From PEMBERVILLE OPERA HOUSE
The Chris Buzzelli Trio with vocalist Lori Lefevre will perform a Live in the House show at the Pemberville Opera House Saturday Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m.
The ensemble has a large repertoire of American Songbook standards by composers such as Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Rogers and Hammerstein, and Duke Ellington. In addition, they include classic jazz compositions and popular music of the Baby Boomer era in their performances.
Tickets $12 and are available at Beeker’s General Store, at the door or by contacting Carol at 419-287-4848.
Lefevre calls Toledo home but is a well-known jazz singer in the Toledo/Detroit/Ann Arbor area. Through theater and music Lori has had the opportunity to perform throughout the United States and Europe.
In addition to concert and club work at places such as Rusty’s Jazz Cafe, Murphy’s Place, Degage Jazz Cafe in Toledo, and The Bird of Paradise in Ann Arbor, Lori has been the featured vocalist with the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, The Paul Keller Orchestra, and Ron Kischuck’s Masters of Music. Lori currently teaches jazz voice at Hillsdale College and has taught jazz voice at The University of Toledo and the Toledo School for the Arts.
Guitarist Chris Buzzelli was a member of the music faculty at Bowling Green State University from 1984 to 2015, where he was Professor of Guitar and Jazz Studies, director of the Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and founding director of the New York Voices Vocal Jazz Camp.
He has also served as adjunct faculty at the University of Michigan and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and has presented clinics and masterclasses at regional and national conferences and other colleges and universities around the nation. He maintains an active performing schedule, mostly in the Northwest Ohio area, but has also played in some nationally recognized venues including the Classic American Guitar Show in Long Island, New York, the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society event held each summer in Nashville, and the first World Guitar Congress held in Towson, Maryland.
Bassist/vocalist Kevin Eikum comes from a musical family. His father was an operatic tenor and voice teacher at BGSU, and mother an organist/pianist and teacher, music was woven in the fabric.
He has since had the good fortune to perform with many wonderful musicians and groups. He has been the bassist for the Toledo Jazz Orchestra for over 20 years, playing with local idols Gene Parker and Jimmy Cook in that ensemble and rubbing musical shoulders with Clark Terry, Benny Goldson, Jeff Hamilton, Peter Erskine, Kurt Elling, Sue Raney, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and many other great local musicians.
Eikum is also a member of the vocal jazz quintet Sixth Edition (along with Lefevre) and the progressive rock band Boffo.
Drummer Scott Kretzer is a graduate of the University of Kentucky and Heidelberg University with degrees in music education. He is currently a freelance percussionist and teacher in the Northwest Ohio/Southeastern Michigan area. He teaches applied percussion and world music and directs the Jazz Ensemble at Heidelberg University, and he teaches applied percussion and percussion methods at Adrian College.
Kretzer performs regularly with the Scott Gwinnell Jazz Orchestra, Carl Cafagna and North Star Jazz, and Sixth Edition. He has performed with many top jazz artists including Clark Terry, Delfayo Marsalis, David “Fathead” Newman, Sheila Jordan, and Jon Hendricks.
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