Mon, Nov 18 - 8pm - $10

Mehran is an Iranian born Flamenco/Rock guitarist who resides in the states. His love for music started at the age 9 with the piano and keyboards and at age 14 he started to study the guitar. After performing with so many different Rock bands in Chicago including "No Romeo" which took him as far as performing in LA at the whisky Go Go, Roxy and Spice theatre, Mehran discovered Flamenco and his love affair with this music took him to Spain to study with several Maestros of Flamenco guitar. Originally he learned the traditional style but then he studied Jazz and transitioned into the modern Flamenco/Jazz. On his first solo CD "Angels of Persepolis" (2010), Mehran composed music with a unique sound that evokes a nostalgic blend of exotic worldliness. As he was composing this music he drew inspiration from the recent movement in Iran toward democracy and human rights. Following this release Mehran gained international attention from many music writers, music magazines and radio stations. "Angels of Persepolis" was reviewed and received high praises by likes of Barry Cleveland, editor of Guitar player magazine and so many other publications such as Vintage Guitar magazine (Jan 2011 issue), Progression Magazine, IO Pages of Holland and UK's Pipeline magazine to name a few. Mehran was featured as well in the Feb 2011 issue of Vintage guitar Magazine in a full page write up and later featured in the Worldview program of NPR-Wbez. "Angels of Persepolis" has been getting radio play in many World music, college and PBS Radio stations globally. Recently Mehran has formed a new group and released his new Cd "Subterranea" (2012) with a more progressive/psychedelic and space Rock sound. The lineup includes Sam Werk on drums, Krushanu Joseph on the bass and Carl Kennedy on the keyboard. The music is a lot more focused and the entire Cd is recorded with the same 4 musicians. The sound can be described as Pink Floyd meets Flamenco. Since its release, "Subterranea" has been getting the attention of many music critiques from Progressive Rock to World Music and Heavy Metal magazines, websites and blogs. Most of the coverage is from Europe and the cd is getting lots of spins on European and American radio and many college stations. 

Alfonso Ponticelli guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and leader of Chicago's Swing Gitan, comes from a musical family and was inspired by the passionate music of Italy during childhood vacations to his paternal family's home in Naples. At 18, Alfonso began his musical career playing in a variety of bands including R & B, Chicago blues, rock, folk, big bands, and bebop jazz combos throughout the country. Along the way, he managed to also earn a Bachelor of Science in jazz studies from DePaul University. In 1994, he showed his versatility by winning the National Mountain Dulcimer Championship at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival. That same year, Alfonso began studying flamenco guitar -- in Spain with Rafael Riqueni and Manolo Sanlucar, and in New Mexico with Pedro Cortes and Chuscales. During his first of many visits to the Festival Django Reinhardt in Samois-sur-Seine, France in 1996, he had the pleasure of camping next to and being schooled by Babik Reinhardt and many other legendary gypsy players. Then in 2004, Alfonso Ponticelli & Swing Gitan was invited to play at the legendary festival. Alfonso and the band have also been featured at DjangoFest Northwest, DjangoFest Crested Butte, the Midwest Gypsy Swing Fest in Madison, Wisconsin and Django a Go Go in New York. Alfonso has been sharing the gypsy spirit in Chicago for over 20 years, including performing a weekly gig at the famous Green Mill jazz club (since 2004), teaching a weekly Gypsy Jazz class at the Old Town School of Folk Music (since 1995), producing the annual Chicago Gypsy Jazz Festival, now in its 11th year, which has featured many acclaimed national and international artists; and to mark Django's centennial birthday, a 2010 commission from the City of Chicago to produce and perform a concert at Millennium Park's Pritzker Pavilion for more than 10,000 people. Alfonso is fortunate to have played with many of Chicago's greats including Eric Schneider, Howard Levy, Larry Novak, Don Stille, Rusty Jones, Pat Mallinger, John Bany, Tony Ballog, Nicolae Feraru, Alex Udvary, Johnny Frigo and Pansequito (hijo), among others.