The trio, composed of Hanna Richardson,
Tom Bronzetti and Phil Flanigan, makes its public debut on Saturday,
Nov. 14, at the Westcott Community Center. The show is part of the
Second Saturday concert series sponsored by the Folkus Project.
Richardson and Flanigan, internationally renowned jazz musicians, have
been married since 2001 after playing music together nearly their
entire lives. Bronzetti’s involvement in Tenor Madness came as a result
of Richardson wanting to learn the unusual instrument.
“This new venture starts with me wanting
to play the tenor guitar," says Richardson. "That’s what set this whole
thing in motion.” Richardson's singing has been mentioned on allabout
jazz.com in a list that includes “20-year-old single-malt scotch, Debra
Winger’s grin {and} farmhouses by the sea.” Her style is at once cool,
casual, smart and sassy. It perfectly complements the swinging jazz
standards of the Depression era.
Swing, swing, swing: Phil Flanigan, Hanna Richardson and Tom Bronzetti are Tenor Madness, debuting Saturday at the Westcott Community Center. John Dowling Photo
“To me, the 1930s was the decade
of this kind of music,” she says. “So much was going on. Something was
happening to popular music in the 1930s that was really important; it
was becoming more hip and sophisticated. It was this incredible decade
of explosive creativity. I defy any American to listen to this and not
like it. But the big secret is,” she adds, dropping her voice, “it’s
jazz. But we call it swinging American music.”
Richardson will wrap her polished pipes
around songs made popular by the likes of Rosemary Clooney, Mildred
Bailey, Billie Holliday and Maxine Sullivan, “one of my many
influences,” she says about the latter artist. “I’ll be singing most of
the set list, but there are a couple of instrumentals to break things
up and give the guys a chance to do their thing. They’re both
incredible soloists. I’m supporting them in their amazingness.”
Of course, Bronzetti and Flanigan will
be supporting her as well. Flanigan has played swinging jazz on his
stand-up bass his entire career, at times with Benny Goodman in the
latter decades of the big band great’s life and with Tiny Grimes, a
disciple of tenor guitar. Bronzetti has played guitar for years, but
hadn’t really encountered a tenor version until Richardson asked him
for lessons.
“Phil showed me what he could,” she
says, “he’s very able. But I got to a certain point where I thought I’d
ask an actual guitar player to show me stuff. So I recruited Tom, who
we’ve heard a lot playing locally, and I ended up lending him one of my
tenor guitars so he could understand this strange new beast he was
going to give me lessons on. He’s now playing that most of the time,
even when he’s hired as a guitarist.”
At this point in their musical careers,
Richardson and Flanigan, who met in elementary school while growing up
in Geneva, embrace nearly any opportunity to experiment and perform.
She has a vocation—associate deputy director of the honors program in
the College of Arts and Sciences at Syracuse University—so the music
gigs serve as her avocation.
“We are just having so much fun, the
three of us, playing tenor guitar and bass,” she notes. “How cool is it
that there are two tenor guitars? After years of obscurity the
instrument is enjoying a bit of a renaissance although it’s still a
little unusual. We made a commitment to this maybe five months ago so
we’re still in the process of discovering songs that we want to do as
Tenor Madness.
“We definitely have plans,” she
continues of the trio. “We are hoping it’s as much fun for folks to
listen to as it is for us to produce. It’s been a long time since I’ve
been in a band with a name. It’s fun to be in a band; it’s a change for
Phil and me. You have a clearer identity that’s easier to promote.
Here’s the picture, here’s the group, here’s the story. That’s very
different from individual bios.”
To witness the resurrection of an
unusual musical instrument, as well as the newest incarnation in the
musical careers of Richardson and Flanigan, head to the Westcott
Community Center, 826 Euclid Ave., on Saturday, Nov. 14. The show
starts at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $15, $10 for students with ID. For more
information, call 478-8634.
