Mary Ann McSweeney’s Urban Fado Project

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About Mary Ann McSweeney

Born in Aptos, California, Mary Ann McSweeney started playing piano at the age of 5, and began to study violin at age 8. In high school, she fell in love with the acoustic bass while watching Ray Brown perform at the Concord Jazz Festival. At age 16, she was chosen to play at the Monterey Jazz Festival with the All-Star band fronted by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis.

McSweeney has played with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Joanne Brackeen, Lee Konitz, Gil Goldstein, and Bucky Pizzarelli. She has also played for renowned conductors, Leonard Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, and John Williams. McSweeney has performed with Renee Rosnes, Vic Juris, Ken Peplowski, Dennis Mackrel, Lewis Nash, and Larry Goldings. Big Band performances include Maiden Voyage and Diva, and she has performed with her own quintet at the Seixal Jazz Festival in Portugal, and with the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center. She has arranged for and recorded with Warner Brothers artist, Lea Delaria. Recent engagements include the Berkshire Jazz Festival, backing up Veronica Swift, and traveling to the Roswell Jazz Festival in New Mexico to perform with Ken Peplowski, Randy Sandke, Holly Hoffman, Chuck Redd and Mike Wofford. McSweeney has toured Europe, and has performed with David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness and five-time Tony award winning vocalist Audra McDonald. Her orchestrations can be heard on Chita Rivera’s CD entitled “Now I Swing” and her version of “Avenue Q Swings” is available on iTunes. McSweeney performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Claire Daly and the Baritone Monk Band, which was rated in the top ten on jazz radio in the USA.

Along with being a full-time professional bassist in New York City, McSweeney was on the faculty for the Middle School Jazz Academy at Lincoln Center for

12 years. She performed at the White House with the Eli Yamin Quintet and the Kennedy Center Gala with the Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra. She was musical director/arranger for three shows at NYC’s Birdland featuring Jane Monheit,

in a program that included selections from Irving Berlin and the Cole Porter musical, “Anything Goes.” McSweeney has played more than 45 Broadway shows, including Tony award-winning “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.” In 2017 she performed in Greece and Berlin with her Urban Fado Project. Her original music can be heard on the documentary “From Allegiance to Broadway,” currently playing in theaters around the country. She can be seen on Broadway playing bass for the “Girl From the North Country”

which restarts in Fall 2021.

For more information go to www.maryannmcsweeney.com

About Sara Caswell

GRAMMY Nominee Sara Caswell is recognized as one of today’s foremost jazz violinists through her lyricism and technical facility. A “Rising Star” in the DownBeat Magazine Critics and Readers Polls every year since 2013, Sara has released two highly-acclaimed albums – First Song and But Beautiful – and is slated to release her third in 2022. In addition, she and her sister, vocalist Rachel Caswell, have released a project entitled Alive in the Singing Air featuring Fred Hersch. Sara is a member of the New York Pops, has been part of groups led by such artists as Esperanza Spalding, Linda Oh, David Krakauer, Mark O’Connor, and Chuck Owen, and has performed and/or recorded with such artists and ensembles as the WDR Big Band, Brian Blade, John Patitucci, Brad Mehldau, Regina Carter, Fabian Almazan, Roseanna Vitro, and Dave Stryker. Currently on faculty at the Berklee College of Music, Manhattan School of Music, New School, and New York University, Sara regularly appears as a guest artist and clinician at schools and festivals around the world.

About Jason Ennis

Guitarist Jason Ennis is an exciting voice in the world of jazz guitar. His unique sound, deep groove and sensitive feel, along with a diverse background in jazz, blues, Brazilian music and classical music have made him highly in demand as a soloist, sideman, bandleader and musical director. A graduate of Middlebury College (BA in music), Jason attended Berklee College of Music (Boston) and The San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Ennis leads his own instrumental group, Trio Jota Sete, and co-leads the world jazz trio, La Voz de Tres, which has toured extensively throughout the United States and Chile and has released two CDs: La Voz de Tres (2010) and Sueños y Delirios (2014). He is a member of The Thomas Bergeron Ensemble and is co- composer and musical director for En Diablada, an original music project by Chilean vocalist Natalia Bernal, inspired by Andean folkloric traditions.

About Todd Isler

Drummer, percussionist, teacher and author Todd Isler is based in New York City, where he has been active in the jazz and world music scenes for over 20 years. He plays with his trio, International Orange, and numerous projects around New York City. He has released two original CDs, Two Step: Duets and Beyond, and his current Soul Drums, as well as his book “You Can Ta Ka Di Mi This”, published by Gerard and Sarzin in 2005. Todd, along with the band Savane, won the Disc Todd Isler- Percussionist.

Makers Unsigned Band Contest. He was also a winner of the JAZZIZ Magazine Percussion On Fire contest. Todd has toured Africa under the Goethe Institute, and studied the South Indian Mrdangham with Ramnod V. Raghavan and Karaikudi R. Mani in India. Todd has also studied with Brazilian greats Portinho and Vanderlei, as well as teaching and extensive performances in Brazil.

In addition to his own releases Todd has played on hundreds of genre-crossing recordings and played, performed and/or recorded with a wide rang of artists including Sting, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Steve Turre, Mike Gordon, Melvin Sparks, Bakithi Kumalo, Brian Blade, Ivan Neville, Badal Roy, Mark Murphy, Betty Buckley, Francis Mbappe, Dave Kikoski, Leo Kottke, Jack McDuff, David Krakauer, Al Kooper, Charlie Burnham, and others. Todd endorses Sonor Drums and Bosphorus cymbals.

Koby Hayon is a world renowned multi-instrumentalist and composer based in New York who plays Guitar, Oud, and Bass with the internationally acclaimed Trio Shalva.

Born and raised in Jerusalem, Israel, Hayon studied at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Tel Aviv, where he gained experience as a guitarist with the DGK Trio, Hulon Big Band, and many other notable groups. In 2001, Hayon moved to the United States, where he earned his BFA in Jazz Performance at SUNY Purchase. A recipient of the Ullendorff Memorial Foundation Scholarship there, he studied with jazz greats John Abercrombie, Hal Galper, Todd Coolman, and Jon Faddis. Hayon has since played in a number of venues throughout the United States and abroad as the leader of a jazz trio, duo, and quartet. His renditions of jazz standards as well as his own compositions have earned him acclaim along with several weekly gigs in the New York area.