New World Jazz Project at Adele’s in Carson City

Cafe at Adele’s welcomes Niall McGuinness and New World Jazz Project on Thursday as the Veranda Series continues as part of the 14th annual Jazz & Beyond Carson City Music Festival.

New World Jazz Project has become a perennial favorite in the annual Veranda Series, performing an array of jazz genres, from Afro-Jazz to Adult Contemporary and bebop.

The band features McGuiness on saxaphone, flute and percussion; George Tavoularis on piano; Kyle Rothschild on bass; Eric Finkelstein on drums; Eric Middleton, percussion; and the newest member, Trey Stone on guitar.

Each are accomplished in their own right and have played together for years.

“The same guys have been together a long time, so when we perform, there is a kind of telepathy thing that happens, where we’re effortlessly putting the correct punctuation in a song,” McGuinness said. “What we are seeing is the jazz audience getting older, and for the most part we don’t see young people following jazz, though there still is an audience, and they are a captive audience.”

NWJP released a new album, “On The Mark,” this year, featuring all original compositions, some that feel quite traditional, some that lyrically poke at current politics and all capturing the many nuanced interpretations that are jazz collectively.

During the past year, bandleader McGuinness has focused more on composing than performance.

“I left my house gig, and we have been doing some cool shows in Sonoma, Lake County and some wine tasting rooms, and playing this summer at Sunset Beach and Lakeshore (in Tahoe), but overall doing less performing,” McGuinness said. “I’ve gotten to an age where at 61, while the road gigs are a lot of fun and super groovy, I wanted to move forward on other things.”

His pursuit of ‘other’ things, has resulted in three placements of scores on three television shows and piqued his interest.

“It is challenging in that the music has to be written as an underscore; in other words, the music can’t be distractive to or overtake the dialogue,” he said. “Generally, all music on television and film is background so as not to take away from the visual, but rather to support it.”

McGuinness said this arena of writing for television is “a big pie as long as the quality is there.”

This line of work pays royalties, which for any artist is important.

And while there are many platforms that support disseminating music to the public, most are notorious for not paying artists well if at all.

“Pandora for instance pays a pittance,” he said. “What it does, though, is give us exposure, and after that it depends on whether the listener likes the music enough to buy and download it.”

NWJP has five albums available on its web site, and those albums have contributed to members receiving exposure that has lead to other opportunities. NWJP plays beginning at 6 p.m., and Adele’s will offer the Veranda menu.

“Cafe at Adele’s is a great venue with great food and drinks,” McGuinness said. “We always look forward to playing there and will be playing soft jazz.”

Adele’s is located at 1112 N. Carson St., Carson City. Reservation may be made by calling 775-882-3353.

For information about New World Jazz Project talent, projects, to purchase music or to book them, visit www.newworldjazzproject.com. To learn more about Carson’s Jazz & Beyond and performance schedule, visit www.jazzcarsoncity.com.