Newtown Resident Roger Ball To Perform At Flagpole Radio Café  

The Newtown Cultural Arts Commission is pleased to announce the Roger Ball Quintet will be the guest artist for the December 4 edition of The Flagpole Radio Café. The café is presented in the theater at Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street. Showtime is 7 pm.

Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for students and senior citizens, and are on sale at FlagpoleProductions.org. Additional information is also available through email, at info@FlagpoleProductions.org, or by calling 203-364-0898.

Roger Ball is a resident of Newtown, and a founding member of the acclaimed jazz funk ensemble Average White Band.

“I remember listening to the Average White Band in my youth,” says Flagpole Café Executive Director Martin Blanco. “Not only were they an integral part of the popular music landscape of the time, but their music helped introduce jazz to a generation of listeners.

“Roger Ball is a great saxophone player and yet another accomplished artist who resides in Newtown,” he added. “We are excited to have his ensemble perform in our show and help us celebrate the holiday season.”

Mr Ball has been playing jazz and funk to international audiences for over thirty years. In addition to playing the saxophone, Mr Ball is a keyboardist, composer and arranger.

The Roger Ball Quintet features its namesake on alto sax, John Fumasoli on trombone, Nick Bariluk on piano, Henry Lugo on bass, and Thierry Arpino on drums, performing an exciting mix of jazz in a funk vein, jazz standards and original songs.

While studying architecture at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, he met Malcolm “Molly” Duncan and Alan Gorrie. The three of them relocated to London and later joined forces in 1971 with Onnie McIntyre, Hamish Stuart and Robbie McIntosh to form the highly acclaimed and much beloved Average White Band.

These six Scots were an unlikely group to be successful playing American-styled funk, but went on to be nominated for three Grammy Awards in the Rhythm & Blues category. Mr Ball was the principal composer of “Pick up the Pieces,” which topped the US Billboard charts in February 1975 (and has been covered by many musicians, and used in television programs, films and commercials). “Cut the Cake,” also released in ’75, also topped the Billboard charts.

Mr Ball went on to co-write a total of 43 songs for Average White Band, many of which have been sampled and used by musicians including the Beastie Boys, TLC, Too Short, Ice Cube and Arrested Development. This past summer, he and “Molly” Duncan, also known as The Dundee Horns, reunited for a performance in his home country of Scotland.

Flagpole Radio Café is an engaging variety show created by Jim Allyn, Mr Blanco and Barbara Gaines in conjunction with Newtown Cultural Arts Commission. Performances feature music by Mr Allyn and the Radio Café Orchestra, a dynamic ensemble created for the show, and radio style comedy sketches by the hyperbolically named Flagpole Shakespeare Repertory Theatre.

The Café is hosted by musician and radio personality Chris Teskey. Each show features a musical guest artist such as Tom Chapin, Peter Yarrow, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Vanesse Thomas and Yale’s internationally acclaimed male choir The Whiffenpoofs.