A festive holiday showcase from the fabulous Lauren Vilmain and Blake Shaw featuring Jon K. Eldridge III on piano and Christopher Jensen on the drums.
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Vocalist Lauren Vilmain is a graduate of Drake University. She majored in vocal performance with a minor in musical theatre under guidance of Professor Leanne Freeman-Miller. In her studies she fell in love with both the thrill of live performance and the beauty of self-expression. She has worked as a vocalist locally at StageWest Theatre Company and internationally in Viterbo, Italy. While being classically trained, Lauren also dove into musical theater repertoire. After her studies she found a challenging and deep love for American Jazz music. She performs locally with NOLA Jazz Band as well as her Duo/Trio/Quartet. She is proud to work with some of the best musicians in the Des Moines area and to collaborate with them for her personal projects.
Blake Shaw is an upright/electric bassist, composer & arranger, bandleader and private lessons teacher originally from Lisbon, Iowa who now resides in Iowa City. Shaw studied with John Hall on double bass at the age of 17 with encouragement from his high school band director Roger DeYoung after becoming familiar with electric bass a few years before. He started his college career in the fall of 2008 at Kirkwood Community College and studied double bass with Jeanette Welch. He moved on to the University of Iowa to pursue a Bachelor’s of Music in classical double bass performance studying with professor Volkan Orhon and completing that degree in 2013. After a brief cruise ship gig in Australia, with the P&O Australia cruise line, following his BM degree Shaw came back to the US to start a Master of Arts degree at UI under the supervision of John Rapson, Damani Phillips, James Dreier and Steve Grismore while acting as one of the jazz department’s teaching assistants. Currently Shaw teaches general music at the Hiawatha and Cedar Rapids Day School’s along with touring and gigging throughout the year.
Shaw’s influences come from various genres and instrumentalists. He has made it his mission to become diverse and proficient in many different contexts. His experience stretches from jazz, rock, classical, bluegrass, to latin, funk, R&B, and anything in between. His main bass influences have been but aren’t limited to Dave Holland, Christian McBride and John Clayton. Current bands Shaw is booking with include but aren’t limited to (click for links): The Blake Shaw Quintet, Thrio, Goose Town, PSA, Elizabeth Moen, River Glen, and The Clinton St House Band. You can also find Shaw subbing in Christopher Merz’s Very Happy Band as well as Flash in a Pan. Side-musician projects include Dana T’s bands, the Muscatine Community Orchestra and Eric Thompson’s Fun Time music Hour.
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None of us at Noce are taking your health and safety lightly. We are taking a very carefully curated approach to this new process, & promise to keep a diligent eye on our operations as we continue down this road.
Whether it's with the masks, the temperatures taken at the door, or the spaced out tables, it may feel incredibly different than before all of this began. The good news is that once you're in your seat with a cocktail in hand & a great band on the stage, you'll have everything you need for another great night at Noce.
View our full policy here
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In addition to our live audience performance in Noce Jazz & Cabaret, this show will be streamed live via Facebook and Youtube beginning at 7PM on the night of the show.
Noce is gladly accepting contributions in lieu of our usual cover for shows through the following portals - https://cash.app/$nocedsm - https://paypal.me/nocedsm
