Bob Bennetta Quartet

Originally from Port Chester, NY , Bob has built a reputation as one of the finest jazz pianist in the area. His interpretive style is reminiscent of many of the great jazz pianists yet always retains and an original  Bob Bennetta  sound.  Still, when you hear the first chord played you may think Bill Evans is alive and well and living in  Charlottesville , VA.

He has performed with numerous artists from every corner of the musical universe as they pass through Charlottesville.  Especially memorable are performances with the late great Dee Dee  Bellson, daughter of Pearl Bailey and legendary big band drummer Louie Bellson. To this day, Bob maintains an active schedule playing intimate jazz solo and jazz ensemble performances. He maintains his long standing  gig as the pianist for the seventeen piece big band  Sentimental  Journey .

 Bob is veteran of both musical theater and cabaret.  In July, 2008 he performed at the Forum at Sidney Harman Hall during the Capital Fringe  Festival in Washington  DC and is well known for his cabaret  performance with Patti Flinn. Of late, Bob was the pianist and musical  director in the Hamner Theater's production of Poe & All That Jazz, in  which Helen Hayes Award-winning playwright Peter Coy explored the undercurrents of abandonment in Poe's tragic personal life.

Sam Brown grew up in Augusta county. He attended college in California and started gigging as a free lance drummer and sound engineer/technician in the L.A. area  where he worked for fifteen years.  He and Cindy moved back to the brown family farm ten years ago and Sam has continued to play professionally as a drummer. He also owns a sound/media design and installation company and helps out on the family farm. 

Richard Adams, a graduate of JMU,  is a musician, educator, composer and recording engineer.  His specialty is playing a variety of instruments at a “gigging” level.  Because he grew up in a small town, no one ever told him you were not supposed to double on brass and woodwinds.  Richard is a long-standing member of Wanda and the white boys and the boogie kings. He free-lances on brass, woodwinds, bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals.  He has taught guitar, low brass and occasionally trumpet part-time for past 18 years.  He also owns happy healthy kid songs where he produces school assemblies and media. Richard won the Dawbarn award for outstanding educator in 2009. He has also been commissioned to write four musicals with historical themes.  “Woody”, “spirit of Augusta”, “Shenandoah Moon” and “Tuesday Mourning – The story of the Bedford Boys”.  “Woody” will be presented at the ntelos theatre by Shenanarts the last weekend of February and the first weekend of March 2012.