Antonio Calogero Ensemble

Paul McCandless

Oboe & Soprano Sax

Michael Manring

Fretless Bass

Antonio Calogero

Steel String & Classical Guitar

Brian Rice

Percussion

This innovative world music / jazz ensemble features original works performed by some of the most gifted contemporary instrumentalists. Italian guitar master Antonio Calogero, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as an "evocative sound painter" teams up with Grammy Nominee Paul McCandless (multi-instumentalist and composer from the legendary group Oregon), fretless bass extraordinaire Michael Manring, and the eclectic percussionist Brian Rice. This exceptional quartet performs music that embodies the spirit of the Mediterranean, yet transcends all music boundaries.

Italy's Antonio Calogero is a bright light in the new generation of acoustic guitarist/composers. Drawing on folk, jazz, classical and world music influences, his passionate original style combines highly articulate melodies with unique chord changes. Although he composes for both nylon and steel-string guitar, Antonio’s rigorous classical guitar training imbues his performances with insight and precision. After performing for 15 years in Europe, he has been winning recognition and praise in the US since 1994 as a solo artist and regularly featured guitarist on International Guitar Night tours, sharing the stage with guitar luminaries such as Ralph Towner, Gerardo Nuñez, Paulo Bellinati and Alex de Grassi. Antonio has two solo guitar cds to his credit (Caleidoscopio on DDD records and La Rosa del Deserto on Acoustic Music Records), and has just finished a new recording for guitar, bass, and percussion co-produced by Alex de Grassi.

Paul McCandless, a pioneer of modern instrumental music, has brought a soaring lyricism to playing and composing that has been integral to the sound of two seminal world music bands; the original Paul Winter Consort, and the relentlessly innovative quartet, Oregon. A gifted multi-instrumentalist, McCandless specializes in an unusually broad palette of both single and double reed instruments, performing and composing in a style that reflects his grounding in both classical and jazz disciplines. His array of woodwinds includes oboe and english horn, bass clarinet, soprano and sopranino saxophones, penny whistles, various ethnic flutes, and the electronic wind controller. He has also worked as a solo artist, and is credited with more than 150 albums and performances with such musicians as Jaco Pastorius, Carla Bley, Art Lande, Eberhard Weber, as well as with Wynton Marsalis, Pat Metheny, Steve Reich, Al Jarreau, Bela Fleck and Andy Summers.

Michael Manring is one of the most inventive bass players in the world today, having developed an entirely new approach to the instrument. Using unusual tunings and extended techniques, his music blends exotic tonalities and rhythms with an extraordinary lyrical sense. His four solo albums with the Windham Hill / BMG group (Unusual Weather, Toward the Center of the Night and Drastic Measures on Windham Hill; Thonk on High Street) have earned him an international reputation as "a master of the fretless bass without rival" (Guitar Club Magazine, Italy). He has also garnered two gold records, Grammy and Bammie nominations, a Berklee School of Music Distinguished Alumni Award and numerous Bass Player Magazine Reader's Poll awards including 1994 Bassist of the Year.

Brian Rice is a freelance eclectic percussionist with a B.M. in Percussion Performance and Ethnomusicology from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Brian has performed for audiences across North America and Europe with numerous ensembles, including Balafon Marimba Ensemble, Native Suns, Kaila Flexer Next Village, Jim Scott, Bochinche, Sonando, Willy and Lobo, The Paul Winter Consort, Richard Egues, Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion and Wake the Dead. In addition, Brian appears on recordings with many of these artists as well as with Mike Marshall, Steve Gadd, Tony Levin and Jay Thomas.