Unplugged: Dennis Cook & Matt Richard

Unplugged in the MAC Gallery
Dennis Cook & Matt Richard

Friday, September 25
First Seating: 7:00pm
Second Seating: 8:30pm

Tickets for one seating (approx. 1 hour per set)
$15 MAC members | $20 nonmembers
Limited tickets! 24 people per seating – advanced reservations strongly recommended

Want early access to tickets? Join as a member here!

Join us upstairs in the MAC’s Patsy Francis Gallery for an evening of music featuring Dennis Cook and Matt Richard!

There will be two separate performances during the night, and each set will last about an hour. Find a spot at a cabaret table to listen to a mix of jazz standards and original compositions by both artists. Guests will enjoy a refreshing setting at this “unplugged” performance featuring mainly acoustic sound, without the volume and density often experienced during larger concerts in the MAC Theater. Guests may bring their own beverages and snacks to enjoy in this intimate setting.

Additional Information
Accessibility: There are three small steps plus a raised threshold to enter the Marion Art Center. There are several steps to enter the MAC Theater.
Audience: Performances are recommended for a general audience.
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Dennis Cook, Saxophone 
Jazz musician and educator Dennis Cook is a native of Mansfield, Massachusetts. Although Cook’s first instrument was originally the trumpet, he switched to the tenor saxophone in 1975. Through the years Cook has played alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet, flute, and piano.

Cook graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1977 he studied with Joe Viola and Jerry Bergonzi. Cook’s most profound musical influences have been Miles Davis, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, and Dexter Gordon.

Over the last fifty years, Cook has toured with Dick Johnson and the Artie Shaw Orchestra, Buddy Morrow and Terry Myers and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and has performed with the Boston Pops Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra as well as The Temptations, The Four Tops, Carol Channing, Pat Cooper, Julius LaRosa, Regis Philbin, Bobby Rydell, Connie Francis, Don Rickles and many others.

Matt Richard, Piano
Matt Richard (jazz musician/accompanist/composer/arranger) has appeared on the Marion Art Center Jazz Unplugged series since 2023 with Donn Legge, Dave Zinno, Daniel Ian Smith, Mike Rocha, and Dino Govoni. Matt studied classical piano with the Ken Manzer and jazz piano with Dr. Billy Taylor. A native of Fairhaven and a graduate of Westfield State College with a degree in piano performance, Matt taught choral music and music theory at both Fairhaven High School and Tabor Academy, and was an accompanist for the Jazz In July Workshops at UMASS/Amherst from 1986-2006. Matt arranges a variety of music for the Buttonwood Brass Trio, the Southcoast Brass Band, and the Buzzard’s Bay Jazz Ensemble.

Matt has performed throughout the New England area for the past forty years as a soloist and accompanist with many different ensembles and musicians including Sheila Jordan, Dick Johnson and The Artie Shaw Orchestra, and Bombay Jim Porcella and The Swingin’ Sapphires.  Matt played solo piano at The Roadhouse Cafe in Hyannis, Massachusetts from 1997-2008 as well as joining Lou Colombo and Dick Johnson on the famous Monday Night Jazz Series beginning from 2002-2008.

Self-Produced jazz recording projects include Hawthorne Street Connection, Talking To Myself, OFF SEASON with Gary Johnson and Dave Zinno, The Art of the Duo with Jim Robitaille, Opening the American Songbook with Marcelle Gauvin, In The Sky with Rick Britto, The Music of Rick Britto (a posthumous tribute), The Jazz Club with Greg Conway and Jerry Wilfong, All The Colors with Chris Poudrier and Dave Zinno, and a supporting role on guitarist Jim Robitaille’s To Music featuring saxophonist Dave Liebman. Matt lives in Fairhaven with his wife Kristine Daniels.