George Foley Trio Pianist extraordinaire brings trio back to Akron with his early 20th century repertoire and stylized vocal flair! Featuring Gene Epstein & Bill Fuller.

Pianist George Foley’s virtuosity, warmth and humor have endeared him to audiences for over thirty years. His wide-ranging repertoire includes jazz, rags and other gems from the ragtime era, standards from the teens, 20’s and 30’s, swing tunes, blues, short 20th century classical pieces and occasional forays into modern jazz and movie themes. George also sings in a style reminiscent of Fats Waller, Jack Teagarden and Mildred Bailey.
 
George is in great demand as a soloist, with his own band and as a featured member of other bands. He appears weekly as a soloist at Bon Vivant on Thursdays and Sunday brunch and at the Barking Spider and Nighttown on Fridays. On Mondays, George Foley and Gene Epstein hold forth at the Tavern Company in Cleveland Heights. A number of musical friends can always be expected to appear and participate. George also plays piano with the Night Owls and keyboard with the Travelin’ Man band.
 
George’s ability to swing and improvise contribute to the intensity and drive of his performances. Audiences never fail to have a good time! Join us at BLU Jazz+ for a throwback-themed night of swingin’ live jazz, get your tickets today!
 

About George Foley

Born in 1958, George Foley started playing ragtime at the age of 13. He received most of his musical education at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, where he studied piano, theory, composition and jazz improvisation.
 
George attend the College of Wooster in Wooster Ohio, where he hosted a weekly ragtime radio show and played piano for the Wooster Jazz Ensemble.
 
He was awarded the Charles V. Rychlik Composition Award by the Cleveland Music School Settlement for his “Chinatown Rag” in 1974.
 
He released his first album “Cleveland Rag” on Century-Advent Records in 1977. It was re-issued on the Jazzology label in 1980.
 

About Gene Epstein

Gene is a much-in-demand bass player on the Cleveland early jazz scene—a mainstay in such groups as George Foley & Friends (you can hear her on Monday evenings holding court at the Tavern Co.), The Nostalgia Factor, where she holds down the bass chair, and her own Gene’s Jazz Hot—an early jazz ensemble patterned after swing bands such as the Hot Club de France.
 

About Bill Fuller

Bill is a rarity among today’s drummers: an artist whose craft was built and polished around the rhythms and timbral language of early jazz and swing ensembles. In addition to Eric Seddon’s Hot Club, he plays regularly with George Foley and Gene’s Jazz Hot, at top venues all around Northeast Ohio. A mainstay on the Cleveland scene for decades, his drumming is unique for its warmth and sensitivity to ensemble—key characteristics for traditional New Orleans jazz.

$12