West Stockbridge — The West Stockbridge Historical Society continues its Jazz Series on Saturday, June 21, with a performance by a quartet led by saxophonist, composer, and educator Felipe Salles.
Joining Mr. Salles on Saturday will be pianist Nando Michelin, bassist Keala Kaumeheiwa, and percussionist Bertram Lehmann.
All members of Salles’ quartet are distinguished educators based in the New England area. Mr. Salles has taught at the University of Massachusetts Amherst since 2010. Mr. Michelin holds teaching positions at the Longy School of Music, Tufts University, and Berklee College of Music and has also served as a guest lecturer at institutions in the United States, Spain, Argentina, and Brazil. Mr. Kaumeheiwa teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Mr. Lehmann is on the faculty at Berklee.
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Felipe Salles has been an active musician in the U.S. since 1995, collaborating with and providing arrangements and original compositions for such artists as Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, David Liebman, Melissa Aldana, Lionel Loueke, Jerry Bergonzi, Chico Pinheiro, Magos Herrera, Sofia Rei, Yosvany Terry, Jovino Santos Neto, Oscar Stagnaro, Luciana Souza, and Bob Moses.
Salles is a 2018 Guggenheim Foundation Composition Fellow, a 2021 South Arts Jazz Road Creative Residency Grant Fellowship recipient, a 2015 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant winner, and a 2009–2010 winner of the French American Jazz Exchange Grant.
Salles is also a 2005–2006 winner of the Chamber Music America New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant Program, grants sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. As a composer, Salles won First Place in the 2001 Concurso SGAE de Jazz “TETE MONTOLIU,” 2001, with his composition “The Return of The Chromo Sapiens.”
Salles’ arrangements and compositions have received performances from such groups as The Metropole Orchestra, UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Amazonas Band, Helsinki Philharmonic Violas, Meta4 String Quartet, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Jazz Philharmonic Orchestra, New England Conservatory Jazz Orchestra, and New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble.
Uruguayan-born jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and educator Fernando Michelin moved to the U.S. to study at Berklee College of Music, graduating summa cum laude. He later studied privately with Charlie Banacos and Jerry Bergonzi. He is known for leading his own ensembles (trio, quartet) and producing modern, jazz-infused interpretations of Brazilian music, Latin jazz, and his own compositions.
Keala Kaumeheiwa moved to New York City after college to perform with such ensembles as Betty Carter’s band and the New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Based in Boston since 1995, Mr. Kaumeheiwa performs regularly at such venues as Sculler’s Jazz Club, Ryle’s, Wally’s Jazz Café, Regattabar, and The Press Room. He has been teaching jazz combo ensembles since around 2001 as an affiliated artist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Based in Boston for over 30 years, percussionist Bertram Lehmann has performed in styles ranging from jazz and Caribbean to Afro-Cuban and traditional Indian music. He has appeared on over 60 recordings, including with Felipe Salles’ Interconnections Ensemble (The Lullaby Project, The New Immigrant Experience), Klaus Spencker Trio, Imagine 5, Ian Ethan, and multimedia projects like “Othello in the Seraglio.”
Hear the Filipe Salles Quartet on Saturday, June 21, 7 p.m., at the Old Town Hall, 9 Main St., West Stockbridge, MA 01266. Tickets are available here.
