Join us as we welcome The Scooches back to The River House!
The Scooches play an eclectic mix of country, bluegrass, western swing, rockabilly, blues, traditional jazz, dixieland, old-time music, folk, roots music & Americana.
Over the past ten years, The Scooches (formally, Banjo Nickaru) has built a solid following in the Eastern U.S. with a half dozen tours while also playing such prestigious events such as NBC affiliate: KSHB Kansas City Live (while at Folk Alliance 2018), Kansas City Folk Fest main stage, Clear Water (Great Hudson River Revival) (2020), Falcon Ridge Fest, NERFA Semi-Formal (2017), NERFA DJ Showcase (2019), John Platt's WFUV Sunday Supper & On Your Radar, Blue Plate Special, WMOT Finally Friday, WNCW Studio B Sessions, WoodSongs, the Mid-Winter Folk Fest at Club Passim, TV show: "Horses Sing None Of It," Westchester County Round Up, IsIs Music Hall, Blue Plate Special, Extended Play Sessions, Relix and APAP. Formerly known as Banjo Nickaru & Western Scooches' Get Us Out Of Fearland was #2 album on Folk International Radio DJ chart.
Recently The Scooches were featured in the first hour (2nd act) of The "virtual" Clear Water festival (Great Hudson River Revival) twice and featured at the 2020 virtual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in The Big Orange Tarp.
*The Scooches core duo (Nick Russo & Betina Hershey) will be featured in the *new TV series: Billy Buys Brooklyn (on Discovery Channel and international networks)
Tickets: $15 at the door/day of
PRESALE TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT - TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR
Food and drinks will be available for purchase.
Bios:
Nick Russo (Banjo Nickaru) performs as a sideman with many artists, including Paul McCartney, Jon Batiste (Colbert Show), Deep Singh (tabla player with Sting, Robert Plant, Katy Perry), Zeb Bangash, Russell Hall's band, Alphonso Horne, The Hot Sardines, comedian, Joe Piscopo, late great Jimmy McGriff and other artists.
Nick has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America, PBS Masterpiece, The Chaperone and Sam Mendes' Away We Go and was called to be the music director and guitarist for Jon Bellion. Recently, Nick played with an orchestra on a video shoot for Princess Anne (daughter of Queen Elizabeth), performed NYC virtual Summer Stage 2021 with Russell Hall and C Anthony Bryant and created/shot two JamPlay/TrueFire blues guitar video courses (released March 2021).
Betina Hershey, Vocalist/dancer/guitarist/composer, has toured the U.S. and the world as Meg in National tour of Phantom of the Opera and playing West Side Story world tour (Italy-Lebanon-Japan), appearing at City Center as Fleta in Iolanthe and Isabel in The Pirates of Penzance.
Hershey can be seen in the Julia Roberts feature film Mona Lisa Smile and Disney's Enchanted. Betina performed live on WFUV radio and at the Bottom Line in New York City.
Betina tours with The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players across the U.S. and in Canada. Hershey has also taught in Japan, Korea and in Bermuda, being featured on Bermuda national television and on the front cover of their newspaper. For the last 17 years Betina has been composing original children’s musicals as director of the Garden Players Musical Theatre program.
Miles Griffith’s non-traditional use of the voice as a percussive instrument, combined with an uncanny harmonic sense has made him a prime choice for many musicians.
In 1994, he played the lead role of “Jesse” in Wynton Marsalis’, celebrated Blood On The Fields, the specially commissioned jazz oratorio, which premiered at Lincoln Centers’ Alice Tully Hall. Griffith also participated on the recording, which was released on Sony Music in mid 1997 to end Marsalis’ Pulitzer Award and Grammy winning world tour.
His impressive resume also includes stints with Max Roach, Reggie Workman, Carl Allen, Bill Lee, T.S. Monk, Barry Harris, Tommy Campbell, Jon Hendricks, Cassandra Wilson, Wilber Morris, Burhan Ocal, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Kirk Nurock, Craig Harris, poet Sekou Sundiata, Michael Jefry Stevens and Miles Griffith/Tony Pancella Quintet, Toshiko Akioshi, Heidi Martin, Tony Reedus, Matjaz Mikuletic, Drago Gajo, Mervyn E. Griffith, Toine Thys, Jure Pukl, Balage Horvath, Janos Nagy, Roger Vanha, Black Coffee Renato Svorinic, Jadran Chicco, Matija Dedic, Vered Dekel, Ron Vincent, David Pleasant, DJ Robert G Roy, DJ Raphneck, Tomi Puric, Orrin Evans, Hospital Audiences, Andreas Grosskopf, Ratko Zjaca, Nick Russo, Nick Hempton, Ken Foley, Ahmed Abdullah’s Diaspora, Miles Griffith/Andy Lukas Group, Andrei Kondakov, Fabio Morgera, Daniel Noesig, Anton Feinig, Mario Gonzi, Jeff Lederer, John Ellis, Tony Lakatos, Jack Walrath, Theo Bleckmann, JD Walter, Janis Siegel, Judy Niemack, Cameron Brown, Billy Hart, Jeanfrancois Prins, Don Sickler, Marion Cowings, Jay Clayton, Mary LaRose, Gregg August, Art Lilliard, Ron Carter, Billy Higgins, Christian McBride, Malika, Zarra, Gretchen Parlato, Jo Lawry, Becca Stevens, Sachal Vasandani, Andy Bragen, Roy Hargrove, Stephen Scott, Ari Roland, William Ash, Gregory Hutchinson, Johnaye Kendrick, Sasha Perry, Justin Robinson, Jimmy Heath, Kevin Mahogany, Benny Green, Akim Funk Buddha, Common, Q-Tip, Charenee Wade, Bilal, Emily Braden, Lisa Sokolov, Sir Roland Hanna, Pamela Baskin Watson, Michael Arnella and James Williams’ ICU.
Griffith has been a jazz vocal educator for 35 years, having a Masters of Jazz
Vocal Performance Degree from Queens College, Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from
Long Island University and teach as a private instructor. May of 2012-2013, Griffith taught for the New York Pops organization. June of 2011 through June 2012, Griffith worked as a Vocal Jazz Instructor at New York Jazz Academy. He also taught as the Vocal Jazz Professor at Queens College Jazz Department from February 2008 to February 2009 and 7 years at City College Jazz program. Griffith taught 3 years at Columbia University (2005-2008), on and off for 22 years at the New School Jazz and Contemporary Music, 6 years at Jazzinty in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, 1 year in Izola, Slovenia with the Plesni Dance School and 1 year at the Groningen Conservatore in the Netherlands. In August 2022 Miles will begin teaching as the new adjunct jazz vocalist instructor at Western Connecticut State University. He brings his performance energy to the education realm to excite, encourage and empower his students.
Dr. David Pleasant, internationally renowned solo percussionist and performing artist, has dedicated 40+ years developing and proliferating Early African American and Gullah Geechee expressive traditions. As an award winning composer, performer and scholar, Dr. Pleasant has generated 17 books along with numerous articles and published presentations on the subject.
A veteran Broadway, TV and recording artist, his creative works span Jazz, Gospel, Hip Hop, and folk music genres in Grammy, Tony and Joseph Jefferson awarded productions. David Pleasant is a “trailblazer” and “true griot” of his time.
Pleasant’s consultancies and collaborations are far ranging, broad-based and include artists from Audra McDonald, Wynton Marsalis, Chadwick Boseman and Step Afrika! to institutions from the Smithsonian, American Museum of Natural History, Schomburg Center to Ministry of Education, Rome, Jamaica National School of Music and numerous performing arts venues.
