BRATTLEBORO — The Open Music Collaborative presents the Melissa Shetler Quartet, with special guest John Stowell, on Friday Sept. 18, at 7 p.m., at the Hooker-Dunham Theater.
A chance meeting brings together Shetler and Stowell, with Jamie MacDonald on bass and Claire Arenius on drums.
The music will be rooted in the Great American Songbook, with possible surprises.
Shetler grew up surrounded by music: hearing her father play along with Lester Young, singing “Walking On Sunshine” with her mother's rock band, listening to her grandfather practice the cello, and spending long Sunday afternoons taping Casey Kasem's Top 100. In her 20s, she fell in love with jazz and moved to New York.
She has been performing ever since in various configurations-from duos and trios to fronting a big band. She has sung with some of the great jazz artists, such as Jeremy Pelt and Mundell Lowe, at renowned venues like Smoke, The Jazz Standard, and the Lenox Lounge.
John Stowell began his career in the early 1970's with private study with guitarist Linc Chamberland and pianist John Mehegan. Both men were valuable mentors, allowing him to play with them as he progressed in his development. Several years later, he met bassist David Friesen in New York City, and they formed a duo that continues to perform 30 years after their first meeting.
MacDonald is the founder and artistic director of the Open Music Collective in Brattleboro, and the director of jazz at The Putney School. He has performed in concert with James Williams, Shiela Jordan, and Satoshi Takeishi, as well as recordings with Mitch Seidman, Jill Connolly, and Barbara Ween.
Arenius is a drummer, composer, and educator, who performs with her own jazz trio, freelances with many top name jazz artists, and is a jazz educator at colleges and a clinician.