MAINSTAY - First Friday with Joe Holt - featuring The SHOLBERTSHIRES
Joe Holt, impresario and accompanist for The Mainstay’s First Friday programs excels in arranging programs that mostly tap his rich history of jazz associates. For his October 6th show, Joe welcomes three of the mid-Atlantic’s favorite jazz personalities – Amy Shook on acoustic upright bass, Steve Silbert on tenor sax, Steve Abshire on guitar, with Joe on the piano. The group plays together throughout the region several times a year under the name the Sholbertshires (a loosely formed acronym of the players’ last names). When Joe Holt was recently asked to describe the style of music they perform, he replied “All swinging, all the time.” In its initial appearances they drew attention to the exciting influences of the Oscar Peterson Trio with Stan Getz on sax, as well as the great big bands led by Count Basie and Duke Ellington . But their current playlist, while still paying tribute to the giant icons of swing music, may also offer their own reinterpretations of pop music classics by Stevie Wonder, Elton John, the Beatles, and even the Beach Boys.