Piano Party! Celebrate JamBase’s 25th Anniversary With Holly Bowling

JamBase’s 25th Anniversary Quadranscentennial Silver Jubilee celebration starts this week with four nights of outstanding music in the Boston area. Join JamBase this Saturday, August 19 for a triple-header at Soundcheck Studios in Pembroke that will get going with an opening set from pianist Holly Bowling.

Saturday’s lineup also includes a performance by guitarist Ron Artis II and a headlining appearance by the Jennifer Hartswick Band. JamBase is thrilled to be joined by these artists in celebrating our 25 years of shared history. Click here for tickets.

Pianist Holly Bowling and JamBase have been connecting for several years, often surrounding anniversaries and other significant milestones. Back in 2015, JamBase celebrated another anniversary as part of the lead-up to the “Fare Thee Well” Grateful Dead 50th anniversary concerts. Our Songs Of Their Own series featured 50 covers of Grateful Dead originals and Bowling was one of the many participating musicians.

Bowling’s Songs Of Their Own contribution was a gorgeous, instrumental arrangement of “Eyes Of The World,” the song whose lyrics inspired the title of the series. Bowling’s performance was recorded at the Cadillac Hotel in San Francisco, which was home to Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia in 1961.

At the hotel, Bowling played the Patricia Walkup Memorial Piano which is “a fully-restored 1884 Steinway Model D Concert Grand Piano, [that] was donated to the hotel in memory of Patricia Walkup, a San Francisco activist and former volunteer at the Cadillac. The luster of the Indian Rosewood case is a work of art. The old- growth spruce soundboard is the piano’s original. The instrument is meticulously maintained on a regular basis.”

Holly did not just cover “Eyes Of The World,” she transcribed note-for-note the jam that came out of The Dead’s June 18, 1974 version of “Eyes” from Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. Watch the innovative performance below:

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Prior to covering “Eyes Of The World,” Bowling primarily focused on reinterpreting the music of Phish, but after Songs Of Their Own, Bowling continued making more Grateful Dead songs her own. A full album of Bowling’s solo piano arrangements of Grateful Dead songs, Better Left Unsung was released in 2016. Among the songs on that album was her take on “Cassidy,” which she can be seen performing below:

Watch “Cassidy” here:

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Bowling was also part of JamBase’s Twenty Years Later series celebrating a number of influential albums released in 1996. One of those celebrated albums was Ani DiFranco’s Dilate and Bowling provided her take on the record’s title track. Watch Bowling perform “Dilate” below:

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As mentioned, Bowling came onto the scene with noteworthy covers of Phish songs arranged for solo piano. An example of Holly taking on Phish is her performance of “Waves” for JamBase’s Yakima Pop-Up Stage video series presenting original performances from some of our favorite artists in unique locations. Here’s how Bowling’s recording of “Waves” came together:

A warm sunny afternoon near the water provided an ideal setting for Holly to set up a piano outdoors on a bluff overlooking the Richmond Bridge spanning the San Francisco Bay. As gentle breakers crashed gently on the nearby beach, Bowling offered an instrumental solo piano arrangement of Phish’s “Waves.” She followed the bayside performance with a bonus mobile session for lucky listeners along the streets of the city.”

Watch Holly’s “Waves” performance below:

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Along with “Waves,” while Bowling was overlooking the San Francisco Bay, she also played “Terrapin Station” as part of JamBase’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the release of the landmark Grateful Dead album Terrapin Station. For the “Terrapin Station Medley,” several of JamBase’s favorite artists recorded the seven parts of the suite at various locations, which were pieced together into a single seamless performance.

Along with Holly overlooking the bay, the recording featured Railroad Earth, moe., Stanley Jordan, Strangefolk, Moonalice, The Mountain Goats, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Jake Peavy, Poor Man’s Whiskey, Grahame Lesh & Kirby Lee Hammel, Eric DiBerardino and others. View that collaborative effort below:

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JamBase’s 25th Anniversary weekend of live music kicks off this Thursday, August 17 with the BT ALC Big Band, who will be joined by Jennifer Hartswick and many others at Sally O’Brien’s in Somerville. Tickets for the Thursday night kickoff will be available exclusively at the door.

The party continues this Friday, August 18 with local favorites Club d’Elf at Boston Harbor Distillery. Arrive early so you don’t miss a special set by Jennifer Hartswick and Nick Cassarino.

Following Saturday’s show Jennifer Hartswick Band, Ron Artis II and Holly Bowling, a sold-out Umphrey’s McGee concert at Soundcheck Studios this Sunday, August 20 rounds out JamBase’s 25th Anniversary Quadranscentennial Silver Jubilee. Tickets remain for the other three celebratory concerts.

Purchase JamBase’s 25th Anniversary Quadranscentennial Silver Jubilee Tickets

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Source: JamBase.com