Since the middle of March, when the entire jazz and music scene shut down, there has been one individual not sitting idle. Donny Frauenhofer, one of our rising stars and leaders in the community, began Thursday Evening and JazzBrunch Sundays with his partner, Ellen Pieroni. Ellen is another rising star jazz musician and community leader as well.
You put these two together and the spirit of collaboration happens. JazzBuffalo has been partnering with their efforts in terms of promoting and putting up the media on JazzBuffalo.org.
If you have not had the chance to catch them, as The DUO+, on Facebook Live or on JazzBuffalo.org for their live streams, you can tune in on Thursdays at 7:00 pm and Sundays at 11:00 am.
It is not the only response they have had to where we find ourselves in this ongoing pandemic. Realizing that there is little light at the end of the tunnel in terms of the opening up of live concerts and jazz clubs anytime soon, Frauenhofer got busy.
Donny, as well as Ellen, have worked extensively in their own initiatives and with many other local musicians carving out a music career. Expanding the boundaries of jazz into a range that includes tributes to Herbie Hancock, tackling the eccentricities of Frank Zappa, and somewhere in-between giving us the sounds of jazz fusion with their band, The TRUTH.
Of late, Donny, along with Ellen, has been reaching out to the likes of guitarist Adam Bronstein, bassist James Bender, guitarist Zak Beutel, and drummer Joe Goretti to explore collaborative video making. Synching up digitally to make music.
And, make music they did! And, make videos they did!
Here in this JazzBuffalo Takeout Music edition, we get to see and hear what they’ve been working on. Do enjoy the resourcefulness and creativity of our next generation jazz artists:
“Fastest Fascist”
Composed by Adam Bronstein
Arranged by Adam Bronstein & Donny Frauenhofer
Adam Bronstein Music – electric guitar
Ellen Pieroni – alto saxophone
Donny Frauenhofer – electric piano
James Benders – electric bass
Joe Goretti – drums
“Cantaloupe Island” (Cover)
Composed by Herbie Hancock
Zak Beutel – bass/drums/guitar/mixing/video editing
Ellen Pieroni – alto saxophone/flute
Donny Frauenhofer – keyboards
“Such Great Heights” (Cover)
Composed by Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello
Ellen Pieroni – saxophone
Joe Goretti – drums
Donny Frauenhofer – keyboards/key bass/vocoder/arrangement
(You can support their creativity by following them on Facebook, where they have information on how to support and donate to their efforts.)
