While touring with the Melvin Sparks Band, organist Beau Sasser and drummer Bill Carbone discovered they shared a deep passion for Zappa's music. They tossed around the idea of doing a Zappa organ trio, but the trick was finding the perfect third member for the job. When guitarist/vocalist Tim Palmieri, a diehard Zappa fan, ended up on a string of regular Wednesday night funk gigs with The Beau Sasser Trio in November 2011, the Z3 was born. All three musicians knew each other from years working in the Northeast music scene, their chemistry was obvious, and the transition to Z3 was as smooth as passage of quintuplets in 7/8. Audiences loved the Z3 as well; the initial shows in Northampton, MA were performed to capacity crowds and rave reviews.
Z3 is:
Tim Palmieri (www.timpalmieri.com)
Tim Palmieri has made a name for himself as one of the most impressive young guitarists on the national music scene today. Playing with his bands Kung Fu and The Breakfast alongside artists such as moe., Umphrey's McGee, Tea Leaf Green, and Phish's Mike Gordon, the New Haven native has amassed a loyal following of obsessive fans who keep tabs on just about every note.
While prominent in the jam scene for his aggressive and improvisational guitar style, Palmieri has grown equally comfortable behind an acoustic guitar and tours tirelessly as a solo performer. His acoustic showcases are peppered with a mix of thoughtful originals, classic covers and unexpected rarities, each of which he makes his own through a distinctive style of rhythmic looping.
At the same time, Palmieri refuses to get too comfortable as a performer and thrives on challenging himself in new ways. He has twice covered the entire Beatles catalogue in alphabetical order and keeps fans guessing by playing in improvisational jazz bands. His latest project - which goes by the name Kung Fu - has been hailed as a modern super group and has already made a splash on the national scene.
Look forward to big things from this guitar virtuoso - he is on the move!
Beau Sasser (www.beausasser.com)
Beau Sasser hit the music scene at a young age, traversing the snowy highways of Colorado for both All-State high school band gigs and shows with legends like John Denver and Jimmy Ibbotson of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In the mid-90s Sasser headed east for a stint at Berklee College of Music and soon found himself back on the highways with the successful jamband Uncle Sammy.
Around the year 2000 Sasser began performing almost exclusively on the Hammond Organ. In addition to his tenure as Melvin Sparks' preferred organist Sasser leads his own trio whose residency at Bishop's Lounge in Northampton, MA is now in its fourth year, performs with the funk group Akashic Record, and freelances like crazy.
Touring throughout the United States and internationally, Beau has performed with with Maceo Parker (James Brown), Warren Haynes(Allman Brothers), Alan Evans (Soulive), Nikki Glaspie (Beyonce), Michael Feingold (Erykah Badu), Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa) and jazz greats Fareed Haque and Melvin Sparks.
Bill Carbone (http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/page_object_bio/748358)
Born in the suburban cultural vacuum of CT, drummer Bill Carbone managed to graduate from his initial fascination with the dramatic plinkings of Rush and Yes to a broader palette of loves. Recently he's played jazz and boogaloo with guitarist Melvin Sparks, funk with organist Beau Sasser's trio, jam-rock with Max Creek, the Matt Zeiner Band and Shakedown, original quirky jazz-type music with the sax 4tet plus bass and drums Dead Cat Bounce, and reggae and experimental dub music with his own group Buru Style and various vocalists such as Makengo (Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars), Ajahni, Toussaint Liberator, Shasha Marley and others. As a percussionist he's been featured on several albums by ROIR recording artists 10 ft Ganja Plant and has also recorded with the founding members of Jamaica's legendary Soul Syndicate Band.
Carbone is currently a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, where he also teaches drums and steel pan while pecking away at a dissertation about the Hammond Organ soul-jazz scene of the 1960s-70s. His writing has been featured in Wax Poetics, Modern Drummer, and in his bi-weekly New Haven Advocate column.
