May 31, 2021
Last summer, festival stages went dark due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year is expected to be the return of live music. And local arts programmers are figuring out how to meet this historic moment. We suffered a year of loneliness and isolation and loss. We were worried about the health of our children, our family, our parents, and we were not spending time with our friends, says Jay Wahl, executive director of Flynn Center in Burlington, which runs the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival.
Live music is back - and mostly free and outdoors at places like the Church St. mall - at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival June 4-13. Photo: Brian MacDonald / Burlington Discover Jazz Fest
Tony Markellis Tony Markellis, one of our community’s most talented, respected and beloved musicians, passed away in his sleep on April 29, at the all-too-early age of 68. Tony’s talent on the bass was eclipsed only by his heart, wry wit, soulfulness and generosity of spirit, which deeply touched everyone who was lucky enough to have him as a part of their lives. In addition to being a mainstay on the Burlington music scene for more than 45 years, Tony was omnipresent and equally beloved in his adopted hometown of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. For the past 18 years, Tony also gained national prominence playing bass in Phish front man Trey Anastasio’s eponymous sideline band.
Musicians are paying tribute to Tony Markellis a bass player whose Vermont musical connections include Phish, the Trey Anastasio Band and Kilimanjaro who died last week.
According to the Albany Times Union, Markellis, who lived in nearby Saratoga Springs, New York, died in his sleep April 29 at age 68.
Though he lived just across the border from Vermont, Markellis’ impact in the Green Mountain State went as deep as his lowest bass notes. He joined the late Vermont saxophone giant Big Joe Burrell as well as keyboard player Charles Eller and guitarist Paul Asbell in the Unknown Blues Band, which arguably more than any act in the early 1980s helped turn Burlington into a thriving music city.