SF's Master Artist Series Presents Special EFX Featuring Chieli Minucci and SF Guitar Ensemble January 18

January 4, 2019

January 4, 2019 - The Grammy-nominated jazz-fusion group Special EFX, featuring Emmy award-winning guitarist Chieli Minucci, will appear in concert as part of Santa Fe College's Master Artist Series at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, in the SF Fine Arts Hall. The newly formed SF Guitar Ensemble, directed by Guitar professor Richy Stano, will open the performance.

Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for seniors, children and University of Florida students; and free for SF students, faculty and staff with valid college identification cards. For ticket information, call the SF Box Office at 352-395-4181 or visit the Fine Arts ticket website at sfcollege.edu/finearts.

"This is a great event that introduces our community to the fact that we teach guitar," said SF Fine Arts Department Chair Alora Haynes. "It's also the first time that our student guitarists will have a concert all their own; they'll open the evening with a 15- to 20-minute set before Special EFX takes the stage. We're delighted that as visiting Master Artists, Chieli Minucci and his band will be able to mentor our students in the Guitar Ensemble."

Special EFX has been a major force on the jazz and world music scene for 36 years, having recorded 29 CDs. "Deep as the Night" from the band's 2017 CD with that same title was recently named the No. 1 smooth jazz song for 2018 by Billboard. The music of Special EFX has been described as "accessible yet slightly experimental music that combined…smooth jazz, rock, and various African and Latin rhythms."

"Chieli and I were great friends who played in a band called 'Gumbo' while at Ithaca College," explained Richy Stano. "The music we wrote in that band was a precursor to the music Chieli wrote for Special EFX and the music I eventually composed for my band, Mindwalk."

For over 30 years, Stano has been teaching guitar for everyone from beginners to seasoned professionals. He was on staff as a guitar instructor at the Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) as well as curriculum coordinator for the Musicians Institute (MI) in Los Angeles, California, and has conducted guitar clinics for the National Guitar Workshop all over the U.S. His band Mindwalk-which has opened for Bela Fleck, Herbie Hancock, Spyro Gyra, Maceo Parker and others-has been described by Jazziz magazine as "a tight unit with impressive solo chops all around."

For more information about Special EFX featuring Chieli Minucci, visit chielimusic.com/epk/biography-pdf/.

For additional information about the concert and/or information about the guitar program at Santa Fe College, call Richy Stano at 352-381-3639.