Bria Skonberg Quintet Live in Concert

The Bria Skonberg Quintet recently visited an art gallery in snowy Utica for a memorable performance. Bria Skonberg has grown as a musician, in style, proficiency, and presence, since she burst on the scene over a decade ago with two nations of traditional jazz devotees basking in her broadening fame. The broader audience she has reached can be seen at the mainstream jazz festivals that have booked her in recent years. They could also be seen within the main gallery of the Munson Williams Proctor Institute this January. The hall was filled with 390 ticket holders and I would guess several dozen others. A nearly full house but comfortably so.  At the beginning of the second set, Bria took advantage of the unique set up of the room playing her horn clearly from the darkness of the rear balcony and finding her way casually down the twin staircase from the upper concourse to the stage. She has cultivated an excellent stage presence with appeal both to local concert series subscribers, completely unfamiliar with her, and the several dozen travelers from across the state that have watched her for years. She opened the concert with Louis Armstrong's "Hotter Than That", played with a welcoming New Orleans feel centered on her trumpet. She followed that up with a bluesier and more modern "Down in the Deep" giving the floor to clarinetist Patrick Bartley who has accompanied he