Larry Barker Quartet to perform at Smithgall Arts Center

GAINESVILLE - The Larry Barker Quartet is the last of five featured performers in the Evenings of Intimate Jazz series at the Arts Council Smithgall Arts Center.

The group will perform Saturday, May 19, at 8:00. Tickets are $30.00 each. For tickets call 770-534-2787 or visit www.TheArtsCouncil.net

Gainesville's own Larry Barker is a jazz pianist with an eclectic musical background. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Barker has earned a Bachelors degree in Music Education and a Masters degree in Jazz Performance. He is a veteran educator, currently teaching elementary music in the Gwinnett County Public Schools System. He has performed and/or recorded with Charles Glenn, the U. S. Army Band, the Glenn Miller Band, Tom Kennedy, Theo Peoples, Peter Mayer, The Drifters, and numerous others. For years, Barker has collaborated most often with vocalist Charles Glenn, resulting in one CD release (Offerings) and countless jazz club performances.

Since moving to Georgia in 2006, Barker has performed with Atlanta Acoustic Jazz, Atlanta Beat, Sam Skelton, Ken Watters, the Sweet Lu Quartet, FootLights, and regularly plays solo piano at Grapes & Hops Bistro in Flowery Branch.

Barker's influences on jazz piano include Oscar Peterson, Gene Harris, Michel Petrucciani, Bill Evans, Fred Hersch, George Shearing, Dave McKenna, Nat King Cole, Ray Kennedy, and Kenny Barron. His piano style is also shaped to a great degree by listening to the great vocalists such as Mel Torme', Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, John Pizzarelli, Kurt Elling, and instrumentalists such as Stan Getz, Ray Brown, Tom Kennedy, Clark Terry, Paul Desmond, and Jeff Hamilton.

Accompanying Barker are Dave Frackenpohl on guitar, Neal Starkey on bass and Clay Hulet on drums.

Dave Frackenpohl is an active jazz guitarist and composer/arranger in the Atlanta area.

Neal Starkey is an American jazz bassist residing in Atlanta.

Originally from Chicago, Clay Hulet performed regularly in that city's jazz scene. He now lives in Atlanta.