Join us as we welcome New York City based guitarist Andy Bianco and his trio! He is joined by Jordan McBride on bass and Andrew Kirk on drums. Tickets to this event are $15 online and $20 at the door. This event will also be livestreamed on BOP STOP's Facebook page at showtime. Accessing the stream is free but donations are encouraged and directly support the band.

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Andy Bianco-Guitar (Bandleader)

New York City based jazz artist Andy Bianco has performed/recorded with Angie Stone, Deborah Cox, Kandace Springs, Ray Chew, Elle Varner, Bob Moses, George Burton & many others at such renowned venues as ABC Television's Good Morning America, Billboard Live Osaka/Tokyo, The Howard Theater, Blues Alley, The 2013 Long Beach Jazz Festival, The 2014/2015/2019 Essence Festivals in New Orleans, The 2014 BET Awards, The 2017 Richmond Jazz Festival, Sculler’s Jazz Club, Cafe Wha, SOB's, Joe's Pub, The Bitter End, The Blue Note & he's also the guitarist for the Grammy winning RnB artist Elle Varner, with whom he's toured the USA & Japan. He was a finalist in the 2012, 2015 & 2019 USA Songwriting Competitions & his 3 official jazz album releases as a leader have received domestic & international critical acclaim from Downbeat Magazine, Elsewhere New Zealand, Bop-N-Jazz, The New York City Jazz Record & other publications. Andy has performed his original jazz compositions as a touring jazz artist/bandleader throughout the USA & with other groups at such renowned jazz hot spots as Chris' Jazz Cafe, Blu Jazz, Smoke Jazz Club, Minton’s Playhouse, Cornelia St. Cafe, The 55 Bar & The Zinc Bar-In addition his music has been licensed for use in Hollywood film & prime time network television. He has completed a 6 month tour of New Zealand & Japan as the guitarist with the critically acclaimed stage production entitled, "Empire" & is also a private instructor with New York Jazz Workshop & a teaching artist with Wingspan Arts & Midori & Friends in NYC. Andy is also an advocate for music & education & has created the Phillip Bianco Memorial Music Scholarship which annually awards a substantial monetary sum to young adult music students through the Keynotes Foundation Scholarship Competition in Pittsburgh.

Jordan McBride–Bass

Jordan McBride picked up the bass at age 12 and began to develop a sound influenced by the Philadelphia Jazz scene. There he joined a group of young jazz performers and began performing in and around Philadelphia. Jordan has studied with jazz greats such as bassists Andy McCloud, Mike Boon, Peter Dominquez, Kenny Davis, and Gerald Cannon.

As an artist, Jordan has performed with musicians across many genres. Jordan has shared the stage with the Sean Jones, Roger Humphries, Kenny Werner, The Theron Brown Trio, Dan Wilson, Jimmy Health, James Carter, Justin Faulkner, Jerome Jennings, Jamey Haddad, Paul Samuels, Jay Ashby, Chris Coles,Javon Jackson, The Admirables, Nathan Davis, and Tommy Lehman’s Squadtet. Jordan McBride holds an Artist Degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Jordan is a creative arranger and composer, as well, based in Akron, Ohio.

Andrew Kirk–Drums

A resident of Pittsburgh, PA, Andrew found his love for jazz by going to watch the legendary drummer Roger Humphries perform in jazz clubs around the city, sitting in with his band, and becoming a lifelong student of his. Andrew’s career has also included times in Charlottesville, VA, Philadelphia, PA, Nashville, TN, and a year playing with jazz trios on cruise ships. He has performed in groups led by John D’Earth (trumpet - Charlottesville) & Mike Boone (bass- Philadelphia), as well as many engagements with bands of various genres. In addition to the tutelage of Mr. Humphries, Andrew has also studied privately with Greg Hutchinson (Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Ray Brown), James Johnson III (Ahmad Jamal), and David Throckmorton (Maynard Ferguson). Andrew has been a featured guest performer with both the James Madison University and University of Virginia Jazz Ensembles. He performs regularly in the Pittsburgh jazz scene, leads his quintet “Deep Dive”, and plays many other gigs of various genres.

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Andy Bianco Press:

"Deliciously dynamic jazz Andy Bianco – NYC STORIES: This is actually my first listen to Andy’s perfectly performed jazz guitar work… what he presents on this album is some of the most deliciously dynamic jazz you will ever listen to…"-Dick Metcalf, "NYC Stories" review, Contemporary Fusion Reviews, November 2020.

"NYC Stories aims at depicting a sense of triumph over adversity, which comes through on album opener 'For Those Who Battle Demons'....New York might be the most written about city in the country, but Bianco still has stories of his own."-Chris Barton, "NYC Stories" review, Downbeat Magazine, June 2020.

"Judging by the jut of his shoulders, clench of his jaw and verve of his writing and playing, Bianco will soon be back with some more stories."-Tom Greenland, "NYC Stories" review, New York City Jazz Record, April 2020.

"Overall this was a well played mainstream jazz album, the musicians played very well together on the ensemble sections and the solos were well done without going overboard. Bianco’s themes were well written and his guitar playing was consistently interesting." -Tim Niland, "NYC Stories" review, Jazz & Blues Blog Spot.Com, February 2020.

"One wishes McLaughlin would hire Bianco as his tonal guru, as the latter’s sound is closer to the Mahavishnu Orchestra than anything McLaughlin is doing these days..."-Stanley Zappa, "Forces of the Wild" review, New York City Jazz Record, August 2013

"A terrifying and intense journey. Love it!" -Jazz guitar master Ben Monder (referring to "Forces of the Wild")

"Andy Bianco is an amazing guitarist. He has great ideas, a fantastic sound & boundless imagination & fire!"-Jazz guitar master Peter Bernstein

"Andy Bianco is a very fine guitarist with a natural spark. His playing embodies strong elements of the past and the future."-Jazz drumming master Bob Moses

"Good guitarists are like Starbucks, one on every corner. Great guitarists develop their own harmonic voice and then move to the next level, Andy Bianco is a great guitarist."- Brent Black, http://www.criticaljazz.com/2014/09/andy-bianco-homefront-armored-2014.html

"Bianco-who has doubtless heard and studied John McLaughlin's more restrained work in the Seventies and Eighties-describes this album (Homefront ARCD8031) as forward thinking yet rooted in tradition, and that seems a very honest assessment...Well worth checking out."-September 2015 review of "Homefront" by Graham Reid

"It's Andy Bianco...here on guitar gliding, painting broad strokes behind this sweeping playing. It all comes together here. It's kind of perfect. Bianco also practically tingles...."Anthony Dean-Harris http://nextbop.com/blog/glennwhitequirkep