Aron Magner Announces Debut Of SPAGA Trio

The Disco Biscuits’ keyboardist Aron Magner announced the formation of a new project. SPAGA is an acoustic trio featuring Magner on piano, Jason Fratecelli on upright bass and drummer Matt Scarano. The three-piece will make their debut at Hill Girt Farm in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania just outside of Philadelphia on October 5. SPAGA’s performance will be accompanied by a gourmet prix-fixed meal prepped by award-winning chef Yehuda Sichel.

Magner aims to get back to his roots in jazz piano with the new project. “The woman who lived next door to me as a kid was the neighborhood piano teacher. I started with her early in life and took to it more than others. But I became disinterested by age ten and stopped playing for a bit until I was introduced to jazz when I was 13,” Aron said in a statement announcing SPAGA. “I stopped studying jazz as I explored jam rock with the Biscuits in our infancy, but always maintained an affection for the genre, perhaps bringing a jazzy style to some of the Biscuits improv even going so far as to write songs such as ‘Smoothie King,’ ‘Soul is Shaking’ or ‘I Remember Ray’ into the Biscuits repertoire. None of them stuck around for high rotation, but they were fun to play none the less. I didn’t have another project they would be appropriate for anyway.”

The timing became right in recent years for Aron to explore the jazz piano side of his musicianship. “I started with just one song,” Magner recalled. “The song ’Colors.’ It stayed just that song for probably close to a year before beginning to take steps towards writing more for a project and album in mind.” Aron stuck to his roots by enlisting local musicians for SPAGA. He first brought in Fratecelli who enlisted Scarano. The trio headed into a local studio and during the sessions Magner started to see a connection between his new project and the farm-to-table movement.

A press release explains the decision to unveil SPAGA as part of a one-night-only immersive, music and multi-course dining experience:

So when it came time to think about where to unveil this music live, Magner wanted something that would reflect the aesthetic behind it. In another extension of the synchronicity that has surrounded this project, Magner enlisted one his favorite local award-winning chefs, Yehuda Sichel, to host a gourmet prix-fixed meal in a barn just outside of Philadelphia. It turns out, the Chef is also a fan of The Disco Biscuits. Magner became enamored with the juxtaposition of putting a piano inside the barn, and he was excited about the unusual opportunity to connect a master chef’s culinary creations with his original compositions. It’s not dinner jazz by any means, but the textures and flavors of a farm-to-table meal are set to pair perfectly with the textures and flavors of Magner’s roots music.

Tickets for the evening of food and music featuring SIW Vegetables can be purchased here.