“We call it ‘Honest Mondays,’” sayssinger-songwriter Marc Ballini, who shares the stage with mandolinist RyanOgburn and guitarist Craig Baumann. “We just play like it’s Monday, and you’vegot to be honest on a Monday, because it’s the beginning of the week. So wejust go up there and be ourselves. We try to keep it intimate and talk a lotwith the audience and keep them involved.”
The residency has changed markedly sinceits inception, when the weekly event was billed just to Ballini and Ogburn.Ballini played guitar initially, dueting with Ogburn, who remains best knownlocally as the mandolin player with the bluegrass band Stealin’ Strings. It wasthe addition earlier this spring of Baumann, the longtime guitarist for thesoon-to-be-defunct regional jam band Fat Maw Rooney, that gave Ballini theopportunity to move back to the instrument he was trained on and still feelsmost comfortable playing, the keys.
“That really opened up a lot ofopportunities for us,” Ballini says. “And Craig really added a swampy, folky,bluesy kind of flavor to our songs, and allowed us to do three-part harmonies,which was a great addition.”
Though all three players have ties to thejam scene, they try to keep improvisations concise to focus on songs, most ofwhich are originals, though they’ll throw in the occasional cover of a song byRay Charles, J.J. Cale or the like. Even though they’re not a jazz ensemble inany traditional sense, the trio was drawn to the Jazz Estate.
“We play with a jazzy flavor, but we’renot priding ourselves as jazz musicians,” Ballini says. “The Jazz Estate hasfor me personally been my favorite club, though. I used to go for years andwatch some of the best musicians play that place. It’s so dark and comfortable;it’s different from any other venue in town.”
Between the cozy venue and the laid-backmood, Ballini says the gig feels more like a respite than a weekly commitment.
“Gigging and music is my full-time gig;it’s my workload,” he says. “But playing in this trio is more soulful for me. Ilove playing with people and bouncing music off of them, especially playingwith Ryan and Craig on these Monday nights. Ryan and I have been really goodfriends for a while, and playing as a duo or in groups for almost nine years,and Craig I have known each other for a long time, too. It’s just really niceto be able to play with your friends. I think we all kind of complement eachother.”
Ballini,Ogburn and Baumann perform for free every Monday night at 9:30 p.m. at the JazzEstate. Their Dec. 28 performance will double as a food drive and an uglyChristmas sweater party featuring snacks and eggnog.
