A "high-energy" trio from Fulton, New York. Brothers Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand are both still in their teens but display a mature and seasoned musicality beyond their years. The core of Great Bear's instrumentation has always been twin fiddles and piano (ably supplied by mother Kim) but the line up is frequently augmented by mandolins, guitars, banjo and an assortment of percussion including the African djembe and the Australian didgeridoo. Andrew and Noah compose and arrange the majority of Great Bear's material, drawing heavily on Celtic and Appalachian fiddling traditions for their melodies but with plenty of room for improvisation and an occasional alt-rock or world beat groove creeping into the rhythm section.
You can find MANY tracks of their music in MP3 files on-line...
From their CD "Dancing Again":
"If you can't stand the heat, look out for The Kitchen Band." Betsy Branch and George Penk blend fiddle melodies with Heather Pinney's tasty piano licks or haunting third fiddle. Fred Nussbaum fills the out the recipe with his cello's full sound, (or adds percussive spice) and Todd Silverstein keeps the taste fresh with whistle, bouzouki, and saxophone seasonings.
Because The Kitchen Band have organized themselves only recently,
they have no recordings as a group.
Instead, you'll have to satisfy your thirst for their sounds
with individual and pairwise tracks:
George Penk:
(with Clyde Curley and Sue Songer,
via CDBaby.com)
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