WCR Center for the Arts presenting Marty Grosz concert on Sunday, December 10

WCR Center for the Arts presenting Marty Grosz concert on Sunday, December 10
The WCR Center for the Arts is hosting a special concert featuring iconic jazz guitarist, vocalist and historian Marty Grosz on Sunday, December 10.
Acclaimed by critics worldwide, Grosz is considered a master jazz rhythm guitarist and chord soloist. He is virtually the only major jazz guitarist who does not use an amplifier.
For the WCR concert, which promises to be an afternoon of great music and witty stories, Grosz will be joined by Joe Plowman on bass and Danny Tobias on trumpet.
The WCR Center for the Arts is located at 140 N. Fifth Street in downtown Reading. Tickets are $20 in advance; $25 day of show. Doors open at 1:30 p.m., with the concert starting at 2:00 p.m. Advance tickets available online at www.wcrcenter.org/eventcalendar
Grosz was born in Berlin, Germany in 1930, and has been performing for over 80 years and recording since 1950. He has been a resident of United States since the age of three. He began playing ukulele at eight. A few years later, he heard a record that highlighted guitarist Bernard Addison’s shuffle-beat behind Roy Eldridge’s trumpet — out went the uke and in came the banjo and guitar.
In addition to his dynamic acoustic guitar playing, Grosz sings and tells interesting jazz stories during live performances. His vocals have become as much in demand at record sessions and jazz concerts as his driving guitar rhythm. His vocals are delivered in styles ranging from barrelhouse abandon to whispered restraint, and are sometimes raucous, often mischievous, but almost always informed with a wry sense of the absurd.Grosz’s chordal solos bring back the sound of Carl Kress and Dick McDonough of the 1930s, while his vocals are very much in the Fats Waller tradition.
Grosz has made guest appearances on Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” and on NBC’s Today Show. He has performed at Carnegie Hall during the Cool Jazz Festivals and, more recently, at New York City’s prestigious 92nd St. Y concerts and at the Vineyard Theater in Manhattan.
Trumpeter Danny Tobias has performed and recorded with many notable jazz musicians, including Warren Vache, Howard Alden, Vince Giordano, Scott Robinson, and David Ostwald.
Philadelphia bassist Joe Plowman, alumni of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, has performed with Paul Simon, The Wood Brothers, Joan Osborne, Carsie Blanton, and Chelsea Reed & The Fair Weather Five.
Concert is funded by a grant from Reading Musical Foundation and supported by the Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest.
Parking is available at Trinity Lutheran.
Additional information on Marty Grosz available at www.martygrosz.com