LEWISTON —The Bates College music series BatesDowntown will continue this spring with free jazz and country concerts by Maine musicians.
On Friday, April 6, Lewiston native and noted jazz pianist and drummer Steve Grover will be joined by bassist Greg Loughman. On Friday, May 4, Day for Night, a classic-country duo from Portland, will play. Both performances are at 5 p.m. at 22 Park St. (the former Maple Room).
Grover is a pianist, drummer, educator and composer. He studied at Berklee and the University of Maine. In 1985, he composed “Blackbird Suite,” a jazz interpretation of Wallace Stevens’ poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” The composition earned him first place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz/BMI Jazz Composers Competition in 1994.
Grover has performed with the Friends of Jazz, legendary guitarist Lenny Breau, pianist Chris Neville and the renowned Dizzy Gillespie. His catalog of recordings as bandleader includes “Blackbird Suite,” the Beatles tribute “Flying” and last year’s “Statement,” an all-original collection recorded with his quintet.
Known as one of the Midwest’s most accomplished bassists, Loughman is now a New England resident and faculty member at the University of Maine at Augusta and at Bowdoin College. He has toured widely and worked with Grammy-nominated pianist Phillip Aaberg, guitarist Mimi Fox, Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Carlos Malta, jazz violinist Christian Howes, singer Patti Page and the Jimmy Dorsey Big Band.
Making up Day for Night are Doug Hubley and Gretchen Schaefer, who perform classic country harmonies accompanied by guitar and mandolin. Their music is inspired by the big names in “brother acts” — Stanley, Louvin, Everly — as well as Merle Haggard, Webb Pierce, Gene Clark and the duet work of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris.
Day for Night has performed at venues, including the Portland wine bar Blue, Cornish Apple Festival, Frog & Turtle Gastropub and Bates College, where Hubley works in the communications fffice. The pair worked previously with Howling Turbines, the Boarders and the Cowlix.
For more information, call 786-6135 or visit olinarts@bates.edu.
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