Lon Ephraim ~ guitar, vocals
Vinny Norman ~ woodwinds and keys
Tom Baldwin ~ bass
Tony Martucci* ~ percussion
Polvo & Scree is a distinctive and versatile quartet featuring original songs and instrumentals as well as intricate arrangements of Latin and American songbook standards by guitarist and singer, Lon Ephraim. The instrumentation centers around nylon string or electric guitar and a hybrid configuration of hand percussion rounded out by upright bass, keyboard and a variety of woodwinds.
Beside Lon, the players include renowned world percussionist Steve Bloom, bassist Tom Baldwin, a Thelonious Monk competition finalist and professor at UMBC and former lead sax player and arranger for the Army’s Jazz Ambassadors, Vinny Norman. With all of the members having played a wide range of musical styles as well as being accomplished soloists, composers and arrangers, Polvo & Scree’s music is at turns intimate, surprising and exciting.
Guitarist and vocalist Lon Ephraim has recorded in studios from L.A. to Nashville. His versatility finds him in demand for gigs encompassing a wide range of musical styles. He has backed up Shirley Horn, Al Cohn, Pete Cristelieb, Eartha Kitt, Della Reese, Bob Hope and received kudos for his soloing with The Smithsonian Jazz Orchestra in an all Ellington repertoire concert. As a composer, producer and arranger, Lon's music has been heard on NPR, the Discovery Channel and in the Washington production of Tony Kushner’s, “The Dybbik”. He received a "Parents Choice Gold Award" for his composing and arranging music for children. For several years, Lon was a featured performer for the Washington Performing Arts Society as part of a duo with P&S percussionist Steve Bloom. For 15 years, Lon was an “artist-in-residence” for the Montgomery County Maryland school system, teaching students with various challenges as part of the county’s “Alternative Programs.”
Vinny Norman performs extensively in the DC/Baltimore area on woodwinds and keyboards. A retired member of the Army's Jazz Ambassadors big band, he has played concert tours in Europe, Japan, India, Mexico and Canada and has played in all 50 states except Alaska. Vinny has performed with such notables as Arturo Sandoval, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Butch Miles, Marvin Hamlisch, Toots Thielmans and many others as well as with the National Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony and with the Cincinnati Pops at several venues including Carnegie Hall. He is also an accomplished composer and arranger who has released two CDs on OA2 Records as co-leader of the Vince Norman/Joe McCarthy Big Band, Words Cannot Express and Bright Future. Beside Polvo & Scree, Vinny is a member of Afro Bop Alliance who played on the 51st Grammy Award Nominated and 9th Latin Grammy Award winning collaboration with Dave Samuels' Caribbean Jazz Project.
Since winning second place in the Thelonious Monk International Bass Competition, Tom Baldwin has had the opportunity to work with a number of prominent jazz artists, including instrumentalists Eric Alexander, Gene Bertoncini, Stanley Cowell, George Garzone, Tutti Heath, Fred Hersch, Tim Hagans, Harold Mabern, James Moody, and James Williams, as well as vocalists Michael Feinstein, Eartha Kitt, Bernadette Peters, and Kenny Rankin. Baldwin’s critically acclaimed CD Glom On To This features his own compositions. Tom is on the faculty at the University of Maryland in College Park as well as at UMBC. As a clinician, he is a regular faculty member at the Maryland Summer Jazz camp, and at various Jazz festivals and workshops at both the collegiate and high school level.
*Sitting in for percussionist Steve Bloom this month is drummer, Tony Martucci. Tony has performed and recorded with many of the greatest names in Jazz. A short list would include Mose Allison, John Abercrombie, Marc Copland, Joe Henderson, Joe Lovano, Don Patterson, Sunny Stitt, and Glenn Wilson. Tony has five critically acclaimed recordings as a leader. The Most recent, "Life In Hand" was nominated for a Wammy Award, and was included in the Washington Post list of the best jazz recordings of the year. Tony Martucci is a professor of Jazz at Virginia Commonwealth University, a teaching artist for the Kennedy Center, and The Capitol Jazz Project in collaboration with the Washington Performing Arts Society and Jazz at Lincoln Center.
photo by Freddie Lieberman