Two minutes before the clock struck 7 p.m. Wednesday night, Heartwood Soundstage’s listening room housed about 15 jazz fans standing as far from the stage as possible. Ten minutes later, jazz-fusion band Dionysus took the stage, and fans dared to close the space between themselves and the musicians — kicking off a night of creativity and passion that extended beyond music.
The funk-filled group consists of 34-year-old Gainesville native and saxophone player Jose Pineiro, 27-year-old drummer Ivan Padilla, 31-year-old bass guitarist Sebastian Sayavedra and 30-year-old keyboard player Zack Emerson.
With studio-quality sound, Padilla ripped open their set with a high-tempo tune that silenced the crowd as they watched in awe. Each powerful hit of Padilla’s was amplified by the microphones attached to every cymbal, high-hat and drum. No wonder one cymbal in particular was curved inwards.
When a drumstick flew out of Padilla’s right hand due to the sheer force of his performance, he laughed it off and grabbed a spare from his pocket.
Each musician wore a pensive, content expression as they took their original songs like “Bombastic” and seamlessly improvised throughout them, sometimes quoting riffs and beats from other genres outside of jazz.
“For me, [in] improv, I consider more of how storytellers convey the message behind the story,” Pineiro said. “Even though this story could be told many times and be heard many times, this time is different.”
As a saxophone player, Pineiro said he can’t choose which chords to alter in a song during improv. It’s similar to how his band cooperates through active listening rather than speaking over one another, he said.
In a world filled with social media and constant clutter, jazz has given bass guitarist Sayavedra a way to break through. By building connections so deep that a single glance is all it takes to understand one another, Sayavedra said synchronization is what the band is always after.
Although fleeting for Emerson, he said he believes experiencing the feeling himself as part of the band is better than being an avant-garde soloist.
Emerson joined Dionysus earlier this year as a musician who had never gone near jazz music. Playing with a band that pushes him to be better, he said, has expanded his hopes of what he’s capable of — even if it was as little as keeping up with a consistent practicing routine.
As the stage lights shifted from warm to cool, fans softly danced to Sayavedra’s funk bassline. At 7:45 p.m., the music swelled in volume, and fans cheered playfully until they realized it marked the end of their set. After an encore twice as fast as any piece they played, Dionysus thanked their friendly, newly found fans for enjoying the show before exiting the stage.
Outside the venue, alongside his friends, stood Nicholas Butakow, a 21-year-old UF computer science and math senior, who discovered his love for jazz music through playing the drums in his middle school’s jazz band. In the past, Butakow recorded multiple tracks at Padilla’s house and grew a personal connection to the drummer of the Michael Feinberg Trio, who played later that night.
Butakow believes jazz to be a unique genre known for its way of “just playing a groove” instead of having the overly complex instrumentation typically found in more popular genres.
“In the realm of music, jazz is the grandfather of all American popular music and, by extension, basically all popular music around the world,” Butakow said. “Any music that young American people listen [to] today, you can trace back the ideas and what they’re listening to, to jazz.”
At 8:10 p.m., the Michael Feinberg Trio marched onto the stage. Their striking confidence shined upon them, mirroring the stage lights that illuminated their features. With Grammy award-winning drummer Thomas Pridgen, keyboard player Dennis Hamm and well-known New York City bassist Michael Feinberg, the night was sure to end on a high note.
Taking the microphone, Feinberg told his excited fans that this was the trio’s first time performing in Gainesville, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. The crowd immediately gave them a warm welcome as Pridgen counted the band in on four earth-shattering beats of his high-hat.
The trio opened their set with one of Feinberg’s oldest songs, “WzK.” Throughout their performance, Hamm’s fingers glided across his keyboard so fast it was as if his hand was skimming water. Some songs were so soft that fans could hear the metal wires of Pridgen’s snare drum shivering against the wood from Hamm’s reverberating low notes.
The listening room’s small venue made for an intimate concert where fans could see the sheer focus and bliss on each of the musicians’ faces. Hamm and Pridgen even found themselves in a competitive dialogue where they communicated back and forth solely through their instruments.
Smoke drifted among the trio as they performed their final song near 9 p.m. Pridgen’s bright smile was contagious. Even though the show was over, fans beamed from ear to ear as their eyes shined with excitement.
As fans exited the venue, 26-year-old Gainesville resident and front-of-house sound person Jerel Wanton packed up for the night. Wanton has worked with Dionysus for several years and describes them as great performers and great people.
“90% of the people in there were musicians,” Wanton said. “I think everybody was inspired by both performances.”
Contact Autumn Johnstone at ajohnstone@alligator.org. Follow them on X @AutumnJ922
Autumn Johnstone is a freshman journalism/art student and a music reporter for The Avenue. When they're not writing, you can find them enjoying a nice cup of coffee at a nearby café or thrifting for vinyls.
