Ojai Pops – Scott Weiss/ Bevan Manson Jazz Quintet

The Ojai Pops Concert Series will present the first of five FREE Community Concerts on Sunday, August 21, 2022.  This concert is FREE and open to the public. Donations are greatly appreciated.

​The first concert will feature the Scott Weiss/Bevan Manson Jazz Quintet.  The quintet features Bevan Manson on piano, Scott Weiss on trumpet, Tom Etchart on string bass, Eddie Layman on percussion, and Sophie Holt vocalist.

The band will feature such songs as All of Me, Nature Boy, Don’t Get Around Much Anymore, and It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing….

Bevan Manson ……is a musical jack-of-all-trades as a composer, arranger, and jazz pianist. He has received composing and arranging commissions from Sierra Chamber Music, the Pacific Philharmonic Foundation, the San Francisco Symphony, First Night Boston, the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra, clarinetist Gary Gray, and L.A. Chamber Orchestra violist Victoria Miskolczy, among others.  He has written and conducted string arrangements for saxophonist Gary Smulyan at New York’s Blue Note jazz club, and recently wrote string arrangements for Manhattan Transfer singer Cheryl Bentyne’s new Sondheim album, of which JazzTimes Magazine commented that “a kaleidoscopic, edge-of-sanity Comedy Tonight that, courtesy of arranger Bevan Manson, blends Baroque courtliness with Big Top buffoonery.”

“Manson’s Piano Quartet is powerfully polyrhythmic…also with sweet lyricism”. -Washington Post

As a jazz pianist, Bevan has performed with George Garzone, Ira Sullivan, Cecil McBee, Jimmy Guiffre, Gunther Schuller, Ed Neumeister, Ron Jones L.A. Big Band, Bob Sheppard, Matt Wilson, Darol Anger, The Fringe, Marina Pacowski, Joel Harrison, Amanda Carr, Tony D’Aveni, his own trio, and many others. His Piano Quartet received an American Music Center (now New Music USA) grant.  He has been compared to pianist Chic Corea.

Tom Etchart…..electric and upright basses, has played in a wide variety of styles, spanning Latin, R&B, rock, and jazz, both combo and big bands (the latter dating back to his years with the CalState Northridge “A” Band). His performance credits include Jim Messina, Peter Noone, Phyllis Diller, Luis Muñoz, Diane Reeves and The Pontiax. Tom also leads his own jazz-fusion band, Tom Etchart and Friends

Eddie Layman  ……..Eddie has over four decades of experience. He has performed in New York, Los Angeles, and Asia. He has performed with such artists as Dave Liebman, David Sanborn, Lou Donaldson, Richard Groeve Holmes, and Roy Eldridge. He has over 25 recording under his belt.

Sophie Holt……is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, and songwriter. She is known for her lustrous vocals and has performed her original music in venues throughout Southern California.  She began studying classical guitar at the age of 12 and attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan for her junior and senior year. Sophie received a full scholarship to attend USC Flora Thornton School of Music. After college, Sophie toured with Anais Mitchell’s folk opera “Hadestown” as part of the original cast playing one of the Fates with independent artists Sean Hayes and Thao Nuygen, and she also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel live with The Band of Horses.  Currently Sophie is the lead vocalist in a 9 piece Jazz/Pop/Soul ensemble “Studio C” which is based in Ventura County, CA. She enjoys supporting other artists and projects in live performances and professional recordings contributing vocals and playing guitar, ukulele, percussion, and bass guitar. As well as her performance and recording activities, Sophie continues with her songwriting and teaches voice and guitar in the city of Ojai and around Ventura County.

Scott Weiss…….Scott has performed as a trumpet player in a wide variety of settings including orchestral, jazz, blues, pop, Dixieland, concert band, brass quintet, soloist, recording and musical theatre.  Has performed with the Kona Brass, the Olliephonic Horns, Ojai Pops Orchestra, 805 Brass, and Telarc blues recording artist Kenny Neal and opened for Grammy winning vocalist Dianne Reeves. He has studied privately with Uan Rasey, (MGM studio orchestra), Bill Phillips, (Canadian Brass), Larry Weiss (father, Chicago Symphony), Paul Merkelo (Montreal Symphony), studio players Chris Tedesco, Gary Grant, Tom Boyd, Barbara Butler (Rice University) and jazz legend Bobby Shew.  He has conducted the Ventura County Concert Band, Chamber Orchestra of Kona, Santa Barbara Reading Orchestra at UCSB and Ojai Summer Band.

Upcoming events:

August 28th:  Tuxedo Junction Jazz Band

September 25th:  805 Brass and Los Padres Sound Horn Quartet

October 23rd:  Ojai Pops Orchestra w/ vocalists Miriam Dance & Sophie Holt

November 6th:   Larktown & Friends, featuring Lark Cobb (vocals) and Todd Temanson (banjo)

All concerts are at 3:30 PM

The Ojai Pops Concert Series is sponsored by the City of Ojai and Music 4 Kids a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide low cost music lessons, instruments, and free concerts.