Boston Blow Up is a celebration of the rich jazz legacy (and vibrant present day) of the Boston Area. Jazz artists from Johnny Hodges to Gary Burton to Tony Williams to Danilo Perez are natives to or spent a significant part of their creative lives in Beantown, where the proximity of many Universities and Conservatories (including Berklee College of Music, where this band’s lineup are either faculty members or distinguished alumni or both), the rich natural beauty, and a passionate and engaged community of arts-lovers combine to form a fertile atmosphere for music. The band’s repertoire is drawn from artists with a significant connection to Boston, such as Herb Pomeroy, Jaki Byard, Larry Monroe, James Williams, and Boots Mussulli, as well as original compositions by band members.

At the Seacoast Jazz Festival Boston Blow Up is thrilled to feature Grammy-nominated vocalist Donna McElroy. From arranging for and touring and recording with such artists as Amy Grant, Reba McEntire, BeBe and CeCe Winans, and Garth Brooks, to her own solo albums and tenure as a sought after professor at Berklee, Donna brings her spectacular vocal talents, improvisational acumen, infectious (and often hilarious) stage presence, and versatile compositions to the Prescott Park stage. She received a Grammy nomination for her own pop-gospel album, Bigger World, and won a Dove award for her contribution to the inspirational compilation album, “Songs from the Loft.” She has appeared on The Tonight Show and the Grammy Awards, received a best actress award in 1993 for the Circle Players’ performance of Nunsense, and traveled throughout the world pursuing her musical and missionary work.
These days, enjoying her retirement and Emeritus status, Donna’s exploring many of the options she attained from years working in the music industry, and her goals are various including an autobiographical cookbook dedicated to the matriarchs in her upbringing. “Recipes for a Blessed Life” is being sent to publishers everywhere!

“Inventive, modern mainstream jazz pianist” (Jon Garelick, Boston Globe) Mark Shilansky (Piano) provides melodic improvisation and infectious compositions on his own and to a host of jazz luminaries, as well as to the classroom, as a professor at Berklee College of Music and the University of New Hampshire. Shilansky’s six recordings as a leader include 2007’s “Join the Club,” a mostly Latin Jazz affair featuring David Bowie saxist Donny McCaslin, and 2013’s “Fugue Mill,” the eponymous debut of his Jazz/Bluegrass/Celtic project featuring violin phenom Sara Caswell, and he is featured on over 60 recordings as a keyboardist, vocalist, composer/arranger, or producer, and in performance as band member for such artists as the New York Voices, Luciana Souza, and David Thorne Scott. As an artist he embraces the history of the styles in which he works, while seeking connections between them as a way of expressing a personal musical vision, characterized by lush harmonies, the exploration of the line between composition and improvisation, and an ever-present sense of humor. His works have been recorded by Robin McKelle, Kim Nazarian, and by Jazz All-State and College ensembles around the world.

Marshall Wood (bass) was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised in Washington, D.C., and moved to New England in 1979, where he quickly became one of the most sought after bassists in the area. His reputation as a swinging and sensitive musician landed him recording dates with Anita O’Day, Monty Alexander, Tommy Flanagan, Dave McKenna, Ruby Braff, Scott Hamilton, and Gray Sargent. Marshall Wood has enjoyed a comprehensive jazz career working with true jazz masters for over thirty-eight years including multiple performances, tours and recordings with: Tony Bennett, Big Joe Turner, Anita O’Day, Tony Bennett, Joe Pass, Gene Bertoncini, Gray Sargent, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Ruby Braff, Urbie Green, Phil Wilson, Al Cohn, Bud Freeman, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Randy Brecker, Tommy Flanaghan, Monty Alexander, Makoto Ozone, Nelson Riddle, Ralph Sharon, Phil Woods, Joe Williams, Dorothy Donegan, Marian McPartland and a host of others.

Les Harris Jr.(drums) is a 1983 graduate of the Berklee College of Music and is currently a faculty member at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Maine, and Phillips Exeter Academy. Les is the son of retired Berklee College of Music professor and drummer Les Harris Sr. and he began playing the drums at a young age under the tutelage of his father.  He was sitting in with jazz greats, Herb Pomeroy, Phil Wilson, John LaPorta, and Teddy Wilson by the time he was 14 and began playing professionally at 15 with Annie Bosteels’ trio. While attending Berklee, Les studied with Joe Hunt and Robert Kaufman and upon graduation studied with legendary drummer and educator Alan Dawson. From 1983-1996, Les was the drummer with the jazz vocal group, “The Ritz”, appearing on seven recordings and performing worldwide including engagements at The Sea Jazz Festival in Finland, The Blue Note Jazz Clubs in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Jakarta and NYC, The New Morning Club in Paris, The Village Vanguard and the Newport Jazz Festival in Japan. Les also toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra,(under the direction of Dick Johnson), saxophonist Scott Hamilton, (including performances at The Subway Club in Cologne and the Montreal Jazz Festival), and worked with Diana Krall‘s trio in Boston throughout the early 90’s. Les was a longtime member of the Tommy Gallant Trio, the Paul Broadnax Trio and has played with some of the best known artists in jazz, including Clark Terry, Milt Jackson, Phil Woods, Art Farmer, Annie Ross, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Marian McPartland, Jimmy Heath,  James Moody, Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan and Bobby Watson.

Jeff Stout  is one of the finest and busiest freelance jazz trumpeters in the New England area. A Boston area native, has played solo trumpet and recorded with the great “Buddy Rich Band”, Gary Burton, and Al Kooper and has appeared with such jazz greats as Mel Torme’, Buddy Tate, James Williams, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Joe Lovano, Curtis Fuller, John Scofield and Kurt Elling.

Danny Harrington (Baritone Sax)  recently retired as a Professor at Berklee College of Music, a position he held since 1978. Danny is the second member of the faculty to be given the title of Professor Emeritus. He was a member of the college’s Harmony Department, which teaches the theory of American popular music from the early 20th century to the present. Danny has been teaching and performing in the New England area since 1978. Before joining the faculty at Berklee College, Danny toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra under the direction of Buddy Morrow. Since then he has performed with Nick Brignola, Gary Burton, Herb Pomeroy, Gary Smulyan, Joe Lovano, Roger Rosenberg as well as leading his own group since 1980. Danny has recorded three CD’s as a leader and continues to perform throughout the New England area with his quartet, duo and as a solo clinician.

John Baboian (guitar) has been on the faculty at Berklee College of Music in Boston since 1980.  Before beginning his teaching career at Berklee, he received a Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Berklee and later a Masters Degree in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory. His compositions and arrangements have been heard on television shows “Walker, Texas Ranger”, UPN’s “Seven Days”, ABC’s “All My Children”, HBO’s “The Soprano’s”, and others. He has shared the stage with Tom Jones, Gary Burton, Alan Dawson, Joe Lovano, Bob Moses, Herb Pomeroy, Esperanza Spalding, Leni Stern, Phil Wilson, Warren Vache and many others. John has been a featured performer on over 20 recordings in a variety of musical styles.  Recent recordings include performances with “The Boston Big Band”, “The World Leaders”, “The Black Sea Salsa Band”.  Under his own leadership, John has released The “Be-Bop” Guitars & More! (2000) and “Freshly Painted Blues” (2007), featuring his all-faculty guitar ensemble from Berklee called The “Be-Bop” Guitars.  He recently returned from South Africa where his band played at the Cape Town Jazz Festival.

Sam Spear (alto sax) is a woodwind instrumentalist, composer, and music educator. In addition to her own group, she regularly performs with the Imagine Orchestra directed by Bill Banfield, the Michelle Tucker Quintet, the Mad Monkfish Orchestra directed by Peter Kenagy, and the New England Jazz Collaborative, among others. She also leads an active life as a composer and arranger with works being performed by groups including the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Imagine Orchestra, the New England Jazz Collaborative, and Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra. She writes works for a variety of instrumentations, styles, and experience levels with nearly 100 of her charts available on her sheet music store. Spear is a professor at Berklee College of Music where she teaches in the Contemporary Writing and Production Department and Five-Week Summer Performance Program, as well as an adjunct faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Gender equality in the jazz community has been a focus of Spear’s efforts. She serves on the board of Jazzhers, a non-profit “committed to shaping the future of jazz by helping young women and non-binary musicians become connected and feel empowered within the jazz community.” She presented her lecture Mary Lou Williams in the Age of #MeToo at the 2019 IAWM and FT&M15 joint conference. Her advocacy work has been featured in Downbeat Magazine’s February 2019 issue and in a news story on Boston’s local NPR station, WBUR. Spear co-founded Women in Jazz Collective, a student-run organization at Berklee College of Music with the mission of empowering female and non-binary jazz musicians. Spear holds a Master of Music in jazz saxophone performance from New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in saxophone performance and jazz composition from Berklee College of Music, where she attended on a Presidential Scholarship.