Masterclass 5 pm

Concert 7 pm

Guitarist Matt Munisteri and mandolinist Joe K. Walsh, both instrumental virtuosos, singers, and world-traveling improvisers, explore and expand the shared language running through bluegrass, jazz, and swing music. Driven by their deep faith in the improvised moment, and the shared musical conversation full of surprises, they draw from the deep well of American music in crafting their shared sound. Joe and Matt will take you through the process of using melody as the springboard for improvisation during the masterclass.

To those who don’t yet do it, improvisation can sometimes feel like “divine inspiration”: it can seem that in every moment the improvisor must create an entirely new brilliant idea. In practice, though, many simple variations of melodies and rhythms and shapes can generate beautiful, engaging, improvised variations. And these ideas can be taught and practiced. Our goal in the workshop will be to illustrate the simple techniques that improvisers use to create new experiences, using melodies and rhythms, and for the participants to leave armed with some new approaches to improvising on melodies and chord changes.

Joe K. Walsh
Hailed by CBC-Newfoundland as “one of the best mandolinists of his generation” and by Vintage Guitar Magazine as “brilliant”, Portland, Maine-based mandolin player Joe K. Walsh is known for his exceptional tone and taste, and his collaborations with acoustic music luminaries including legendary fiddler Darol Anger, flatpick guitar hero Scott Nygaard, folk star Jonathan Edwards, and pop/grass darlings Joy Kills Sorrow have taken him all over the global and musical map. He’s played with everyone from John Scofield to Bela Fleck to Emmylou Harris and performed everywhere from festivals to laundromats to Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. After a number of award-winning years as mandolinist with bluegrass stars the Gibson Brothers, Joe currently splits his time between an inventive string band called Mr. Sun (featuring Darol Anger, Grant Gordy, and Ethan Jodziewicz) a duo with Grant Gordy and his own band. An avid educator, Joe is a mandolin instructor at the Berklee College of Music. He teaches regularly at music camps throughout North America and beyond, and teaches online through Peghead Nation.

Matt Munisteri
Matt Munisteri is a guitarist, singer, and songwriter based in New York City. A freewheeling and virtuosic guitarist on both acoustic and electric guitar—in music both modern and old-fashioned—he credits the early jazz plectrists of the 1920s and ’30s with providing the foundation for his technique and musical direction. As one of a relatively small number of authoritative acoustic jazz guitarists playing swing and early jazz, Matt has recorded extensively and is a first-call guitarist when a “period” sound is sought for CDs, film scores, and commercials.  He has collaborated with many colleagues in his field on concerts and recordings, including Vince Giordano, Mark O’Connor, Andy Stein, Frank Vignola, Bucky Pizzarelli, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Catherine Russell, Julian Lage, Geoff Muldaur, Loudon Wainwright, Howard Alden, Tim Kliphuis, and Matt Glaser. As an educator and clinician Matt has taught at the Berklee College of Music, the Augusta Heritage Center, the Ashokan Center, and Centrum. He has performed on A Prairie Home Companion, Jazz Night in America: Jazz at Lincoln Center, E-Town, Mountain Stage, and Michael Feinstein’s Song Travels.

Purchase Tickets

CCM students 18-years-old and under attend for free  – reserve your seat!

CCM’s Covid policy requires those over 12 must show proof of vaccination, and we ask you to please wear your mask in the building at all times. Thank you!