Vignola's jass quintet, Gypsy Grass, to make first Orange County appearance

Sugar Loaf —Local music mavens will get a chance to hear Frank Vignola and his quintet, Gypsy Grass, in their first Orange County performance, on October 13, at the Lycian Center Pavilion, in Sugar Loaf ,on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. “Jaw dropping! Just jaw dropping!” exclaimed one recent patron at Sugarloaf Music’s guitar summit at the Lycian Performing Arts Center. After a tour de force performance by two elder statesman of the jazz guitar, Bucky Pizzarelli and Gene Bertoncini, a lot of folks were just shaking their heads in disbelief after hearing the playing of the ‘youngster’ of the group, Warwick resident, Frank Vignola. They haven’t been the only one’s impressed by this rising guitar virtuoso. Jazz mandolin icon David Grisman has enlisted Vignola for his latest tour. And in short timeThis not so hidden treasure has been living in Warwick for several years. At the encouragement from fellow musician, bassist Mark Egan, Vignola moved his family into Orange County from Long Island. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that local builder Ikuo Matsui alerted Sugarloaf Music Series, the county’s longest running jazz presenters, of his presence in the community. Vignola had for years been working with such icons as Les Paul, Mark O’Connor, Ringo Starr, and Lionel Hampton. A little more than two years ago when Sugarloaf Music first presented Vignola with his former group, The Frank and Joe Show, the response was so favorable, that the series organizers were compelled to have him return. And return he did--- to a sell-out crowd this time featuring Warwick native and founder of The Jazz Mandolin Project, Jaime Masefield. “Frank Vignola is the perfect guitarist really. He knows every chord under the sun; he can drive the rhythm so hard that you really don’t need any more of a rhythm section. And then when he begins his solos, one knows immediately that the music making is on the highest plane…Frank is a soloist to the very extreme limits that you would assume a soloist could ever be: a genuine virtuoso!” says Mark O’Connor. Tickets for the Oct. 13 performance can be purchased at Village Music 31 Main Street, Warwick (988-5225) and Van Gelder Music, 562 Route 17M, Monroe (774-4300). For more information and reservations, call 258-3019 or visit www.sugarloafmusic.org.