2024 Summer Music Series at Nardin Park United Methodist Church
Join NPUMC Wednesday evenings this summer for free community concerts. Donations are welcome but not required.
7 PM on Wednesday Nights
July 17
“Bennett is a player superbly well balanced between purity and power. Bennett injects three heady shots of adrenalin that bring the music sharply to life.” - Downbeat Magazine
Dave Bennett doesn’t fit the mold. For starters, you don’t find many jazz clarinet players who name Alice Cooper, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Chris Isaak among their influences. You won’t find many musicians who are equally conversant with the music of Benny Goodman (the “King of Swing”) and Roy Orbison (“The Soul of Rock and Roll”). In fact, you may not find even one other clarinet virtuoso who breaks from his Swing Era repertoire to sing rockabilly hits while accompanying himself at the piano or electric guitar.
Dave began his national touring career at the age of 14. He has been a featured soloist at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops (2013) and has been featured with 35 other US and Canadian orchestras including Nashville, Houston, Detroit, Rochester, Omaha, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Orlando, San Antonio, Jacksonville, Portland, OR and Portland, ME. Some of his annual appearances include The Elkhart Jazz Festival, The Suncoast Classic Jazz Festival, The Arizona Classic Jazz Festival, The Sacramento Hot Jazz Jubilee, The Clambake Music Festival, and The Redwood Coast Music Festival.
Dave has been featured on NPR Radio’s “Jazz at Riverwalk.” He made his European debut in 2008 at The Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland) in a combo with jazz legends and Benny Goodman band alumni guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and vibraphonist, the late Peter Appleyard. In March 2022, Dave and his band performed to a sold-out audience at New York City’s Birdland Theater. Dave is a recording artist on jazz label Mack Avenue Records. His second release, Blood Moon reached No. 24 on the Billboard Jazz charts in 2018.
During the isolation of the pandemic, fate steered Dave’s time off the road into a bold new direction. He put his guitar pedal to the metal and stepped away from his beloved clarinet. A songwriter stepped forward. Road songs, reverb-laded guitar solos that could power a surf documentary, and memories of loves and lives lost are the mile markers that makeup his latest release “Nowhere Fast”. His first full-length rock album is a deep, soul-searching joyride through the back streets of his mind. Dave is recently joined forces with guitarist/vocalist Pastor Tom Hampton on their first gospel recording. Planned release is late 2024.
July 24
Louis Nagel is Professor Emeritus of Piano and Piano Literature at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance. He has coupled that responsibility with his lifelong appearances as a concert pianist and lecturer about music. Students have said “he is my favorite professor”, “he really goes above and beyond for his students”, “caring”, and “an exciting and intelligent performer”.
Reviews have cited “a smashing performance of the Liszt Sonata”, “compelling Pictures at an Exhibition” of Mussorgsky, and “a pedagog, performer, and scholar all synthesized” after a program of four of the six Partitas of J.S.Bach.
Winner of the Harold Waugh Award for Excellence in Teaching at the School of Music Theatre and Dance, Dr. Nagel has shared his teaching and performing skills with audiences throughout the United States and abroad. Performances have taken him to Canada, Israel, Taiwan, the then Soviet Union, Italy, Australia, Hungary, and Poland among many international venues.
In the United States, he has been a frequent and popular presenter at national music conferences and local and regional music organizations. He is equally comfortable (and happy) on the concert stage or a senior citizen’s retirement home or study group, and illustrates a variety of repertoire covering the common practice period.
Retired from the university since 2015, he maintains an active interest and devotion to teaching from his home, from his favorite venue at the Kerrytown Concert House, and over zoom. He welcomes inquires about lessons. A graduate with three degrees from Juilliard, he is a Steinway Artist.
"What makes a great teacher? One that looks inside the student to see individual skills and talent. Then builds on these gifts to empower the student to create their unique voice. This is a rare skill and insight that may not be pedigogical."
July 31
The Paul Keller AT SUNDOWN Quartet / Quintet features vocalist/clarinetist Sarah D'Angelo (Keller says, "Sarah is the voice of my music."), saxophonist Steve Wood, pianist Duncan McMillan and drummer Stephen Boegehold. Their hallmark is unique tonal blend of clarinet and saxophone in harmony - a beautiful "ensemble sonority" not often heard in jazz. Clever and entertaining Keller arrangements dot the musical landscape of each AT SUNDOWN performance.
The Paul Keller AT SUNDOWN Quartet / Quintet is Paul Keller (string bass), Duncan McMillan (piano), Steve Wood (saxophones/flute) and Stephen Boegehold (drums).
August 7
Olivia joins Scott Gwinnell (piano), Samuel Chase Harris (bass), and Dave Zwolinski (drums) for a beautiful night of music.
August 14
The Swing Syndicate is one of Metro-Detroit's hottest jazz bands, appearing at such jazz mainstays as Tony V's and The Cadieux Cafe. They are excited to make a return appearance at the Summer Music Series at Nardin Park. Come join us for an evening of jazz standards and new arrangements that is sure to have your toes tapping!