Denia Ridley & The Marc Devine Trio
Vocalist Denia Ridley and pianist Marc Devine have been collaborating musically for over 15 years! After meeting during a stint with a popular Austin, TX jump blues band, Denia joined Marc Devine’s jazz trio and performed regularly for the next 10 years. Devine, who studied with the great trumpeter Clark Terry and still studies with bebop legend Barry Harris, relocated to pursue his passion for jazz in NYC while Ridley followed in the footsteps of her mentor, the great vocalist Donna Hightower by moving to Europe where she currently resides in Nice, France. Marc Devine performs regularly in NYC with some of the top jazz musicians on the scene and hosts a weekly jam session which has gained a reputation for being one of the best and most straight ahead sessions in the city. The band tonight is an international band that has been touring together in Europe for the past two years featuring French born but long-time NYC drummer Renaud Penant and the young Italian jazz bassist Gian Paolo Bertone performing swingin’ jazz classics and American songbook standards.
Renaud Penant has performed in virtually in every major jazz club in Paris (New Morning, Duc des Lombards, Sunset, Petit Opportun, Manhattan Jazz Club, Sunset), in various Jazz Festivals and also played in Germany and Italy.
In New York he has had long term regular engagements at Smoke Jazz Club and Smalls Jazz Club, as well as at the now famous American Legion Post 398 in Harlem.
Gian Paolo Bertone is a double bass player from Sarzana (La Spezia), Italy. After playing piano for 10 years, at the age of 15, he started to play electric bass and later switched to double bass. He studied in Rome in a Jazz Academy called “Percentomusica” and graduated in 2012. He plays with musicians from NY and Italy such as Tom Kirkpatrick, Marc Devine, Denia Ridley, Renaud Penant, Ben Paterson, Sara Maghelli, Andrea Papini, Alberto Benicchi, Daniele Gorgone, Alberto Chiozzi, Tina May and more. He stayed in New York for two months in 2015 and studied with Ari Roland and Neal Miner. He is a regular student of Barry Harris’s workshop. He has played in Italy, USA, Poland, France, Holland, Germany, and Morocco.