Ketchum’s NexStage Theatre will be transformed into a cabaret for a very special performance by the Michael Kaeshammer Trio on Friday, March 8, in the last of the Winter 2012–13 Sun Valley Center for the Arts concerts.
Expect tablecloths, candles and a more intimate setting than the usual concert as The Center’s Junior Patrons Circle welcomes jazz and blues pianist Michael Kaeshammer. Regarded as a “must-see live act” (Montreal Gazette), the classically trained, German-born Kaeshammer (pronounced “case-hammer”) discovered New Orleans style boogie-woogie and stride piano when he was in his early teens. After moving with his family to Canada in the mid-1990s, he soon was playing at jazz and blues festivals from coast to coast. Best known in Canada but rapidly winning fans in Europe and the United States, Kaeshammer has been compared to a young Harry Connick Jr. for his energetic playing, smooth singing and winning on-stage personality.
Kaeshammer’s music blends jazz, soul, pop and R&B influences, and is always served up fresh, piping hot, and with a huge helping of joy on the side. That joy is clear from the first note, as is his uncanny ability to take ‘a bit of musical this’ and ‘a touch of musical that’ and create a sound that is uniquely his own – A singular brand of pop tinged jazz that owes as much to Billy Joel and Paul McCartney as to Professor Longhair and Albert Ammons on hook laden love songs like ‘A Little Bit Of Love.
A night with Michael and his band isn’t the kind of show where you just sit, watch and applaud politely every now and then. Their goal isn’t to intimidate you with the scholarly depth of their music, it’s to entertain, inform and include you – A wild ride with no fixed destination except where he feels he and the crowd want to go.
As Michael himself says, “For me performance is as much about the energy coming off the stage as the energy coming from the audience. It’s about being myself, writing from the heart and showing my love for life. That’s what I want to convey. After the show, people ask me, ‘do you really have that much fun?’ And I say ‘you don’t know the half of it. It’s even more exhilarating than it looks’.”
But while Kaeshammer’s fiery style incorporates elements of his early influences – the New Orleans sound of Fats Waller, Art Tatum and James Booker – on songs like ‘Kisses In Zanzibar’ and the high-energy, boogie fuelled romp, ‘Rendezvous’, he also takes his cue from one of his own all-time favorite records, Robert Palmer’s Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley, recorded in New Orleans with influential local funk outfit, The Meters, in 1974. In short, it’s the musical equivalent of Gumbo. His live performance will include drummer Mark McLean and bassist Marc Rogers who will help light up NexStage Theater.
The night will include more than music: beer, wine and special food platters will be available for purchase—and your first drink is on The Center as part of your ticket price! Advance ticketholders will have an opportunity to pre-order food platters. Seating is limited at the NexStage, so get your tickets soon. 
The concert begins at 6:30 pm. Tickets are available online at www.sunvalleycenter.org for $50 Sun Valley Center members / $60 nonmembers. Tickets can also be purchased by phone at 208.726.9491 ex 10.
