Jazz pianist Tom Snow brings bandmates to perform

One of Maine’s busiest and most versatile pianists, Tom Snow brings two bandmates to perform in an evening of jazz. The event starts at 7 p.m. Sunday, March 2, in Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

A South Portland resident, Snow enjoys a varied musical career that includes performing as bandleader and sideman, as well as teaching and studio work. A cum laude graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Boston, Snow is well-known in Maine’s jazz scene and has toured through much of the nation as an accompanist to such artists as noted Irish tenor John McNally.

In Maine, Snow has worked with disco satirists Motor Booty Affair, singer-songwriter Kate Schrock and jazz guitarist Mark Kleinhaut. He has made two recordings as a leader: his debut CD Northern Standard Time (1997) and Christmas at Mast Cove (2001). Snow is currently music director at Portland’s Cheverus High School and a member of the piano department at the Portland Conservatory of Music.

Accompanying Snow will be bassist Jim Lyden and drummer Les Harris Jr. A native of Portland, Lyden has studied jazz and classical bass and has been playing for more than 30 years. One of the first-call jazz bassists in northern New England, the versatile Lyden has worked with John La Porta, Roswell Rudd, Frank Foster, Herb Pomeroy, Tiger Okoshi, Jackie King and Bobby Watson. He can be heard on several jazz and folk recordings and has performed in Hungary, Germany and the Netherlands.

Like Snow, Les Harris Jr. is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He studied extensively with Alan Dawson. He is a lecturer in music at the University of New Hampshire and a member of the UNH Faculty Jazz Sextet. From 1983 to 1995, Harris played drums for the jazz vocal group The Ritz, with performances worldwide and seven recordings for the Pausa and Denon labels. Harris has also toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra and performed with Clark Terry, Diana Krall, Scott Hamilton and Gray Sargent. He also teaches at the University of Southern Maine and Phillips Exeter Academy.

The concert is open to the public at no cost. For more information about the concert, please call 207-786-6135.