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Jason Ennis

Guitarist Jason Ennis is an exciting voice in the world of jazz guitar. His unique sound, deep groove and sensitive feel, along with a diverse background in jazz, blues, Brazilian music and classical music have made him highly in demand as a soloist, sideman, bandleader and musical director. A graduate of Middlebury College (BA in music), Jason attended Berklee College of Music (Boston) and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Ennis has performed and/or recorded with Tessa Souter (Motéma Music), Charles Neville (The Neville Brothers Band), Paul McCandless (Oregon, The Paul Winter Consort), The Sonya Kitchell Band (Velour Music, Starbucks Hear Music), Todd Reynolds (Bang on a Can, Steve Reich), The I/O Ensemble under the direction of percussionist Matthew Gold, actor and musician Joe Morton, Mary Ann McSweeney’s Urban Fado Project, The Ramón Ángel-Rey Trio, Samirah Evans and Her Handsome Devils, Choro da Manhá, The Julio Botti Quintet, Pablo Ziegler and others. In summer of 2016, he played in the world premier at the Williamstown Theater Festival of the musical Poster Boy, by Craig Carnelia and Joe Tracz. Ennis transcribed and edited a collection of solo guitar arrangements by his friend and mentor, Gene Bertoncini, which was published in 2012 by Hal Leonard Publishing.

Ennis leads his own instrumental group, Trio Jota Sete, and co-leads the world jazz trio, La Voz de Tres, which has toured extensively throughout the United States and Chile and has released two CDs: La Voz de Tres (2010) and Sueños y Delirios (2014). His searing blues style is a corner stone of the NYC-based jazz/blues powerhouse group, Opius Bliss, fronted by vocalist Michelle Walker. He is a member of The Thomas Bergeron Ensemble, whose May 2015 release, Sacred Feast, presents re-imaginings of selected works by French composer Olivier Messiaen, and is co-composer and musical director for En Diablada, an original music project by Chilean vocalist Natalia Bernal, inspired by Andean folkloric traditions.

Since Fall of 2015, Ennis has been a Lecturer in Music at Dartmouth College, where he teaches jazz, world and popular guitar styles. Currently residing in Pittsfield, MA, he teaches guitar privately and at the Berkshire Music School, is a faculty member at Interplay Jazz in Woodstock, Vermont and has given workshops at colleges and Universities throughout the US and Chile. Jason uses K and K pickup systems and DiGiacomo Custom Switches.

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Festival

Free Showcase To Feature Berkshires Musicians, August 25, 1-6pm in Pittsfield, MA

Free Showcase To Feature Berkshires Musicians, August 25, 1-6pm in Pittsfield, MA

Source: Edward Bride

Berkshires Jazz, Inc. presents five of the most popular regional bands in the first annual Berkshire Jazz Showcase, on the Pittsfield Common, August 25 from 1-6pm. The wide-ranging lineup for the jazz extravaganza will include: Gruppo Mondo; Andy Kelly Gypsy Jazz; the Benny Kohn Quartet; the Jason Ennis Quintet with vocalist Natalia Bernal; and The Lucky 5. Berkshire County enjoys a long-standing reputation as a hot-bed of jazz talent, going back nearly 75 years to Music Inn, and now enjoying ...

“…Especially Striking.” –All About Jazz

“Then, with Cream’s ‘White Room’ – superbly aided by guitarist Jason Ennis’ epic arrangement – [Souter] finds substance in a lightweight tune, her voice soaring freely across a turbulent landscape of shifting rhythmic meters.” -Don Heckman, International review of Music (review Tessa Souter’s Obsession)

“…Dynamic seven string guitar.”-Musico Pro Magazine, Independent Star Award presentation

“A fantastic Guitarist… check him out!” -Jazz vocal legend Sheila Jordan

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