Preview: Nancy Donnelly Thursday at Jazz on Jay

The words take singer Nancy Donnelly into a song, then she explores its melody, with imagination.

“I take a look at the lyrics – the song has to speak to me,” she says. Then she studies the melody and the harmonic structure. “I learn the song exactly as written and then try to make the song my own by embellishing the melody.”

Donnelly sings Thurday with Dan Sales, guitar; Otto Gardner, bass; and Bob Halek, drums – “all freelance jazz musicians,” says Donnelly.

Nancy Donnelly. Photo provided

She came to jazz via folk and rock. “I grew up listening to Carole King, Joni Mitchell, the Beatles; later on Pat Benatar,” she explains, adding her love of jazz came from hearing the greats: Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Anita O’Day, Carmen McRae and Billie Holiday.

She studied classical vocal technique at the Crane School of Music with Patricia Misslin; then with Dominique Eade and Jerry Bergonzi in Boston; and now with Kim Nazarian of the New York Voices.

“We will be playing jazz standards as well as two originals,” she says of Thursday’s show. “Some bossa, blues and some Motown to mix up the set.” She lists her own “The Ballroom In our Backyard” and “Modern Day Troubadour” plus standards including “Louisiana Sunday Afternoon,” recorded by Diane Shuur, some Nancy Wilson and Antonio Carlos Jobim and Al Green’s “Lets Stay Together.”

She says she seldom scat-sings – but, “I do like to improvise on the melody.” She adds that guitarist Dan Sales and bassist Otto Gardner “will take solos and improvise on the song.”

Available online, her digital album “A Greater Love” presents both originals and standards. A second album is in the works.

Donnelly performs through the summer at Pamela’s on the Hudson (Newburgh, on July 31st), Sofia’s (Clifton Park, on Aug. 1), the Rotterdam Summer Concert Series (Rotterdam Senior Center, on Aug. 17) and Harmonies on the Hudson (Clermont State Historic Site, Germantown, on Aug. 27).

Jazz on Jay continues next Thursday, July 30, with Cool Universe.

Jazz on Jay is presented by the ElectriCity Arts and Entertainment District. 

Sponsors are the New York State Council on the Arts, a Schenectady County Legislature Arts & Culture Grant, Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation and The Schenectady Foundation. We also receive support from Schenectady City Hall and this site, Hoke’s Juke Box. 

Show time is 12 noon at Jay Square opposite City Hall. Rain site: Robb Alley at Proctors; seating is provided indoors.

Review: The Gibson Brothers, and Sara Milonovich and Daisycutter at Music Haven on Sunday, July 19, 2026 

“Creativity has no address,” said former ad man and current North Country TV chief Jesse Jackson on winning a national TV commercial award.

Neither has bluegrass, as North Country creatives the Gibson Brothers and Sara Milonovich proved at Music Haven Sunday. Both built from the particular to the universal with music that often described a snowy homeland but whose emotional truth and sonic power reached out to everywhere.

The Gibson Brothers above; Eric at left, Leigh to the right. Below: Sara Milonovich

Milonovich opened; 45 minutes of well-received originals old and new and some covers. Her Daisycutter crew played and sang like the seasoned pros they are: Boo Reiners, banjo and electric guitar; Greg Anderson, guitar; and Bob Buckley, bass. Milonovich grabbed and held the spotlight, a star with voice and fiddle. 

Some originals told local tales. “87 North,” for example, is their “Route 66” or “Highway 61,” minus the romance but with icy spots and hot fiddle and banjo. “Hope You Like What We Did with the Place” decries Adirondacks gentrification by come-here folks, like Michael Jerling’s “How Can People Live Like That.” Others spun out wider; any touring musician could relate to “Last Resort Motor Inn,” Sara M’s high strong voice recounting the sleaze of the place, washed away in a serene fiddle break. Maybe the only bluegrass crew on the road that covers Led Zeppelin, their late-set highlight of Zep’s “Friends” hit hard, but lyrical. (They’d opened with Josh Ritter’s [geo-specific/universal] folkie “Lawrence, KS.”) An album in the making sourced the devotional “Planting and Harvest,” a strong live number that helped earn a standing ovation for a compressed but strong showcase.

Sara Milonovich and Daisycutter. from left: Boo Reiners, Milonovich Buckley and Greg Anderson

The Gibson Brothers came on with a quiet confidence so laid back they could have come from Tulsa rather than a farm near Ellenburg Depot. Afterwards, as Eric Gibson greeted fans at the lip of the stage, avid setlist collector JD requested theirs. “We don’t have any,” Gibson laughed. The whole 75-minute set seemed spontaneous; song choices, warm and loose, like NRBQ.

The Gibson Brothers and band, from left: Jason Carter, Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson, Michael Barber, Cody Kilby

Playing and singing, though: world-class tight. After a blinding Jason Carter fiddle rip rapid as a horse race, Leigh told his bandmates he wanted to play “something slower.” They chose “They Called it Music” whose description of it – “it was honest, it was simple, and it helped in hard times” – rang like a mission statement. 

Some spoke serious sentiments: Barry and Holly Tashian’s “Home” and the loyal “Friend of Mine” – their famed musical DNA brother harmonies warming the words with honest, simple sentiment. Others ripped and romped, including travel tunes – the honky-tonk swagger “Walking West to Memphis” and Bill Monroe’s high-momentum “Roll On Buddy, Roll On” – also the party imperative “Shut Up and Dance.”

Eric Gibson, above; Leigh Gibson, below

A tremendous vocal duo, each brother also sang strongly alone, Eric in a higher tenor than 11-months younger Leigh. Consolingly slow or caffeinated-quick, the playing dazzled. While Eric took a few fine guitar or banjo breaks and Leigh soloed a verse or two in multi-guitar pile-ons, Carson’s fiddle and Cody Kilby’s mandolin and guitar solo work lit things up. Bassist Michael Barber, aboard the Gibson’s bus for 33 years played in brilliant unobtrusive perfection.

National stars, they localized some; Leigh – the brother in the cowboy hat – noted he’d lived on Schenectady’s Gillespie Street and Carter recalled a first date at Music Haven with the woman he’d marry. 

Jason Carter, above; Cody Kilbey, below

Michael Barber, left, and Cody Kilbey

They celebrated family, bringing out Eric’s son Kelley John Gibson to sing the songwriter’s classic announcement “I Got a New One.” (The earlier “Almost Proud” offered wry contrast.) Leigh thanked their mother for saying “You’ve lost weight” even when he hadn’t.

They simmered things down with the gentle “My Quiet Mind,” then the happy domestic “Homemade Wine” closed the set before an eager departure-less rocking encore “Highway.”

Few fans danced; at times the Gibsons played so fast dancers risked whiplash. But whoops and hollers rose from the crowd in upbeat numbers. Then, at the end, everybody rose.

Sara Milonovich, and the Gibson Brothers, will play Caffe Lena this fall; Josh Ritter, too.

Music Haven’s free presentations continue Saturday at 2 p.m. with the seven-band WEXT Local 518 Fest of local rock, pop and hip-hop acts. Sunday Music Haven presents singer Elida Almeida from the Cape Verde Islands whose team surprised big time at the World Cup.

Gallery

Boo Reiners, above and below

Bob Buckley, above; Greg Anderson, below

Kelley John Gibson, center, between Jason Carter and Eric Gibson, Kelley’s father