Matisyahu

As he paced back and forth across the stage delivering incredibly long strings of verse, I found myself mesmerized by his cadence and ability to move effortlessly between melodic verses and rap streams and genres. As Trevor Hall had done earlier, he too seemed to have an aura of integrity around his presence and even though hip hop and rap are not the genres of my choice, I was overwhelmed with his passion and expertise and enjoyed every minute of the show.

Matisyahu’s lead guitarist, Aaron Dugan, attended Bucks County Community College for music in 1997. He studied Jazz Improvisation and Composition/fundamentals with Ben Schacter and Jon Sheridan. In 1998 he attended the New School for Social Research Jazz and Contemporary Music program in New York City. He studied with George Garzone, Steve Cardenas, Ritchie Beirach, , Vic Juris, and Peter Bernstein. I was positioned right in front of Aaron so had a great angle and perspective on his performance which was truly excellent.

Matisyahu and Trevor Hall

At about 1:00 a.m. my wish came true and Matisyahu welcomed Trevor to the stage, their voices blended magically and the show went to yet another level, I was spell bound by the beauty of these two powerful and peaceful young musicians.

The band was driven with an intensity that can only occur when a dynamic duo combines like this drummer and bass player. The drummer, Skoota Warner was born and raised in Newnan, Georgia.At the age of nine, his interest in playing drums led him to the church. Gospel played a soulful foundation for “The Funky Drummer”. By the age of eleven he was touring the south with various then up-and coming Gospel groups. After high scholl Skoota moved to New York, and after a few short weeks in New York, Skoota was spotted playing with street break dancers by Pepeu Gomes and Baby Consuelo, Brazil’s top Pop artists at that time. At age 18, Skoota left for Brazil with Pepeu and Baby where he lived for two years playing live rock shows and recording several albums with Pepeu and other top Brazilian artists.

Skoota returned to New York, at which time he landed consecutive gigs with the likes of such Blues greats as Johnny Copeland, Johnny Johnson, and the following year, Skoota joined the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night House Band. 1998 hallmarked Skoota’s ascending career when New York’s premier studio drummer, Omar Hakim, chose him to be his drummer for the Rhythm Deep Project in support of Omar’s solo recording. Omar said “Skoota nails it! He’s a drummer’s drummer.“

The other side of the dynamic duo is the young bass player, Jason Fraticelli is a Philadelphia based bassist. He comes from a very musical family in Puerto Rico and thus started playing at a very young age. He spent time there on his grandparents’ farm studying the Quattro – a traditional 10-stringed instrument – with his grandfather. His first group, at 10, was with his Dad and his Uncle, called Elysium, where Jason played drums. Elysium was a fusion of Latin and rock, with Beatle-esque vocals. After high school, Jason attended Bucks Community College where he unfortunately met Matisyahu’s guitarist Aaron Dugan. They both transferred to The New School in NYC and Jason studied with Reggie Workman, George Garzone, Cecil McBee, and Jane Ira Bloom.

Jason’s entire body rocked continuously in huge arcs as he anchored the bottom and hooked tightly into Skoota’s beat.
At about 2:00 a.m. Matisyahu welcomed his protégé to the stage a young man named Nosson Zand who proceeded to steal the hearts of the crowd, what a big voice and stage presence.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 2:45 pm. It is filed under Live music reviews, Past shows, Photography and tagged with Harry O's, Matisyahu, Park City. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.