Fri Aug 7
World-renowned multi-instrumentalists and vocalists. The duo were Artists-In-Residence at NYC’s Symphony Space for the 2024-25 season and have toured the US and internationally together since 2019. Smithsonian Folkways artist Paxton presents Black folk music from nearly all the idioms including stride piano jazz from New Orleans to New York; deep blues on guitar and harmonica; rural music from the beginnings of Black arrival in America played on fiddle and banjo; ragtime; and other turn-of-the-century-music that gives the full breadth of pre-WWII Black music without lecturing, but rather inviting audiences to enjoy that music as it was given to him. Paxton transports his audiences not to a time, but to a state of mind that allows them to enjoy and internalize Black folk music, as has been the American experience for centuries. Lichtman is a world-traveling bandleader who is best known for running the famed trad-jazz jam sessions at Mona’s Bar in New York City. He is a masterful multi-instrumentalist (clarinet, mandolin, violin, and more). Paxton and Lichtman’s mutual love of the history, stories, and significance behind the music they play is apparent as they romp through energetic and engaging sets of acoustic blues, ragtime, Tin Pan Alley pop songs, 1920s jazz, twin fiddle hoe-downs, and original songs and compositions.