Ellen Rowe’s All About the Trio

A Tribute to Cole Porter!

Sunday, March 5th at 2:00 pm

Ellen Rowe’s popular series, All About the Trio, returns to the House for A Tribute to Cole Porter!

“Everybody loves Cole Porter. But most jazz musicians really love Cole Porter. Singers love his lyrics, which contain great wit, amazing rhymes and beautiful imagery. Instrumentalists love his elegant melodies and sophisticated song structures. During the three decades of Porter’s greatest productivity — the late 1920s through the late ’50s — jazz musicians would latch on to the latest Porter songs from his Broadway shows or Hollywood musicals and turn them into jazz standards almost immediately. Jazz artists are still exploring Cole Porter today.” (NPR: Jazz Notes newsletter – Nick Morrison)

For their March installment, the Trio (Ellen Rowe, piano; Paul Keller, bass; and Pete Siers, drums) will perform some of Cole Porter’s most well-loved pieces, including “Love For Sale”, “Everything I Love”, “Begin the Beguine” and “I Love You”, discussing why jazz players have chosen so many of them to use as vehicles for improvisation.

Don’t miss another opportunity to be back in Kerrytown Concert House with Ann Arbor’s favorite jazz trio as they highlight Porter’s tremendous influence on the catalog of jazz standards!

Ellen Rowe, piano
Paul Keller, bass
Pete Siers, drums
Ellen Rowe, piano

Ellen Rowe, jazz pianist and composer, is currently Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Improvisation at the University of Michigan. She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, and previously served as Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Connecticut. Winner of the Hartford, CT Advocate Readers’ Poll for Best Acoustic Jazz, Ms. Rowe has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, South Africa, and Australia. CDs out under her own name include “Sylvan Way”, “Wishing Well”, “Denali Pass” and “Courage Music.”  Her latest project, “Momentum – Portraits of Women In Motion”, was released in January of 2019. When not leading her own trio, quartet or quintet, she is in demand as a sideman, having performed with a wide variety of jazz artists. Ms. Rowe’s compositions and arrangements have been performed and recorded by jazz ensembles and orchestras around the world, and she was recently a composer-in-residence at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.  She is on the Board of the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers and also serves as the Coordinator for the JEN Sisters In Jazz Collegiate Combo Competition, in addition to being an in-demand clinician.

Paul Keller, bass

String bassist Paul Keller is a Michigan jazz hero; he loves his life in Saline, MI where he lives with his wife and two kids and performs locally, in Detroit, and across his home state of Michigan. Paul wear many jazz hats: He leads several successful and busy jazz ensembles including his big band The Paul Keller Orchestra; he’s an in-demand side man, a prolific composer, a creative and skilled arranger, an enthusiastic and innovative jazz educator, a recording company owner and producer, and a nationally recognized recording artist. Paul can be heard every week at his home base – Zal Gaz Grotto in Ann Arbor (on Mondays with his PKO big band and on Tuesdays with the Easy Street Jazz Band). Keller spent several years on the road with guitarist Russell Malone and later with singer/pianist Diana Krall. Together with Russell and Diana, Paul recorded Diana’s Grammy-nominated All For You. These days, Paul performs frequently with guitarist/singer and jazz super-star John Pizzarelli – they just toured Brazil for a week. Paul travels the world to play special concerts and festivals with a myriad of jazz stars including Jackie Ryan, Scott Hamilton, Larry Vuckovich, Benny Green, and Warren and Alan Vache.

Pete Siers, drums

Like Clark Kent, jazz percussionist Pete Siers is soft-spoken and unassuming – but put him behind a drum set, and a hard-swinging, intensely physical, dynamically sensitive drummer emerges.  According to the Southeastern Michigan Jazz Association, when Pete plays, “readily apparent musical joy” can be expected. Paul Pearce of Bass World magazine writes that “Pete absolutely ‘sings’ with his drum kit.”

Siers has played with jazz luminaries such as Russell Malone, Mulgrew Miller, Marian McPartland, Lee Konitz, Benny Golson, James Moody, Kenny Werner, David “Fathead” Newman, Eddie Daniels, Frank Morgan, Scott Hamilton, Bob Wilber, and Barry Harris.  In addition to his expansive performance career, Siers has played on over 50 recordings.

Pete has taught percussion and jazz drumming for over 25 years, teaching privately, as well as at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor School for Performing Arts, Emory University, Purdue University and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.

COVID-19 Safety Policy for Indoor Concerts

• Masks are strongly encouraged and available as needed.
• Please do not attend a performance if you are feeling ill or have any symptoms of COVID-19.