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Enjoy
the Bio on the Bernal, Eckroth, Ennis Trio
Natalia
Bernal
Chilean
born vocalist Natalia Bernal hails from Iquique, a city
nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Atacama
Desert. Now based in New York City, her sound retains and
embodies the drama and intensity of the natural
surroundings of her homeland. Her early musical training
was informal, yet rich; she learned Latin American
folkloric songs from her father, great tangos from her
Uruguayan mother and grandmother, and assimilated styles
of "Música Popular" from Chile, Argentina, Cuba, Peru
and Brazil. As her music evolved, she taught herself
classics of the great American song book and modeled
herself after singers like Barbara Streisand and Shirley
Bassey to deepen an already broad vocal palette.
Natalia
studied at Escuela Morderna de Música in Santiago before
leaving Chile for Boston to continue her studies at
Berklee College of Music. While at Berklee, Bernal
spearheaded and co-produced the vibrant "Latin Culture
Celebration" concert series and performed with some of
the leading figures on the Jazz and Latin scene such as
Danilo Perez, Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Juan Luis Guerra,
Ruben Blades, Gloria Estefan, Paquito D'Rivera, Oscar
Stagnaro, Mark Walker and Francisco Mela. Since moving
to New York City, she has attracted the attention of
musicians and fans alike with her rich, expressive voice
as well as her strikingly lyrical songwriting. She
performs regularly as a member of the Mary Ann McSweeney
Group, The Layla Angulo Band and many others.
May of
2010 saw the release of La Voz de Tres, the debut CD of
Bernal/Eckroth/
Ennis (www.bernaleckrothennis.com),
a trio she co-leads with pianist Mike Eckroth and
guitarist Jason Ennis. The
recording includes four Bernal originals as well as
songs from Brazil, Cuba, the Andes plains and the United
States, seamlessly bridging styles between North and
South America. For more information and a current
listing of upcoming performances, please visit
www.myspace.com/nataliabernalmusic
Mike
Eckroth
Michael
Eckroth, pianist and keyboardist, is a native of Phoenix
Arizona and currently
Resides in Brooklyn NY.
Within
the past two years Michael has toured extensively with
the John Scofield new quartet featuring alternately Greg
Hutchinson and Bill Stewart on drums and Ben Street on
Bass. This group has played in most of the major club
venues in the United Sates as well as numerous venues
and festivals in over 20 countries. He has also appeared
on NPR radio and in a French-produced DVD in live
performances with Scofield’s quartet.
Michael
is also currently working on his PhD at NYU and leads/co
leads a variety of
groups. Recent audio/DVD
recordings include Mike Eckroth Group "Sombrío",
Bernal.Eckroth.Ennis "La Voz
De Tres", Ron McClure Quartet "Crunch Time", Travis
Sullivan Quartet "New Directions", Greg Diamond "Shift",
a live DVD filmed in Brazil with Paul McCandless and
Alieksey Vianna, an experimental Hammond organ record
and a soon to be released album with Eliot Zigmund,
Chris Cheek and Morrie Louden. His upcoming recording
project is a descarga/traditional Cuban album featuring
NY Latin heavies.
In
recent years, Michael has performed at the Jazz al
Parque Festivals in Colombia,
The Havana international Jazz
Festival in Cuba, the Savassi Jazz festival in Brazil,
the
Lagos
Jazz series in Nigeria and many other major events.
Currently the group "La VozDe Tres" is preparing for a
west coast U.S. tour.
Jason Ennis
New York
City-based Guitarist Jason Ennis is an exciting
up-and-coming voice in the world of Jazz guitar. His
unique sound, deep groove and sensitive feel, along with
adverse 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), The
Sonya Kitchell Band (Velour Music, Starbucks Hear
Music), Todd Reynolds (Bang on a Can, Steve Reich),
actor and musician Joe Morton, The Ramón Angel-Rey Trio,
New Orleans vocalist Samirah Evans and her Handsome
Devils, Freddie Bryant, Trio Jota Sete and Bernal/Eckroth/Ennis,
a trio he co-leads with vocalist Natalia Bernal and
Pianist Mike Eckroth. This trio released its debut CD,
La Voz de Tres, in May 2010.
Ennis
recently finished a project editing and transcribing a
collection of solo guitar arrangements by his friend and
Mentor, Gene Bertoncini, which will be published in
early 2012 by Hal Leonard Publishing. Following the
release of La Voz de Tres, his first recording as a
leader, he has begun work on a recording of his trio,
Trio Jota Sete, as well as a recording of his own solo
arrangements of Jazz and Brazilian classics. Jason
teaches guitar privately and is a faculty member at
Interplay Jazz in Woodstock, Vermont. For more
information and a current listing of upcoming
performances, please visit
www.jasonennis.com
"…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)
"A
fantastic Guitarist… check him out!" -Jazz vocal legend
Sheila Jordan
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