Summary
[Nicholas Cassarino], who attended Catholic school while growing up in the Burlington area, regularly plays with African-American gospel groups in the Big Apple. It's an education on several levels. "Those guys don't read or write music," he explains. "But they know exactly what they're doing and how to articulate it." Their religiosity, on the other hand, is more complicated. "There's so much money and so much vanity," he offers. "One guy was on stage - there's like 3000 people for Sunday services preaching the fear of God to everyone. Then he's, like, 'I got a three-car garage at home, and Jesus gave it to me!'"
Like many other kids, Cassarino identified with the more abrasive side of rock. "I was so punked up," he recalls. "Catholic school is a nightmare." His parents didn't mind his noisy fixations - in fact, they indulged them. "My first band played all these benefit shows that my dad set up," Cassarino recalls. "He actually played bass with us. Because he had the P.A. and everything."His unique phrasing is inspired by a wide variety of sources. "I'm really into classical music - Ravel, Debussy, Bartok," Cassarino says. "I can't play hardly any of that stuff, though." Non-Western sounds are even closer to his heart. "I love a lot of East African music, stuff from Madagascar," he explains. "And I really dig on the Bulgarian Women's Choir. Talk about rhythmic. And so beautiful."See the full content of this document
Extract
Cassarino's Ascension
NICHOLAS CASSARINO ENSEMBLE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25, FLYNNSPACE
Observers of the Burlington jazz scene have no doubt noticed a certain young guitar whiz and his searing licks. For the last couple of years, 20-year-old axeman Nicholas Cassarino has been knocking 'em dead in a variety of settings. The Dave Grippo Funk Band and the Antony Santor Group are just two of the acts with w...See the full content of this document
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