MacPhail marimba instructor Jenny Klukken brings her fabulous Brazilian jazz trio to Hot Spot Music, thanks to a grant through the MacPhail Center for Music and the McKnight Foundation. (Photo credit: Shelly Peters Photography)
$5 at the door for admission.
Marimba Nova is a trio made up of Jenny Klukken on marimba, Robert Everest on vocals and guitar, and Andrew Turpening on drums. With its unique instrumentation, this ensemble extends the boundaries of Brazilian music by embracing new sounds from the marimba. In fact, “Marimba Nova” translates in Portuguese to “New Marimba”.
Jenny Klukken plays marimba with virtuosity and creativity that gives her a truly unique voice as an artist. She specializes in merging her classical marimba background with world, jazz, and folk styles of music. Jenny is an endorsed artist by Marimba One and performs as a co-founding member of Matra, a local percussion-based group (www.matrapercussion.com). Jenny also teaches percussion locally at the MacPhail Center for Music and Chanhassen High School. Recently in the spring of 2017, Jenny was awarded the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council “Next Step” grant to travel to Paris and study marimba and composition with the legendary Eric Sammut. Learn more and follow Jenny at www.jennyklukken.com or on Facebook.
Robert Everest is a locally acclaimed and globally appreciated guitarist and singer/songwriter who draws inspiration from genres all over the world. Everest has studied and performed in several countries including Brazil, Spain, Italy, Ecuador, France, Argentina, Mexico, Cuba, and Ghana and Togo, West Africa. His degree work in linguistics and over 30 years of experience with foreign languages allow him to faithfully interpret a vast and multilingual international repertoire. He has recorded 5 CDs as a solo performer and with different ensembles, two of them dedicated solely to Brazilian music.
The coupling of marimba and guitar is interlaced with Andrew Turpening on the drums and percussion. Andrew specializes in the music of Cuba and Brazil; he studied music at Havana, Cuba's acclaimed National School of Art and has performed with world renowned salsa artists from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Andrew is also a skilled producer and composer and a recipient of over a dozen grants, fellowships, and residencies for his compositions. Along with several Latin groups, Andrew is the drummer of the Robert's ensemble 'The Robert Everest Exhibition'.