Jazz At The Peak: Empyrean Isles

Our new series Jazz At The Peak continues with Empyrean Isles, Saturday, February 4th at 5:00PM. Vermont jazzers Edsel Gomez – piano; Glendon Ingalls – bass; Peter Schmeeckle – drums; and David Ellis – trumpet,  join forces to bring you an evening of classic jazz, straight ahead. Empyrean Isles is an album by Herbie Hancock put out on the Blue Note Records Jazz Label, it is of importance for many reasons… It is perhaps the most prolific album ever of the ‘trumpet quartet’ – piano, bass, drums, and trumpet.  The album has four songs and the theme is of ‘imaginary places’. This evening of jazz will be “a celebration of the music of Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard, honoring one of our own, gone too soon…”

Obituary: Thomas Parker Morse, 1980-2021 | Obituaries | Seven Days | Vermont’s Independent Voice (sevendaysvt.com)

About the Artists

Edsel Gomez was born in Puerto Rico and has been based out of Manhattan for the past twenty years, supporting everyone from Dee Dee Bridgewater, Don Byron and Jack DeJohnette on world tours and International Jazz Festivals.  He has arranged and played piano on Grammy winning albums by David Sanchez, Eddie Palmieri and Brian Lynch, and also has many albums under his belt as a band leader.

Glendon Ingalls is one of Vermont’s busiest jazz musicians – performing regularly on double bass, trumpet, and sousaphone.  Glendon has been a long time Vermont music educator and currently teaches bass and trumpet at Middlebury College, Castleton University and keeps a busy performance schedule w/ Red Clover Jazz Trio, Onion River Jazz Band, and Maple Leaf 7.

David Ellis is one of the elder statesmen on the Vermont jazz scene, he is featured regularly with The Vermont Jazz Ensemble in the ‘solo trumpet’ chair and has also run Ellis Music for decades, Vermont’s premiere band & music store in Bethel.

Peter Schmeeckle has lived in Stowe, VT since returning home in 2014.  Peter formed the Vermont Jazz Trio in 2020 and has been busy promoting music, bringing Bill Pierce, Ray Vega, and even blues hall of famer Joe Louis Walker to Stowe.  Peter is an experienced sideman and bandleader and endorses Bosphorus Cymbals.

Jazz at the Peak is made possible in part to the generous support of series sponsor McSoley, McCoy and Co. and by the generous support of the 2022-23 Spruce Peak Arts Season Sponsors:

		Joy and Tom Cronin
Edward Jones / Caren Merson	Deborah and Ron Feinstein
The Merson Family
The Stires-Stark Family Foundation