Events

[BLUES] Buffalo-born Maria Aurigema grew up surrounded by three brothers, living at the 30-room Degraff Mansion in North Tonawanda, which her dad owned. She was playing guitar and flute before finishing elementary school,  but it was in her teens that she got a toehold on the blues, a byproduct of listening to WBFO’s late night programming. Still, she went on to study jazz guitar with revered local guitarist Stu Weissman and worked hard to emulate the complexity of artists like Pat Matheny and Al Dimeola while developing a taste for the emerging prog/fusion scene (articulated locally by a band called Gamalon that caught a big break opening for Genesis in 1973). Aurigema eventually began steering her sound away from the theory-based world of jazz and into the more intuitive territory of blues improv. The end result is a formidable blend of technical know-how and that sixth-sense that guides the best players through solo passages that never come out the same way twice—and she shares her expertise with her students as an instrumental music teacher in the Ken-Ton school district by day. By night, she’s opened for top-drawer blues artists like Tab Benoit, Elvin Bishop and Jimmy Thackery, while also warming up crowds for larger acts like Foreigner, Little Feat and Blue Oyster Cult. Aurigema celebrates the release of her new disc, Long Way Home, with a show at Mohawk Place on Thursday, May 7. Anita West is hosting, and the Whole Hog food truck will also be on hand with a special “Maria Menu.”