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The LaVerne Christie Trio
is a Las Vegas guitar-upright bass-drums group that plays jazz
standards, tunes from Great American Songbook composers like Cole Porter, George Gershwin,
Rodgers & Hart and Duke Ellington, and also the sounds of Brazil.
Guitarist LaVerne Christie has a background in classical guitar and has played everything
from solo to combo to vocal accompanist to big band in Minneapolis/St. Paul and the San
Francisco Bay Area before moving to Las Vegas. She studied with classical master Jeffrey Van
and jazz notables Mimi Fox and Randy Vincent. She received an advanced degree from the
University of Minnesota and attended the Jazz School in Berkeley.
Drummer Mike Candito's vast array of accomplishments in fine arts, music, stage, radio, TV
and film include stints with Stanley Turrentine, George Benson and Roberta Flack. Mike tours
with 60s & 70s pop/rock icon Gary Puckett (Union Gap).
Bassist/cellist Mark Ruben has extensive credits in local musical theater including Guys and
Dolls, Fiddler On the Roof, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and West Side
Story. Mark is a relative newcomer to jazz but easily adapts to the unexpected.
The trio's CD, East of the Sun, West of the Moon, has enjoyed critical acclaim in national
jazz publications and heavy airplay across the U.S. and Canada and is played locally on
KUNV 91.5 FM. The title track was chosen for inclusion on the station's compilation CD and
the group was invited to perform on TV for their Red Hot Jam celebration.
The group has a loyal local following from their long-standing weekly restaurant gigs.
Other performances have included those at the Bellagio, the Venetian, the Foundation Room
of the House of Blues (Mandalay Bay), the Stirling Club, the Bootlegger Bistro,
the Marriott Hotel (Rampart Casino), the South Point Casino, Ovation at Green Valley Ranch,
the Siena Golf Club, the Silverstone Country Club, Embassy Suites, the District and the
Henderson ArtFest.
The trio has given concerts at the Henderson Amphitheater and at the Reed Whipple Cultural
Center in Las Vegas.
Click here for: The LaVerne Christie Trio - Online EPK
FROM THE CRITICS:
"The LaVerne Christie Trio follows in the footsteps of some of the great guitar trios, performing
classic jazz standards in a wonderfully spontaneous manner, putting a
fresh face to some beautiful melodies. The trio mixes up the styles but maintains
the flow; the essence of this strong guitar-led trio is all about harmony, melody and wonderful
rhythms."
– JAZZ REVIEW
"A trio that shows all the precision and timing of a group that has worked together
for a long time."
– CADENCE MAGAZINE
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