Jazz Vespers with the Ardie Walser Group

Name: Jazz Vespers with the Ardie Walser Group
Start: 2025-09-13T17:00:00-04:00
Location: 436 Union St, Hackensack, NJ, United States, New Jersey 07601

Schedule

Sat, 13 Sep, 2025 at 05:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

436 Union St, Hackensack, NJ, United States, New Jersey 07601 | Hackensack, NJ

Evening worship with contemporary prose, poetry, scripture reading and amazing jazz music in our church lounge this time featuring The Ardie Walser Group.
Come and celebrate God as we do a new thing in the spirit of Psalm 150.
Dr. Ardie Walser as singer, pianist and songwriter, was a member of the award winning vocal trio BLACK TIE, two-time winners of the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Club (MAC) Award for Outstanding Vocal Group and the winners of the Bistro Awards for Outstanding Vocal Group and Best New York Debut. With Black Tie he has shared the stage with the likes of Melba Moore at Carnegie Hall; Sylvia Sims and Ann Hampton Callaway at Town Hall; and Noel Pointer at Avery Fisher Hall; and performed on radio and appeared on a number of TV shows such as The Joan Rivers Show. He has recorded with a wide range of artists from cabaret to pop including – Jazz Composer, Anke Helfrich; Cabaret Artist, Natalie Douglas; Salsa Singer, Michael Stuart; and Salsa Star, Marc Anthony.
Gabe Plotkin - Pianist, Bassist, Drummer, Guitarist
Gabe Plotkin is a professional multi-instrumentalist based in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. He plays piano, bass, drums, and guitar in various jazz ensembles and wedding bands. He has played with such artists as vocalist Vanessa Collier, saxophonist Eric Alexander, trumpeter Freddie Hendrix, and blues singer Curtis Salgado. Gabe studied jazz piano at William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ, where he received his BA in music.
Billy Carrión - Bass
Billy Carrión is a multidimensional bassist that has gathered musical skills from alternate realities, to become one of the hardest grooving musicians on the scene today. Billy’s mission is simple: evolve every piece of music in any genre to its highest, purest, most beautiful form, while preserving music the masters have left everyone throughout space and time. Billy has had quite the musical journey- a requirement to understanding as many aspects of music as possible.
On various instruments pre pandemic, Billy was able to work with some of the most influential musicians and producers in music, including Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, Tim Gilles, Henry Cole, Giovanni Hidalgo, Suit Of Lights, Alfredo Rodriguez, Papo Vazquez, Ray Santos, and many more- a 25+ year journey so far. Billy’s influences are quite wide, including jazz, Latin music, rock… but the majority come from the depth of 8 and 16 bit video games. “Music I listened to 30+ years ago that I can still hum today,” is how he explains it. “I love music from the 70’s as well- especially anything with a clavé, and electronic jazz, which was called fusion back then, anything from the ECM record label, etc.. and you can hear those influences in the game music I was exposed to in my youth in the 80’s and 90’s.”
Billy is currently performing with the electric jazz group known as U.L.T.R.A. S - Universe Less Traveled Reveals Authentic Self. The band has been lighting up the NY/NJ music scene for the last few years, and released music in July of 2024. Billy also has a brand new acoustic jazz quartet featuring Pete Rodriguez on Trumpet, Campbell Charshee on Piano, and Jarrett Walser on drums. Their first recording as a group “Confusing Roots,” will be released in 2025, consisting of unique cover songs that show off Billy’s vast influences, as well as the groups musical range. As a leader, Billy has performed at places and events such as the Bergen County Music Festival, Chris’s Jazz Cafe, Trumpets Jazz Club, The Bitter End, The Beanrunner Cafe, Crossroads, Somethin’ Jazz Club, The Watt Hotel, and even a 9 year residency at the now closed DLV Lounge, a jazz club that stood strong for 50 years in Montclair, NJ. You can also catch Billy as a sideman with various acts around the NY/NJ area. Billy also has a Twitch channel where he streams the old school games that influenced him musically, as well as occasional improvised synth music and live band performances.
Jarrett Walser - Drums
Jarrett has worked with jazz greats like Rufus Reid, Chico Freeman and Valery Ponomarev. With a playing style equally evocative of drum masters both past and present. Jarrett blends acoustic and electronic percussive elements in Ultra S, and has penned a number of the band’s original music, reflecting a range of musical influences.