New York. He co-owns the independent recording label and publishing company Simmer Music has released a CD with guitarist David Frain entitled “Pull The Shades” and has organized festivals including the Holyoke Latin Jazz Festival and the Reggae Rager and Future Roots Festival.
Professor Emeritus of Biology at Amherst College, reedman Dick Poccia has played in jazz groups in Western Massachusetts for 30 years, recording with the Valley Big Band, Jeff Holmes Big Band, and the Lowe-Jaffe Repertory Big Band. Currently a member of the Amherst Jazz Orchestra, Creacion Latin Big Band, Ask Me Now, and the Jeff Holmes Big Band.. Played in back up bands for the Temptations, Martha Reeves, Mary Wilson, Ernie Watts, Claudio Roditi, Yusef Lateef, John Abercrombie, Steve Turre, Al Cohn, Rufus Reed, Karrin Allyson, Steve Davis, Sheila Jordan, George Garzone, Peter Erskine, Paul Winter, John Fedchock, and the Ringling Brother Circus. Has twice toured in Russia playing at theWhite Nights Jazz Festival. Has performed at Sculler’s, the El Morocco, Sandy’s, Berklee School of Music, the Philharmonic Jazz Center in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Estrada State Theater in Moscow, and DOCKS television program in Lisbon. Played with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra and the Duke Ellington Festival Orchestra with Gunther Schuller at Amherst College.
Drummer Bill Matthews Ph.D., from Sunderland, MA is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Psychology and Education, He has been playing drums since his teenage years. In the late 1980’s, he studied music intensively, taking workshops and lessons at the Drummer’s Collective in NYC and Jazz in July at the University of Massachusetts where he had the opportunity to play with the legendary Archie Shepp.. Since, the early 1990’s, Bill began and continues his study with the great Boston based drummer, Bob Gullotti of the Fringe. Bill played for 2 years in the Valley Jazz Ensemble under the direction of trombonist Ed Byrne and with DBRAZZ, a piano trio. He has performed in numerous concerts at local venues in the Valley including Moment’s Notice and the Eclectic Jazz Quartet.
Pianist Mike Stamm from Willimsburg, MA plays classical and jazz music. He is also an ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctor, also known as an otolaryngologist, with degrees from the Univ of Virginia Charlottesville and Virginia Commonwealth Univ. who has practiced in Florence, Pittsfield MA and Keene NH. Dr. Stamm specializes in diseases and disorders of the ear, nose and throat as well as other parts of the head and neck. Such structures an ENT may work on include the sinuses, larynx (voice box) and mouth in addition to the ear, nose and throat. He is currently associated with the Berkshire Medical Center and Berkshire ENT and Audiological Associates.
We are thankful to former members and the many subs who have stepped in to help us on occasion: Jim Argiro, Rob Faulkner, Ken Forfia, Claire Arenius, R.J. Avellone, Dave Elvin, Jay Elfenbein, Andy Jaffe, Pat Kennedy, Riley Godleski, Adam Scotera, Frances Rahaim, Carol Abbe Smith, Chris Bakriges, George Plouffe, and Jeff Bucs.
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