The 2nd Annual Rivertowns Jazz and Blues Festival—a 10-day, multi-venue multimedia musical celebration taking place between Friday June 5th and Sunday, June 14th in locations stretching along the Hudson River from Yonkers to Tarrytown—comes to Common Ground Coffeehouse on Friday, June 12th for a double bill by a pair of stellar guitarists: Pete Kennedy and Matt Munisteri.

Pete Kennedy is best known as a member of the folk rock duo, The Kennedys, a duo with his wife, rock singer-songwriter Maura Kennedy. Since forming in 1993, the Kennedys have toured all over the US and the British Isles, and put together a few bands along the way, most notably the Strangelings and The Stringbusters. They’ve released a string of CDs, and we’ve had the good fortune to work in the studio with great people like Nanci Griffith, Steve Earle, Roger McGuinn, Nils Lofgrin, Kelly Willis, and the Dixie Hummingbirds.

Prior to hitting the road as The Kennedys, Pete and Maura were both members of Nanci Griffith’s band. Pete played with Nanci from 1991 through 1993, and shared the lead guitar duties with Frank Christian, Leo Kottke, and Chet Atkins on her Grammy-winning CD, “Other Voices, Other Rooms” (Elektra). Other guests on the album included Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, John Prine, The Indigo Girls, and Emmylou Harris. Pete toured the US and Europe with Nanci, playing Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall in London, The Tonight Show, Central Park Summer Stage, and lots of other great venues. 

Also in the evening’s bill is The Matt Munisteri Trio, featuring guitarist, singer, and songwriter Matt Munisteri, bassist Danton Boller, and pianist Matt Ray.  Matt Munisteri is a Brooklyn native who grew up as almost assuredly the only bluegrass banjo player on his block. His lifelong interest in early American music led him from Country and Ragtime guitar, through Blues, to Tin Pan Alley and Jazz - all by the eighth grade. His own compositions and playing reflect this life-long devotion to the history of American Popular song - linking rural and urban, long gone and contemporary.

After graduating from Brown University, Munisteri moved back to Brooklyn where he soon became a busy full time freelance musician. For four years he was the guitarist and principal songwriter for the eclectic/retro band The Flying Neutrinos, and served as Music Director for the band’s 2000 release “The Hotel Child”. Produced by Tommy LiPuma (Diana Krall, George Benson, Natalie Cole) and Al Schmitt (Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand) the CD featured many of Munisteri’s songs and went on to reach number 6 on the Billboard Jazz charts.

As one of New York’s first-call vintage guitar stylists, and a bit of wild card, he’s regularly called upon to play on a wide range of CDs, television and radio commercials, and among his recent concert appearances are: Jazz at Lincoln Center with violinist Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing; Lincoln Center’s Avery Fischer Hall with Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra; Carnegie Hall with the New York Pops Orchestra and Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks; Switzerland with Kenny Davern and Ed Polcer; New Zealand and the States with Prairie Home Companion’s violinist Andy Stein; Europe with Jenny Scheinman and Rachelle Garniez; and several jazz festivals as a featured member of Steven Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra. His own band, Brock Mumford, has made several European tours, and plays to full houses in New York at Joe’s Pub and the Jazz Standard.

For further information on the 2nd Annual Jazz and Blues Festival, including a print ready schedule of all events, please visit out media partner, RivertownsGuide.com