Beatnik Cafe

Musical Revue of the Beat Generation

by Namaya

29 March 2008 8PM

P.A.C.E. (The Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton) 41 Union Street Easthampton, MA 01027 413 527-3700 for tickets $20

Featuring the legendary Jazz All Stars,

Samirah Evans, vocals,

Scott Mullett, sax,

George Kaye- Bass

 Eric Nebbia, percussion,

Miro Sprague - piano.

Carol Smith & Cindy Hellman vocals

Eric Morgan & Namaya.

Beatnik Cafe is a new musical revue by Namaya featuring a stellar cast of top musicians: Samirah Evans on vocals, Scott Mullett on sax, George Kaye on bass, Eric Nebbia on percussion, Carol Smith and Cindy Hellman on background vocals, Miro Sprague on piano, Eric Morgan and Namaya will perform The Beatnik Cafe: A musical review of the Beat Generation

 When the Beatnik Cafe first premiered the lead vocalist Samirah Evans was singing Mississippi  Goddamn and as she finished lightening struck the building and knocked over the steeple. The gods were rocked and pleased.

The Beatnik Cafe at Pioneer Art Center of Easthampton is a high energy musical that features the music of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck, Cannonball Adderly, and other prominent musicians from the mid l940's through the early sixties. It is a journey through the Bebop to the Beatnik era with selections of songs including Twisted, Yip Rock, and other classics from that period.  The musical is interwoven with dance, multimedia, stories of Charlie Parker, writings from the Beat generation including those of Kerouac and Ginsburg, and the pop side of Beat with Maynard G. Krebs

Samirah Evans is a well establish singer in the New Orleans jazz and blues scene who has relocated to the northeast. Scott Mullett on  is a sought after saxophone player who has played in top venues around the world. Eric Nebbia is stellar jazz drummer who played with Dizzy Gillespie. Miro Sprague is one of the best of the new generation of jazz pianists. Veteran bass player George Kay rounds out the ensemble with his rock solid ability to hold a groove and make it soar. Carol Smith & Cindy Hellman are the swinging background vocalists with their fine harmonies.  Eric Morgan plays Jack Kerouac. Namaya is the Beatnik Poet who takes us back in time to the Beat Generation.

The play features characters like The Bird (Charlie Parker), the outrageous Lord Buckley the stand up performance poet comedian, the ranting of Ginsburg in Howl, selections from Kerouac and On the Road, the hilarious jazz song Yip Rock based on a reading of an Armenian menu, Twisted by Lambert and Hendricks the scathing social commentary of Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddamn, and of course the quirky Beatniks in the midst of one of the most innovative and creative periods in musical history. 

Namaya the playwright says, "We capture a flavor of the period with outstanding musicians, vocalists, dancers, and of course the audience is invited to dress in their best beatnik threads and finger pop to the Beatnik Generation. Dig infinity – daddy o’! Prize for the best dressed Beatnik.

From the Brattleboro Reformer Review: " Kaye's bass lines start walking again, Mullet's sax notes curl like smoke, Nebbia's drums clink like ice in a drink glass and the hippest singers you've ever heard tell us again, We belong to the Beat Generation and everything... is going to be fine."

Annie Guyon of The Rutland Herald said: The Beatnik Cafe is an artistic simpatico that's tough to cultivate in a multimedia ensemble piece of such complexity. This is one tight, intuitive band with a lush, resonant sound ..."Beatnik Café" is one hip, high-caliber theatrical event."