NEW HAVEN, CT - When Waterbury native Mario Pavone heard about John Coltrane's death in 1967, he left his briefcase on his desk at his industrial engineering job and immediately drove to the funeral. Six years earlier, Pavone had seen the legendary jazz great perform at the Village Vanguard.

After attending Coltrane's funeral, Pavone decided on the spot to dedicate his life to music.

Pavone will bring this passion to his performance on Long Wharf Theatre's Stage II Friday, April 4, at 9 p.m. as part of the theatre's Jazz on the Wharf series, which is programmed in association with Jazz Haven.

"Mario Pavone works his strings with the force and persistence of a sculptor chipping away at granite. The sheer dynamism of his playing is matched by the luster of his writing and arranging for small bands," said the New Yorker in describing Pavone's performance.

A bassist and composer, Pavone has collaborated with legendary innovators and today's most respected young musicians to consistently define the cutting edge of jazz for the past 40 years. He has anchored multiple jazz trios from 1968 to 1997, as well as co-leading a variety of notable ensembles.

And, unlike most artists whose careers span five decades, his most recent recordings are his most widely acclaimed, appearing on best-of-the-year lists from Slate.com, AllAboutJazz.com, AllAboutJazz-New York, Coda, the Village Voice, and the New York Times among others.

Although a long career in jazz awaited him, Pavone never received formal music training and didn't seriously encounter jazz until his freshman year at the University of Connecticut in 1958.

Growing up in Waterbury, he developed a fondness for black R&B vocal groups, as well as the 1940s movie music he heard as a child, but a college friend's jazz record collection - and his encounter with Coltrane - set him on the musical path.

With legendary guitarist/fellow Waterbury native Joe Diorio's encouragement, Pavone rented a bass in the summer of 1964 and began plucking out the percussive sound that would become his trademark.

Pavone was playing professionally by 1965. He toured Europe in 1968, and soon after he and became a part of New York's early '70s loft scene. By 1975, he was a founding member of the New Haven, Connecticut-based Creative Music Improvisers Forum (CMIF), which produced concerts and recordings that gave musicians more control over their own music.

In 1980, Pavone began an 18-year musical relationship with Thomas Chapin, which would lead to a number of collaborations, most notably Chapin's seminal trio with drummer Michael Sarin.

Around the same time, Pavone recorded his first titles as a leader, 1979's Digit and 1981's Shodo on his own Alacra label.

Since Chapin's untimely death in 1998, Pavone has recorded exclusively with his own bands, with the exception of his son Michael's 2001 debut, Trio (Playscape).

His discography now features 17 recordings as a leader/co-leader, including his acclaimed 2006 release, Deez to Blues, on Playscape Recordings, the label he has called home since 1999.

In addition to his ongoing activities as a bandleader, Pavone's artwork and photography have graced the covers of dozens of recordings since the mid '90s, and he currently serves as an educator, administrator and board member for the Litchfield Jazz Festival and Litchfield Summer Jazz Camp in Litchfield, Connecticut.

For more information about Pavone's career and music, visit his web site at www.mariopavone.com.

General admission tickets are $22 for performances and are available online; by phone at 203-787-4282; or in person at the Box Office, located at 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven,. All performances begin at 9 p.m.

ABOUT JAZZ HAVEN

JAZZ HAVEN is a non-profit [501c(3)] jazz information, education and presenting organization, whose mission is to nurture interest and participation in the art form of jazz music in the greater New Haven Area.

Jazz Haven is committed to the creation of year-round jazz performances anchored in New Haven, through encouragement and support of jazz musicians and audiences at all levels of experience, recognition and exposure. Jazz Haven uses jazz as a community-building vehicle to preserve, present and advance the culture of jazz.

The New Haven region is a hub for educational institutions, theatre, arts and cultural festivals, media outlets and entertainment venues that offer a variety of jazz events.

Jazz Haven, both as a presenter and facilitator, welcomes collaboration with other non-profit groups, civic organizations and businesses in the community, thus maximizing the potential and public awareness of this truly American art form.

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LONG WHARF THEATRE, founded in 1965, is recognized as a leader in American theater, producing fresh and imaginative revivals of classics and modern plays, rediscoveries of neglected works and a variety of world and American premieres.

More than 30 Long Wharf productions have transferred virtually intact to Broadway or off-Broadway, including the 2005 production of BFE by Julia Cho, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning plays Wit by Margaret Edson, The Shadow Box by Michael Cristofer, and The Gin Game by D.L. Coburn.

Long Wharf has received New York Drama Critics Awards, Obie Awards, the Margo Jefferson Award for Production of New Works, a Special Citation from the Outer Critics Circle, and the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.

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Steven Scarpa
Public Relations Manager
Long Wharf Theatre
222 Sargent Drive
New Haven, CT  06511
Direct: 203-772-8255
Fax: 203-776-2287
Email: steven.scarpa@longwharf.org

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