Cyclo — a Rome-based jazz quartet featuring William Pavia Lenihan, director of jazz studies in the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences — will perform a concert of original compositions and improvisations at 8 p.m. Nov. 19 in Steinberg Auditorium.
An accomplished jazz and classical guitarist, Lenihan has traveled and performed extensively throughout Italy and Europe. His numerous recordings include Spirti del Mare, a collaboration with Italian pianist Antonio Figura that pays tribute to the haunting sounds of the sea in Sicily, the region of both their families’ roots.
After recording Spirti del Mare, Lenihan and Figura formed Cyclo with bass player Alberto Amato and Marco Barsanti, a well-known Florentine drummer. Lenihan performs with the group in Italy during December and January and throughout the summer, when the group tours Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
Lenihan says of their music, “The cantabile (singing quality) of Italian melody joins with the harmonic language and aesthetics of American and European jazz, the traditions of classical music, and influences from elsewhere in the new musical spectrum, to form the expressive and original musical voice of Cyclo.”
For the St. Louis concert, virtuoso bassist Tom Kennedy — who recently toured with the Dave Weckl Band, featuring jazz legend Chick Corea — will substitute for Amato. Lenihan and Kennedy have a long history of performing together in traditional and modern jazz styles.
In addition, Kennedy will perform with his own quartet at 8 p.m. Nov. 17, as part of the Jazz at Holmes series. Figura and Barsanti will host master classes during the week of Nov. 14.
The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 935-5508 or e-mail wlenihan@wustl.edu.