Jazz in Persip Park with Charlie Tokarz and Paul Arslanian

Charlie Tokarz plays saxophone, flute, and clarinet. He has worked as an accompanist for modern dance at the Institute For Contemporary in Boston, Contact Improvisation in New England, and for The American Tap Dance Foundation in New York directly as a result of being introduced to the group by Paul Arslanian. He has played in the pit band for musicals for local theatre groups, high schools, the Colonial Theatre, and Arena Stage in Washington, DC. He continues to freelance with various jazz groups and teaches primarily at Hotchkiss School.

Paul Arslanian has been playing professionally since 1970, first in the San Francisco Bay Area as a freelance jazz pianist, bandleader, composer and dance accompanist and then, since 1984, in New England where he now resides.

Paul was a Senior Lecturer in Dance at UMass, Amherst from 1999-2018 until retiring, teaching “Music for Dancers” and accompanying classes in ballet, modern and tap dance. From 2010 to the present, Paul has been pianist with the Green Street Trio and coordinator of the Northampton Jazz Workshop, a weekly concert and jam session series. He has been a producer for the Northampton Jazz Festival, in Northampton, MA, since 2015.

Throughout his long career, Paul has had the opportunity to play with, and learn from, many great jazz artists such as Pharoah Sanders, Houston Person, Freddie Hubbard and Gary Smulyan and with many vocalists including Karrin Allyson, Rebecca Parris, and Giacomo Gates.