PEACE AND LOVE Concert Comes to Philadelphia Museum Of Art's Friday Nights

There's no time more appropriate for a PEACE AND LOVE concert than now, and on April 6, 2018, TJP (formerly known as The Jost Project) is proud to perform in the Great Stair Hall of the Philadelphia Museum of Art as part of their Friday Nights series. TJP will perform two sets of music at 5:45 and 7:15 p.m. As the perfect complement to the Museum's exhibit -- Design in Revolution: A 1960s Odyssey - TJP's music and the exhibit have a similar focus on the 1960s, a time of tumultuous political and social change, when messages of "peace and love" were everywhere. The exhibit is in Perelman Building, located at 2525 Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the museum. The concert is free with museum admission.

Band members of TJP are Paul Jost-vocal/harmonica, Tony Miceli-vibraphone, Kevin MacConnell-bass and Doug Hirlinger-drums. Special Guest is John Swana, playing the electronic valve instrument (E. V. I.) They will perform music from their new "Peace and Love" CD including such songs as "Put a Little Love in Your Heart", "Get Together", "America" by Paul Simon, "Message in a Bottle" and many others. Like the exhibit, they hope the messages in the music will resonate, bringing back reminders of the hippie generation when dialogue and constructive action for peace and love took place everywhere.

Tony Miceli viewing exhibit in the Perelman Building

Part of the museum exhibit demonstrates how the decade was represented musically through record covers, some of which have been lent from the personal collections of Museum staff. Psychedelic covers such as Axis: Bold as Love, by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967); Disraeli Gears, by Cream (1967); Let It Bleed, by the Rolling Stones (1969); and Space Oddity, by David Bowie (1969) are on display.

About TJP:

TJP is proud to have been named BEST IN JAZZ IN PHILADELPHIA in December 2017 in City Councilman David Oh's PHL Live Center Stage music competition. As a group, these highly acclaimed musicians interpret classic rock as jazz. They are devoted to reaching new audiences for jazz with innovative arrangements of music by such artists as The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Blind Faith and many others. A Philadelphia-based band that performs worldwide, they play frequently throughout Pennsylvania, in New York and New Jersey and have toured in South Korea and Ireland. Their first CD titled "Can't Find My Way Home" (Dot Time Records) has been played regularly on Sirius XM radio and has audiences raving about their unexpected interpretations of this music. They are reaching into the "baby boomer" and subsequent generations who came of age with rock and roll, the Beatles, hard rock, and other genres which are rarely played by jazz groups. In Jazz in Europe, Johan van Deeg wrote, "The Jost Project is without a doubt one of the most creative bands I have ever heard." Ian Patterson in his review on All About Jazz wrote, "The Jost project's invitation to rock fans to get their jazz-head on is a persuasive one; equally, these fine arrangements and the scintillating playing might just entice a few dyed-in-wool-jazz fans the other way across the divide." For more information about TJP, visit www.thejostproject.com.

Paul Jost is a unique vocalist and arranger most often described by critics and contemporaries as a storyteller and one of the best male jazz vocalists to come along since Mark Murphy. Paul is making his mark in New York with an ongoing residency at the internationally acclaimed jazz club 55 Bar and a two-month stint at SMOKE performing with Orrin Evans earlier last year. He has performed throughout Germany, Ireland and South Korea and was recently showcased in the feature "Finding Your Voice" on the PBS broadcast series, "Friday Arts". Paul's eclectic CD, aptly titled "Breaking Through" (Dot Time Records), continues to receive rave reviews and includes his original "Book Faded Brown" previously recorded by The Band, Rick Danko and Carl Perkins. After hearing the CD, music critic Peter McLaren wrote in Jazz in Europe, Paul ... "is a force to be reckoned with and an artist that deserves to be seen on all great festival stages worldwide". Raul Da Gama writes, "Although his is a short history, in just three albums he has already made his mark among the elite of his art." Please visit www.pauljostmusic.com for more information.

Vibraphonist Tony Miceli has been compared to such legendary players as Milt Jackson and Gary Burton. For the last 30 years, he has performed and taught all over the world, in countless concert halls, festivals, jazz clubs, colleges, schools and even prisons. He was recently featured in a new book called Masters of the Vibes with interviews of the top vibraphonists in the world. As a group leader, sideman, and recording artist, he has performed with numerous top musicians including David Liebman, Jimmy Bruno, Ken Peplowski, John Blake, Joel Frahm, Peter Bernstein, Michel Feinstein, Diane Monroe, John Swana, Joe Magnarelli, Steve Slagle, Larry McKenna, and many others. He is endorsed by Malletech Instruments, Mike Balter Mallets, Alternate Mode and Beiner Bags. He also runs www.vibesworkshop.com which is an instructional site for the vibraphone with over 5,000 members.

Living in the Philadelphia area since 1982, bassist Kevin MacConnell has enjoyed a busy and varied musical career. He has performed with jazz greats, Mel Torme, Nancy Wilson, Billy Eckstine and Joe Williams, as well as other international performers such as Diahann Carroll, and opera diva, Denyce Graves; to name a few. He has performed and recorded with tenor saxophonist, Ernie Watts and Phila. jazz legend Larry McKenna and tours throughout the U.S. regularly with a classical/bluegrass hybrid the 'Depue Brothers Band'. Kevin frequently performs as a member of the orchestra of major Broadway show tours.

Doug Hirlinger has performed throughout the US and Europe with the likes of Ralph Bowen, Ben Gerstein, Stanley Jordan, Joe Magnarelli, Tarus Mateen, Matt Mitchell, Luis Perdomo, Gene Perla as well as the Philadelphia Orchestra. Doug makes computer generated music using acoustic and electronic instruments under the name Man from Nowhere. His first album of this material, Kora Song and Reconstructions, was released in September of 2016 on composer and guitarist Tim Motzer's Philadelphia based label 1K Recordings.

John Swana is a highly respected musician who began his career in his hometown of Philadelphia in local clubs. He played in Big Bands, organ combos and with jazz musicians. He has worked with musicians including Ralph Bowen, Orrin Evans, Charles Fambrough, Herwig Gradischnig, Jimmy Greene, J. D. Walter, Joel Weiskopf, and Bobby Zankel. He has an impressive discography. A Jazz-Trumpeter and Flügelhornist, after he was treated for a benign tumor, he was forced to play an alternative instrument to continue his music profession. It's the valve trombone and Electronic Valve Instrument called the EVI. The unique sound of this instrument makes him a standout wherever he plays.