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| Cory Wong (2012) |
© Andrea Canter
For a while, the Cory
Wong Quartet opened every Tuesday Night at the Artists Quarter for B-3
Organ Night (featuring the Tuesday Night Band). When TNB ended its 15-year run,
Tuesday nights featured rotating ensembles headed by local standouts like
Brandon Wozniak, Dean Magraw, Zacc Harris and Bryan Nichols. But the Cory Wong
Quartet continued as the early evening band, a run that will end next week
(December 17)-- the club is closed Christmas Eve, and the final New Year's Eve
Party comes on the last Tuesday.
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| Cory Wong, Andy Schuster with Pena (2011) |
Cory has studied with the
best -- Pat Martino, Christopher Parkening,
Andres Prado, and Charlie Banacos. Nevertheless, holding down a weekly gig is no small feat for such a young bandleader
-- the guitarist was just in his early-mid 20s when he began bringing his band
of like-minded young lions into the AQ. There's been some personnel changes
over the years, with the current band featuring pianist Dan Musselman, bassist
Andy Schuster, and drummer Zach Schmidt. Variants of the quartet and quintet
recorded Quartet/Quintet in 2012;
Cory has led and recorded with an Afro-Peruvian ensemble (Peña), and more
recently initiated Foreign Motion with another cadre of musicians, holding the
CD release at, of course, the Artists Quarter. Cory also participated in an
all-star Guitar Heroes weekend at the AQ -- seems his six strings are tightly
wrapped around the Artists Quarter.
