Max Schwartz Presents: Mayberry @ The Back Room

Max Schwartz and Abbi Berry’s newest collaboration “Mayberry” will have their Bay Area debut at The Back Room.

From mayberryband.com:

Max Schwartz and Abbi Berry first met in February, 2016 as members of the Grammy Camp – Jazz Session, a program made up of about 30 high school students chosen by the GRAMMY Foundation to perform a week’s worth of gigs in Los Angeles, including the GRAMMY nominee reception and the official GRAMMY Celebration at the LA Convention Center. Abbi was the lead soprano in the Grammy Choir, and Max, the bassist in the Grammy Combo.

The met again the following summer as featured members of the 2016 Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, an all-star group put together by the Monterey Jazz Festival. Together they performed around Monterey County and then flew to Japan for a two-week tour. After working together in a couple of settings, they realized how much they enjoyed making music together and decided to form their own group.

The idea behind Mayberry was for these two to have a creative outlet, with only one rule: no music is off-limits! They draw influence from Max’s background in bluegrass music, Abbi’s love for pop, and their formal education as jazz musicians, but they love the challenge of figuring out how to arrange new music for only two performers.