Jazz Night: Starry Night Trio + 1

Thursday, February 27 from 7:00pm – 9:00pm, come to the Book Nook & Java Shop for Jazz Night featuring the Starry Night Trio + 1!  For more information call 231-894-5333.

Band leader Matt Lintula plays tenor saxophone, trumpet and flugelhorn.  A founding member of the Truth in Jazz Orchestra, he also plays with The Lakeshore Big Band and West Michigan Concert Winds.  His musical influences came from Herb Alpert and Al Hirt.  Recently, Matt studied with the Gordon Goodwin Big Phat Band from Los Angeles.  Music performance is both a challenge and a joy for Matt.  “Improvisation is something I can’t explain. The brain just composes on the fly.”   And he admits he likes the intellectual challenge of performance and improvising.

Drew Placzek is a pianist with the Truth in Jazz Orchestra as well as the Starry Night Octet and Trio.  He has previously done radio jingle writing, and currently is the music director at a large church in Hudsonville where he is responsible for their praise teams, and their instrumental and vocal special music groups.  He is thankful for the blessing of working full time in music ministry.  Drew graduated from Wayne State University. He enjoys being outdoors, woodworking, composing music and playing jazz.

Andy Henley is a freelance jazz bassist based in Grand Rapids.  He holds a jazz studies and music education degree from Northwestern University.  He currently teaches at RIT Music in Grand Rapids and performs with several groups in the area.