Quoted from Berklee News:

Berklee Brings Music Mix to the North Shore for Salem Jazz and Soul Festival “Berklee Summer Series,” May 10–August 9

No need to stay land-locked when there’s great music on the North Shore. Berklee and the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival are cosponsoring a pre-festival line-up of some of Berklee’s best starting May 10. An appetizing menu of artists for the Salem Jazz and Soul Festival “Berklee Summer Series” at Derby Square will have music lovers salivating for what’s to come. The crowd can sample these artists during the four-part series one Saturday a month through August 9, between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. in front of Old Town Hall, Front Street, Salem, Massachusetts.

Featured will be Juan Chavez, the Zach Hillyard Band, La Timbistica, and Manami Morita. The concerts are free and open to the public. This venue is within walking distance of the Salem stop on the Newburyport/ Rockport line. For more information visit salemjazzsoul.com or call 978 744-8258.

After a tantalizing taste of these Berklee groups, crowds are sure to be eager for the entree. The Salem Jazz and Soul Festival Concert Series aims to add some soul and funk while renewing the rich musical history that began when Duke Ellington and other big band musicians played the Salem Willows. Proceeds from the festival will support music education in Salem and fund the festival. The Salem Jazz and Soul Festival “Berklee Summer Series” Schedule:

May 10, Juan Chavez – This salsa violinist hails from Dallas, Texas, where he attended the Dallas Performing Arts High School before coming to Berklee. He is widely recognized for his knowledge of Afro-Cuban music, and has taught many classes and workshops, including a 2004 Afro-Cuban Strings Seminar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Chavez has traveled and performed throughout the country at such venues as the Kennedy Center, Disney’s Epcot Center, and the San Jose Jazz Festival and was featured live on the XM Satellite Radio Salsa station, Caliente. He is currently working on his first album, Salsa for Strings, and is writing a book on contemporary Afro-Cuban violin. Chavez studies with violinist and Berklee professor Rob Thomas (Mahvishnu Project, String Trio of New York). For this performance he will be backed by an eight-piece group, complete with horns, strings, and percussion.

June 14, Zach Hillyard Band (funk, r&b, soul, pop) – An amalgam of talent, the Zach Hillyard Band has been touring the New England music scene, with stints in New York and Southern California, playing for audiences of all ages and musical interests. Performing songs with elements of pop, funk, and soul, this group offers a little something for everyone. Recently the band was named the Best College Band in New England after winning OurStage.com’s College Clash Competition. Zach Hillyard Band Photo provided by the artist

Hey all…we just decided to put up a Cover tune. We only do a handful of cover tunes but we thought we’d throw our hat into the ring here on OurStage. If you haven’t been to the Cover Tunes channel yet you might check it out – there’s some pretty great musicians in there. Anyway, our live version of Amy Winehouse’s REHAB is there.

Also, we are really close in the numbers in College Battle for the Roo. Our bass player, Wes,lived down in Tn. (where Bonnaroo is being held) for awhile. As we said before we’d really like to have an excuse to get down there so please check us out on that channel! Isn’t OurStage the greatest?!!!

By the way, for newbies to OurStage – on the right column click SHOW ALL at the bottom of the songs listed to see all songs we have posted…everyone have a great week! ZHB

We are just now getting around to posting the awesome videos OurStage put together during the College Clash competition. Too bad they can’t compete on their own site because we felt their pre-competition video concept was great and we sure enjoyed the experience!

While we are really proud of our win (and the $5,000 wasn’t too shabby!) all the bands that competed and played at the show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston were fantastic.

Bottom line here is we want to let everyone that may be new to OurStage to know this site is for real..they genuinely help artists succeed – we’re on our way and OurStage was a great help!

The Zach Hillyard Band is having an exciting spring so far, even though it’s only just begun. ZHB recently picked up some additional support from SWAP Management out of New York, which we’ve been very pleased with.

Last weekend we had a great gig at the Bitter End in NYC, and we played an after party in Brooklyn that was a blast! By some fluke, a few NBA players happened to be at the after party, and arranged for us to be the musical guest on the former Bull’s star Charles Oakley’s new cooking show. We had a lot of fun with that, so see us on the MSG channel on, “Cooking With Oakley…” in a few weeks!

We’ve got some great shows coming up in the near future also. We’ll be at “Church” here in Boston on April 30th, and we’ll be at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC the following night, May 1st. BE THERE!

We are all excited to hit the road this summer as well, to start promoting our self titled release. We’ve been getting a lot of great feedback (of course, winning the OurStage.com College Clash title didn’t hurt -so we are of course excited to get out there, meet and make new fans, and share our music with as many people as possible!

Keep updated on OurStage, and also make sure you add us on www.zachhillyardband.com. If you want the full versions of tunes, check us out on iTunes, just search Zach Hillyard Band, and I think the whole album is just under 7 bucks.

Thanks again, hope to see all of you at the end of the month in Boston, or NYC! Even better, keep voting for us here on Our Stage and maybe we’ll see you at EarthFest!!!! )

Wes Bass, Zach Hillyard Band