$15 cover / $10 for students and seniors / 7:30 start / seated
The Jim Repa Nonet plays an eclectic mix of new jazz and Latin-jazz works composed or arranged by its members. Its repertoire runs from straight-ahead swingers and Latin influenced originals to new twists on familiar songs as well as unique compositions that defy categorization. The group features Jim Repa, Ed Harlow, and Kathy Olson on saxophones, clarinets and flutes; Mike Peipman and Phil Person on trumpet and flugelhorn; Bob Holfelder on trombone; Jonathan Fagan on piano; Greg Toro on bass; and Barry Lit on drums
The nonet’s leader, Jim Repa, plays alto and soprano saxophone and flute in the ensemble, and he has written many of the pieces that the group performs. A multi-reed player, composer, and educator, he has also written arrangements for several professional and student ensembles in the US and internationally, He has performed in numerous venues around New England, the Midwest, and New York; as well as Paris, France; Cape Town, South Africa; and Ojai, California. His website is www.jimrepa.com
Ed Harlow plays tenor saxophone and clarinet in the group. A saxophonist, composer and educator, he has toured the US, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, France and the Caribbean with groups such as The Glenn Miller Orchestra, The Artie Shaw Orchestra and Volo Volo de Boston. Ed has fifteen publications with Advance Music and has released three CDs as a leader.
Kathy Olson, who plays baritone sax and flute with the nonet, is a jazz saxophonist, teacher, and composer. She is a busy performer and an assistant professor at Berklee College of Music teaching theory classes in the Harmony Department. A co-leader of the Olson Pingrey Quartet, she also performs regularly with the Achilles Heal Saxophone Quartet, Pete Kenagy's Monkfish Jazz Orchestra, the Ayn Inserto Jazz Orchestra, and the Balkan brass group Conical Cacophony.
Mike Peipman plays trumpet with the nonet. Mike was born in Sydney, Australia, and moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music. Combining skills as a lead trumpet player and jazz soloist, he has performed with the Artie Shaw Orchestra, the Woody Herman Orchestra, George Russell's Living Time Orchestra, numerous ballet orchestras in the US and Asia, and jazz ensembles around the world. Mike can also be heard on the soundtracks for several movies.
Phil Person plays cornet and flugelhorn with the group. A Berklee faculty member since 2003, Phil spent twenty years as a member of the Artie Shaw Orchestra under the direction of Dick Johnson. Phil has performed with Al Grey, Dickie Wells, Tony Bennett, Kay Starr, Margaret Whiting, Lou Rawls and many others.
Bob Holfelder, trombonist with the nonet, is a versatile performer and a gifted composer and arranger. He has played with The O’Jays, The Temptations and The Funk Brothers as well as brass bands, big bands, blues bands, wedding bands, rock bands, orchestras, etc. His musical arrangements are in circulation all over the world.
Jonathan Fagan, who plays piano with the group, has been a prolific jazz pianist, composer, and educator, currently a faculty member at the Winchester Community Music School, Concord Academy, and Brandeis University. Jonathan performs as a theater pianist, pop accompanist, and soloist, and he composes for and leads a group called "The Ally Project," which lies at the intersection of Jazz and social justice-related poetry. Jonathan also founded the Medford Jazz Festival in 2020 and released his first solo recording in 2021.
Greg Toro, bass player with the nonet, was born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. At the age of ten, he joined a neighborhood steel band that played calypso and church music on weekends, and later took up guitar and piano, but found his true calling as a bass player when he was sixteen years old. Greg studied electric and upright bass and jazz composition at Berklee College of Music. He has gone on to travel the world with jazz and rock groups, and continues to perform nightly in a wide variety of styles.
Barry Lit, on drums, is a 40-year veteran of the Boston music scene. A regular at the Marketplace Café in the early 2000’s with legends Ray Green and Baron Browne, Barry studied percussion with Alan Dawson and Bob Gullotti, and later in the University of North Texas jazz program with Ed Soph and Quincy Davis. Barry’s a done-it-all drummer with experience as a band leader (The Touch, 15 years), in musical theater, on cruise ships, in clubs, concerts and studios, playing everything from rock to bebop.