The George Cotsirilos Quartet, featuring George Cotsirilos on guitar, Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass and Ron Marabuto on drums, celebrates the release of their widely-acclaimed CD Mostly In Blue with this performance at The Back Room.
Mostly In Blue has spent weeks among the top 25 CD’s on the National Jazz charts, accompanied by excellent reviews:
“Four stars. A pleasure.” — Howard Mandel, Downbeat
“With his perfectly round solo and chordal tone, Cotsirilos weaves a tight, swinging fabric...bop, beautifully performed...sounds like it is straight out of Blue Note in the 60s, but all tracks are original, and there isn't a dull track amongst them. — Tom McCarter, KZSU 90.1...
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The George Cotsirilos Quartet, featuring George Cotsirilos on guitar, Keith Saunders on piano, Robb Fisher on bass and Ron Marabuto on drums, celebrates the release of their widely-acclaimed CD Mostly In Blue with this performance at The Back Room.
Mostly In Blue has spent weeks among the top 25 CD’s on the National Jazz charts, accompanied by excellent reviews:
“Four stars. A pleasure.” — Howard Mandel, Downbeat
“With his perfectly round solo and chordal tone, Cotsirilos weaves a tight, swinging fabric...bop, beautifully performed...sounds like it is straight out of Blue Note in the 60s, but all tracks are original, and there isn't a dull track amongst them. — Tom McCarter, KZSU 90.1
“After three acclaimed trio albums since 2006 with bassist Robb Fisher and drummer Ron Marabuto, they hooked up with pianist Keith Saunders. The results are astounding.” — Miles Jordan, Chico News & Review
The quartet performs primarily original modern jazz compositions along with some gems from the jazz canon. It includes:
George Cotsirilos: Guitar
"George Cotsirilos' meticulous and tasteful guitar work is marked by remarkably subtle shifts in accents, and minute changes in expression and dynamics. He displays an impeccable sense of timing especially in revealing the hidden rhythms of complex melodies. His approach to harmony is whimsical, but patently beautiful at all times." — Raul D'Gama Rose, All About Jazz
Originally from Chicago, Cotsirilos has been a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Jazz community for many years and has performed with a wide variety of artists, from San Francisco jazz fixtures like Eddie Marshall, Mel Martin, Pharaoh Sanders and Mark Levine to internationally-recognized Blues singer Etta James, Bill Evans' bassist Chuck Israels, and the jazz/soul vocal group The Whispers. He has recorded six prior CD’s as a leader and he co-led the San Francisco Nighthawks with venerated drummer Eddie Marshall, bassist Robb Fisher and pianist Paul Nagel, who recorded for Monarch Records. His three prior trio CD’s on OA2/Origin Records with current quartet members Robb Fisher and Ron Marabuto received wide, critical acclaim (“Sublimely fluid jazz guitar skills...this is about as tight a jazz trio as you'll ever be lucky enough to hear with eloquent bass lines and delicately nuanced percussion.” — David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle). Cotsirilos’s most recent trio CD, Variations, was chosen by erstwhile Washington Post jazz critic and Jazztimes editor, Royal Stokes, as one of the most notable jazz instrumental CD’s of 2013.
Keith Saunders: Piano
Keith Saunders spent his formative years in Los Angeles where he studied with Charlie Shoemake and later, with Horace Silver. He worked extensively in L.A. with such well-known artists as Eddie Harris, Roy McCurdy, and Bill Watrous, then moved to New York City in 1984
where he worked and/or recorded with a wide variety of musicians, including Richie Cole, Frank Wess, Ralph Lalama, Joe Lovano, Hank Crawford, and Mickey Roker. In 1991, Keith became the leader of The NY HardBop Quintet, which had begun as a cooperative unit. As such, he wrote and arranged music recorded by The HBQ for the TCB Montreux Jazz label, as well as numerous television spots including promotions for VH1 and ESPN. Now residing in the East Bay, he is one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most in-demand jazz pianists.
Robb Fisher: Bass
For over six years, bassist Robb Fisher toured and recorded with the legendary Cal Tjader, anchoring Cal’s Grammy Award-winning album, La Onda Va Bien, and Grammy-nominated album, Gozame Pero Ya. He has also worked extensively and recorded with such Jazz and Latin luminaries as Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Carmen McCrae, Tania Maria, Clare Fischer, and Rob Schneidermann. Additional recordings on which he can be heard include San Francisco Nighthawks, featuring Eddie Marshall, on Monarch Records, Jeff Pittson’s Invisible Love as well as On The Rebop, Past Present, and Variations by the George Cotsirilos Trio, all on OA2/Origin Records.
Ron Marabuto: Drums
One of the San Francisco Jazz community’s most highly-regarded drummers, Ron Marabuto has resided in both San Francisco and New York and has worked with a long list of jazz luminaries, including Pepper Adams, Roland Hanna, Tommy Flanagan, Steve Grossman, Ray Drummond, Rufus Reid, Mark Levine, Bruce Foreman, Buddy Montgomery, Rob Schneiderman, and Warren Gale, among many others. A San Francisco Area native, he is the son of noted jazz pianist John Marabuto and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. He can be heard on a wide variety of recordings, included all three CD’s on OA2/Origin Records by the George Cotsirilos Trio.
Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Advance tickets are available at the link below, or you may purchase your tickets at the door the night of the show. Doors open one half hour before show time. We accept cash only at the door (ATMs are nearby).
The Back Room is an all-ages, BYOB (for those 21+) space, dedicated to (mostly) acoustic music of all kinds. You are welcome to bring your own adult beverage with no additional corkage fee. If you need more information or have any questions, please call us: #510-654-3808. Thank you for your support!
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