THE HAYLOFT JAZZ SUPPER CLUB
at the Carriage House Café
Presents GARY VERSACE

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10th: The Hayloft Jazz Supper Club at the Carriage House Café in Ithaca, New York, presents special guest artist GARY VERSACE on Hammond B3 organ, with Mike Titlebaum on saxophone, and Greg Evans on drums.

Now beginning its third season, this monthly event offers a unique and intimate Ithaca evening, where jazz lovers can dine in a relaxed yet elegant atmosphere, while listening to top improvisational jazz musicians from all over New York State and the U.S. Held near Cornell University in Ithaca’s lower Collegetown neighborhood, The Hayloft Jazz Supper Club concert series is hosted by the historic and beautifully restored Carriage House Café.

This dinner and concert package is priced at $37, and includes the performance, a dinner entrée (choose from three), and a choice of wine, beer, coffee, or tea. An 18% gratuity is added to all dinner tickets. A student I.D. discount package is available for $32, and a limited number of “Concert only” tickets are also available for $18 (includes one drink). Doors open at 7:30pm, and the concert begins at 8:00pm. Dinner orders are taken shortly before and after music begins.

Reservations for the dinner can be made by visiting the Carriage House Cafe at 305 Stewart Ave. or by calling 607-645-0152. For more information, please visit http://carriagehousecafe.com/events . The Carriage House Café is located at the Intersection of Buffalo St. and Stewart Ave. in Ithaca, New York, adjacent to Cornell University and the Collegetown neighborhood. Directions and maps available on our website at http://carriagehousecafe.com/location.

Coordinated by Paul Merrill, Gussman Director of Jazz Ensembles at Cornell University, this monthly event features a different world-renowned guest jazz musician each month. Our featured artists have included: jazz guitarist John Stowell, vocalist Nancy Kelly, trombonist Andrew Williams, saxophonists Adam Niewood, Joe Carello, and Bob Keller, and trumpeters Clay Jenkins, Walter White, and Joe Magnarelli. Additionally the regulars at The Hayloft include John Stetch on piano, Nicholas Walker on bass, Steve Brown on guitar, and Tom Killian on drums.

GARY VERSACE
Since basing himself out of New York City in June of 2002, jazz organist, pianist, and accordionist Gary Versace has quickly become one of the busiest and most versatile musicians on the scene, often featured in bands led by musicians such as John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Maria Schneider, Matt Wilson, Lee Konitz, Eliot Zigmund, Scott Wendholt, Joe Magnarelli, Danny Gottlieb, Seamus Blake, John Hollenbeck, Andy LaVerne, Adam Nussbaum, Brad Shepik, Ingrid Jensen, Tim Ries and many others.

Versace was voted a “Rising Star” on the Hammond organ in the last three Downbeat critic polls, and was the subject of a feature article in the July 2004 issue of Keyboard magazine. Versace has been featured as a soloist on several critically acclaimed recordings of recent years: accordionist on the Maria Schneider Grammy-winning recordings, “Concert in the Garden,” and “Sky Blue,” and as the pianist on John Hollenbeck’s Grammy-nominated large ensemble recording, “A Blessing.”

Over the past five years, Versace has been featured as a leader on the Criss Cross and SteepleChase labels, and as a sideman on over 50 recordings with artists on various labels, including Palmetto, ACT, Omnitone, Songlines, Pirouet, High Note, Justin Time, ArtistShare, Fresh Sound, Kind of Blue, and many others.

As a pianist, Versace performed in a two-piano recital with Marian McPartland, and in April of 1999 appeared on her acclaimed National Public Radio program, “Piano Jazz.” McPartland has called him “...endlessly inventive. [Versace] really has an extraordinary talent.”

Gary Versace has a masters degree in music performance from Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, and spent eight years as a tenured associate professor in the jazz studies department at the University of Oregon. He remains active as a clinician and guest soloist both nationally and around the world.