When:  Sunday February 26 2012 at 6:00 PM

Where: Endicott Performing Arts Center (EPAC), 102 Washington Ave. Endicott NY.

Admission : $9.00 General, $7.00 Seniors and Students.

                         $2.00 off admission price with a food donation for CHOW day of the show

Fun Fusion of Music Benefit Concert will shake the stage at EPAC

Come to the Endicott Performing Arts Center Sunday evening, February 26th at 6:00 pm for a Jazz/Rock/Fusion Concert featuring many local musicians and student vocalists performing arrangements of songs by Steely Dan, Chuck Mangione, Pat Metheny, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Weather Report, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jeff Beck, Stevie Wonder, New York Voices, Earth, Wind and Fire, and others!

“Fantasy Generations” is a brainchild of area musician/keyboardist David Cook, and will benefit CHOW, the Catholic Charities Hunger Outreach Warehouse, and the Union Endicott high school choir program.

Cook says “The name came from my son Ian. “Fantasy” was a band I created with my brother Todd, sister Lianne, keyboardist Ken Martinak, and trumpeter Mike Cuomo (and later with brother Michael) back in the latter 70’s through the early 80’s. It was unique in that we used keyboards and synthesizers almost exclusively (no guitars) to come up with the vast variety of sounds necessary. We also had strong vocal harmonies.”

“This project”, says Cook, “lends itself well to the “Fantasy” concept in that, aside from the keyboards, the guitarists involved will be utilizing synthesized sounds (including effects and percussion).The “Generations” part refers to the fact that the vocalists are my wife and children, brother Michael’s son Jamie, and some good friends of theirs (and ours).”

When asked what spurred the idea for the concert he smiled, saying “I primarily wanted to play with Burt Mueller, who’s very into synthesized guitar.” He continued, “His (Burt’s) involvement with the UE Jazz Choir also formulated my wanting to work with young vocalists.”

 David and Mueller did an impromptu 10 minute jam after one of the high school choir concerts and after that Cook began formulating the idea of performing a Showcase/Concert/Jam kind of gig at EPAC. He says EPAC is a great venue for this type of project, “playing Rock-Jazz fusion stuff I and other area musicians love to do, but have no real outlet for on a regular basis.”

David adds, “Going to the Chuck Mangione and New York Voices concerts at the Corning Museum of Glass Theater, and especially Pat Metheny’s 2011 Orchestrion concert at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center really got me moving on it.”

Cook has been playing professionally in the Triple Cities area since 1974  The bands he has been part of:  Fantasy (the band he headed), The Lewis-Cook Band, and Just Cause primarily; Rock Solid, Sounds of Memphis; Ricky and the Blue Shadows and Strike Zone for a while. He has also played as a guest with Hi-Way Fruit Market, Hurt Locker, Acts, Masterpiece, The Hurricanes, and, as he says “almost everybody.”

Once David contacted Mueller and got the idea going, they talked to other area musicians, and the project took on a life of its own as more instrumentalists began calling, asking if they could be part of it too. He says “Essentially, word got around, and, as Scott Freeman says, we all (Broome musicians) pretty much play in the same band. It sounded like a fun project to them.”

When asked who all is part of this “Fantasy Generations” he lists : “I’ll be on keyboards, then there’s Burt Mueller and Matt D'Ortona on guitars; Michael Cook and John Cook playing bass; Jeff Rembecki, Larry Riccardi, Jim Rosati: drums and percussion.

Vocalists are Colin, Karen, Kathleen, Ian, and Jamie Cook; Haley Popovics, and Cait Tremblay. Randy McStine, Mark Blackwell (Heritage), Kevin Lewis, and Rob Weinberger will also take the stage as guest performers.

Cook says some of the particular songs were chosen for this project because “We wanted to play around with various arrangements of some tunes.” He says, “I re-arranged Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”; we’ve “melded” together Jeff Beck’s "Freeway Jam" with Emerson, Lake and Palmer's rendition of "Fanfare For the Common Man"; and put jazz choir vocals into some instrumentals.” He adds, “We’ve secured the rights to perform The New York Voices’ “The World Keeps You Waiting” specifically with the vocals in mind.”

The other musicians, he notes, also had pieces they’ve always wanted to play. “Teen Town”, and “Hill Where the Lord Hides", and KarnEvil 9” fall into that category.

“Fantasy Generations” jams Sunday Evening, February 26th at 6:00 PM at the Endicott Performing Arts Center (EPAC), 102 Washington Ave. Endicott NY.

Admission is $9.00 General and $7.00 Seniors and Students.

Bring a food donation for CHOW day of the show for $2.00 off admission price.

For further information contact David J. Cook  607-744-0491