Alasdair Fraser & Friends are hosting The Freight’s annual fiddle summit this year, featuring Hot Club of San Francisco, Pine Tree Flyers, and Nic Gareiss.
Alasdair Fraser is a renowned Scottish fiddler, composer, and educator. He began classical violin lessons at the age of eight, influenced by his family's musical background. In his teens, Fraser played with dance bands and delved into the works of historic Scottish fiddlers such as Niel and Nathaniel Gow, William Marshall, and James Scott Skinner, building a vast repertoire. Recognized as one of Scotland's premier fiddlers, Fraser was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2011. He continues to inspire audiences worldwide with his expressive playing and dedication to preserving and evolving Scottish fiddle music.
The Hot Club of San Francisco borrows the instrumentation of violin, bass, and guitars from the original Hot Club while breathing new life into the music with innovative arrangements of classic tunes and original compositions from the group’s superb lead guitarist, Paul Mehling. This ensemble of accomplished and versatile musicians celebrates the music of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s pioneering Quintette du Hot Club de France. Featuring the silken violin of twice Grammy award-winning Evan Price, the velvet vocals of Isabelle Fontaine, and a swinging rhythm section, the group never fails to surprise and delight. To hear the ensemble live or on any of their fourteen albums is to be carried back to the tight, smoky jazz clubs of 1930s Paris and to the refined lounge of the famous Hotel Ritz. Often called Gypsy jazz, the music of the Hot Club of San Francisco has entranced audiences around the globe for over twenty-five years. Acoustic Guitar has hailed the group’s playing as “intricate, scorching and often brilliant.” With frequent national and international tours—from Iceland to Lincoln Center and the Monterey Jazz Festival—the Hot Club of San Francisco keeps this historic music fresh and alive.
Four of the finest voices in New England's traditional music scene, Pine Tree Flyers shine a renewed light on the tunes of the Northeast with excitement and respect. From festival stages and concert halls to raucous August nights at fiddle camp, the Flyers are here to make sure New England music has a seat at the table as a distinct and vital American tradition. All residents of the great state of Maine, Katie McNally (fiddle), Emily Troll (accordion), Benjamin Foss (guitar), and Neil Pearlman (piano) cut their teeth playing for contra dances and learning from the greats. Individually, they've toured the world playing Irish, Scottish, and Quebecois music and they bring this wellspring of knowledge and technical prowess to the American music that was born from these traditions. Each member of the band brings years of experience and dedication to their craft: Foss and Pearlman have taught at Maine Fiddle Camp since they were teens, Troll plays in the acclaimed contra dance band Anadama, and McNally performed for over a decade with New England supergroup Childsplay. The Flyers have toured internationally and domestically, gracing the stages of festivals such as Celtic Connections, Celtic Colours, Festival of Small Halls, Ossipee Valley Music Festival and playing concerts and dances across the Northeast. They released their self-titled album in May 2024 and appear on the Celtic Colours Live, Vol. 10; both recordings feature founding band member Owen Marshall on guitar.
One of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” Nic Gareiss (he/they) is swiftly becoming recognized for his singular voice in the realm of dance, music, and the traditional arts. Informed by 25 years of ethnographic study and performance, Gareiss’ work draws from many percussive dance practices to weave together a technique facilitating his love of improvisation; clog, flatfoot, and step dance vocabulary; and musical collaboration. He has concertized in sixteen countries with many of the luminaries of roots music and folk dance including Alasdair Fraser, Natalie Haas, Bruce Molsky, The Chieftains, Colin Dunne, Darol Anger, The Gloaming, Ira Bernstein, Liz Carroll, Phil Wiggins, and Sandy Silva. Gareiss has performed at London’s Barbican Centre, the Irish National Concert Hall, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Kennedy Center. In addition to his two solo shows The Art of Treepling and Solo Square Dance, Nic collaborates in duo projects with Allison de Groot, Caleb Teicher, Cleek Schrey, Jake Blount, Laurel Premo, Maeve Gilchrist, Alexis Chartrand, Jack Devereux, Simon Chrisman, Ultan O’Brien, and as a member of the quartet This is How we Fly.
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