Awaken- A Tribute to the Music of YES

March 16, 2019

Awaken- A Tribute to the Music of YES

CCA

March 16, 2019 - March 23, 2019

8:00pm – 10:30pm

CCA

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Awaken is comprised of extremely talented and seasoned musicians dedicated to celebrating the music of Yes. By combining elements from the original studio recordings along with the inspirational power of past live Yes performances, Awaken provides a truly authentic and dramatic musical experience that will impress even the most critical and passionate fans of the band they pay tribute to.

 

Danny Bryle: Guitar

Danny Bryle’s musical career began in elementary school when he took up the trumpet, baritone horn and finally the guitar. Inspired by the great musicians of the era: Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Cream, Mountain, Ten Years After, and Tiny Tim (!), he developed a deep admiration of Yes music after hearing “Fragile,” at which point Steve Howe would become his greatest influence. In 1976 he joined Pellucidar, a Long Island band that covered Jethro Tull, ELP, Pink Floyd, Genesis, The Who, and even The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Later he ventured into original music with bands Psycle, Low Media High and Spot the Cat. Going back to his roots, Danny then played with Tribute, a Yes and Steely Dan tribute band. Recently he played guitar for original prog band XNA with his longtime friend Adam Malin and with Yes’ Billy Sherwood playing bass and producing the album.

Joe Luca: Keyboards

Joe Luca began organ lessons at the age of 8 so he could play “like the blond haired guy on Roundabout.” After getting his degree in musicology and theory, he has enjoyed many different types of performance in the Tri State area from rock to classical to jazz, to pit orchestra. In 1994, he was the keyboardist for Fragile: The Classic Yes Show and had the good fortune of playing the YesFest at The Manhattan Center, NYC. In 2007, he collaborated with Jon Anderson, providing symphonic orchestration and arranging for a suite of pieces based on The Golden Mean. After a 20+ year hiatus from playing keyboards, he returns to play the music that inspired him in the first place.

Ron Alonso: Lead Vocals

Ron Alonso is a well-seasoned veteran of the Tri-State music scene and started his vocal career at the young age of 18 with the prog tribute band, “Hypothesis.” From there, Ron honed his vocal skills and his ability to mimic the vocalists of his chosen music. He further developed his prog lust playing in the original band, Mirage and went on to front the Genesis tribute band, Project Genesis. Ron’s love for Yes music brings him back full circle where he is now singing the music that helped form his musical career.

Greg Bonasera: Drums

Greg Bonasera has been involved with the music business all of his life in performing and production. He began playing the drums at age twelve, and was in a band called New Generation one week after he got his first drum set. Later on, he studied at the Berklee College of Music. With influences ranging from John Bonham, Billy Cobham, Tony Williams, Elvin Jones and Phil Collins, Greg has crafted his style by blending a mix of rock and jazz fusion. He has performed with various bands that have both headlined, as well as backed up acts such as Jeff Lorber, Gil Scott-Heron and Larry Coryell, in addition to his original Jazz/Fusion band, Razz. Greg has loved the music of Yes from a very early age and got an opportunity to play with Tribute, a Yes and Steely Dan tribute band where the roots were formed for this current project, Awaken.

Ray Perez: Bass

Ray Perez’s musical career began at a very early age when he took up the guitar, a gift he received from his parents. His love for music was inspired by his mother who loved to play piano and by his father, whose passion for percussion rubbed off on Ray, prompting him to join the drum line of his local high school marching band. It was at this time that Ray first listened to Yes’ album, “Fragile,” along with albums from Rush and Genesis . This ultimately helped him cultivate a hunger for the style of prog music. It wasn’t until Ray took notice of Chris Squire that he made the full transition to playing bass guitar.