Cool Jazz, Hot Coffee at DCC on March 23
Release Date March 5, 2004

Dutchess Community College presents cool jazz, hot coffee, and refreshments in a night-club atmosphere on Tuesday, Tuesday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m. when Matt Finley’s Rio JAZZ gives its 17th annual performance for the DCC Lyceum Series. This free concert sponsored by DCC Student Activities will take place in the Drumlin Hall North Cafeteria at the main campus in Poughkeepsie. For information, contact the Office of Student Activities at (845) 431-8050 or visit www.riojazz.com

Rio JAZZ, the area’s foremost Brazilian jazz band, was formed by trumpeter, composer, and arranger Matt Finley in 1988. The band plays contemporary and cutting edge music of Brazil, jazz standards, and original compositions by Finley and other band members. Rio JAZZ performs at select locations during the year, always where there is free admission.

The band features Matt Finley on trumpet and soprano sax, Peter Tomlinson on piano, Jeff Ciampa on guitar, Peter MacEachern on trombone, Tomas Martin Lopez on Latin percussion, and Terry Silverlight on drums. Special guests include Denise Jordan Finley on vocals and Leo Traversa on bass.

A native New Yorker, Traversa is considered to be one of the today’s most proficient and versatile bass players. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of internationally known artists and in major festivals, concert halls and clubs throughout the world. A graduate of The Berklee College of Music in Boston, Traversa is well-known as a clinician and instructor. He is currently on the faculty at the Drummers Collective in New York City and is a founding and current faculty member of the Bass Collective. His recent highlights include performances with jamband legend Steve Kimock; a one month run with “Latin Heat” under the musical direction of salsa great Oscar Hernandez; tours and recording with percussion master Mino Cinelu; a week at the Village Vanguard with Don Byron’s “Six Musicians;” and performances at the Monterey Jazz Festival and throughout Europe.

Husband and wife Matt and Denise Jordan Finley - who will celebrate their 30th anniversary a week after the concert - combine for a rare joint musical appearance in Rio JAZZ on March 23. A contemporary singer-songwriter with an edgy voice, Denise Jordan Finley plays an unusual Rainsong, Acoustic Cutaway Orchestra Model graphite guitar that complements her style of open tunings, finger-picking, and powerful base lines. She has performed at venues throughout New York State, as well as in California and Virginia, and has had a longtime association with the Hudson Valley Folk Guild. Jordan Finley is also a theatrical performer of dramatic work, comedy, and musical comedy, as well as a director and writer. Her voice-over work spans radio, television, and industrial audio.

Matt Finley has worked with top jazz artists, including five years with Grammy award-winning baritone Saxophonist Nick Brignola of “L.A. Bound.” Finley was jazz trumpet soloist and arranger with the Albany Jazz Workshop. He has performed in the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the Troy Music Hall, the Colonie Coliseum, the Mid-Hudson Civic Center, the Last Chance, and the Bardavon Opera House.

Finley, who also plays Flugelhorn, saxophone, vibes, flute and the electronic wind controller, has performed professionally since he was 12 and played gigs with his older brother, also a professional trumpet player, at Lake George resorts. Finley has had a long association with DCC. He is a retired Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the College and remains an adjunct instructor in Computer Information Systems.

This year’s concert with electronic bass and keyboards will have a more funky sound than audiences have heard in the past, said Finley. He noted that Rio JAZZ concerts are a synergistic experience and exciting experience for the performers, who don’t rehearse together beforehand. The system works because all are professionals who share a musical language and have extensive experience working in the jazz idiom. “There are certain rules that all the musicians know,” said Finley, “chords, tunes, rhythms, and expectations. There’s a creativity within a framework that everyone understands. I can walk onto the bandstand with people I’ve never met, and most of the audience won’t know that. In the concert, you can sit back and close your eyes, but if you open your eyes, you can see a lot of nonverbal communication going on.”

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