John Medeski.
Paul and Sharyn Alexander are active members of the Woodstock community, where they’ve been putting their love for the town into a host of events over the years. Now they have a kid at High Meadow School in Stone Ridge, and this weekend will see the fruit of their close connections with the region’s creative community via their help producing the school’s annual fundraising concert. It will feature noted session and leading musician John Medeski, of jazz, blues and all-around musical repute, drawing a host of his friends out for an evening of pure entertainment and bliss. On hand amongst the scheduled friends will be Levon’s beloved daughter Amy Helm, composer and session musician Jamie Saft, Elizabeth Mitchell and Dan Littleton of Ida fame and others expected to saunter in once the music starts.
Medeski, a renowned keyboardist and composer, is a founding member of the popular avant-garde jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood, and has also played regularly with the likes of Trey Anastasio and Phil Lesh. “What’s music for? Making money? Entertainment? No. It’s a language – one that exists between the land of emotion and the land of intellect,” he has said of what drives him. “Music can change your whole world.”
The benefit this Saturday evening, May 12, kicks off with a VIP reception hosted by Medeski at 6:30 p.m., with the concert beginning at 7:30 p.m., all in the grand-but-homey, state-of-the-art High Meadow Performing Arts Center. It and the school are located at 3643 Main Street, or Route 209, in Stone Ridge. For further information call (845) 687-4855 or visit www.highmeadowschool.org.