Ethan Setiawan and Minnie Jordan

Continuing our series featuring students from Berklee College of Music.
Free will offering, $5-10+ cash donation appreciated.

Ethan Setiawan is a Boston-based mandolin player who’s won such accolades as the National Mandolin Championship, the RockyGrass Mandolin Championship, and a full-ride scholarship to Berklee College of Music. An involved member of the Boston alt-bluegrass scene, his path has wended its way through traditional bluegrass, to Bach partitas, to free jazz, and his debut full-length album is made up of original tunes drawing from all these wells. The album was conceived and crafted as a whole; the tunes were written for the band, who were chosen for the tunes. To write the album, he dove deep into the compositional techniques and tunes of some of the pioneers of the current wave of bluegrass: Bela Fleck, Matt Flinner, David Grisman and Mike Marshall, to name a few. After months of writing, discarding, and editing, a body of tunes emerged as clear candidates for a record. Over several years, the community around Ethan in the Northeast and Midwest evolved into the perfect band for a project such as this. The band features Julian Pinelli and Avery Merritt on fiddles, Sam Leslie on guitar, and Jacob Warren playing bass. Skilled engineer and mandolinist Dan Bui of Twisted Pine engineered and mixed the album. The recording process took place at the Record Company in Boston, and the resulting album contains close friends and bandmates, a batch of carefully crafted tunes, and the freshest grooves in bluegrass. He has shared the stage with Julian Lage, Darrell Scott, Bryan Sutton, Mike Marshall, Tony Trischka, Darol Anger, Casey Driessen, the Steel Wheels, Don Stiernberg, Matt Flinner, and Jacob Jolliff, and has performed at venues such as Savannah Music Festival, IBMA’s Wide Open Bluegrass Streetfest, Prairie Home Companion, the Walnut Valley Festival, the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Freshgrass, the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, the Red Wing Roots Music Festival, and Club Passim. He’s a member of bands Theory Expats, The Leafless, Corner House, The Harmolodic String Band, and OctoPladd (notloB Music concert #182, 3/23/16).

Minnie Jordan is a talented cross-genre violinist currently splitting her time between Massachusetts and Texas. Although violin is her primary instrument, she is also a skilled vocalist, mandolinist, and tenor guitar player.

Growing up on a ranch in rural Texas, Minnie was immersed in the sounds of Western Swing and Texas fiddle. She began playing publically at age 9 in a duo with her younger sister, Ella. The two busked and played Texas Oprys, honing their chops and ultimately winning the youth talent competition at the renowned Old Settlers Music Festival, where they showcased in 2011. In 2014 Minnie was awarded use of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, made by Jonathan Cooper, and awarded at the Mark O’Connor String Conference.

Minnie continues to perform at festivals and other venues in both the Boston area and central Texas. She has also worked as a session musician, and recorded the theme song for the NYC Employees Deferred Compensation ad series. She has performed on festival stages at FreshGrass, MEOWcon, and the Texas Music Jamboree.

Minnie has actively sought to expand her musical horizons by studying with some of music’s most gifted contemporary teachers and players, including Billy Contreras, Christian Howes, John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, and Buddy Spicher, among others. Her efforts led to her accepting a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music. While there, she was admitted into the prestigious Berklee Global Jazz Institute, where she receives instruction from preeminent players in the genre as well as participating in community outreach efforts.

In addition to being a talented musician, Minnie has won awards for her visual and textile art and academic achievement.

Since 2007, notloB Music has presented close to 200 Folk, Old-Time, Blue Grass, Progressive String, Celtic and World concerts in unique venues throughout the greater Boston area.

Website - https://www.notlobmusic.com/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/notloBParlourConcerts/

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