Best Local Instrumentalist

On any given night of the week, MARQUINN “QUINN” MASONRY can be found playing music from Gallery 992 (his regular spot) and Aisle 5 to the wilds of the Atlanta Beltline, sputtering and blowing into an alto saxophone. Be it with the Convergence, the Wolfpack, Konda, Leo Project, Charolastra or some other spontaneously formed ensemble, Masonry is a tempestuous player looming over Atlanta’s free jazz and improvised music scene. He’s a MVP for anyone who’s paying attention; the kind of player who doesn’t have to show up for practice and still nail his performance every time. Masonry’s thoughtful yet emotional performances pack in variety and passion, enough to transfix anyone within earshot, and his influence can be discerned not only in the work of his Best local music compatriots, but further afield via such icon musicians as Marshall Allen of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Sonny Stitt and John Coltrane. Even when he’s between parts, quietly listening to the rest of the musicians on stage, waiting for his cue, Masonry is dialed into his own wavelength. He lives the music he plays, and it’s his sense of intuition that guides his music and leaves an impression on his fellow performers and anyone who has gathered to take in his presence.

photo by: Joeff Davis

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Percussionist RAFAEL “RAFA” PEREIRA celebrated July 4, 2016, in the White House, sitting at the dinner table alongside the president and first lady. It’s one of the job perks of being the percussionist for Janelle Monáe’s live band. Such an evening would be the highlight of anyone’s year, but for Pereira, this has been a year of highlights. In addition to becoming a father, Pereira released his latest album, Zabaduo, a collection of hypnotic Brazilian-flavored numbers with bass player Charlie Wooton, on his self-run Tribo Records label — an offshoot of Ropeadope Records that Pereira uses to showcase Brazilian talent from Georgia and abroad. Pereira has an uncanny ability to adapt as a musician. The Brazilian-born Atlanta transplant has spent the last 13 years in the city allowing his South American percussion style to flourish without letting it define him as an artist. What makes a good musician great is the ability to adapt to whatever the situation calls for. Whether picking up a wedding gig with OutKast cohorts Horns Inc., rolling out polyrhythms alongside Wooten, or guiding the retro-future rhythms of Monáe’s R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and sci-fi show on stages everywhere from the clubs to the White House, Pereira’s résumé from the last year alone raises the bar high for musicians around the world. www.triborecords.com. less...

Drummer Joe Sweat picked up his first pair of sticks at the age of 13. Ten years later, he’s pounding the skins behind such powerful local punk and metal acts as Manic and Mangled. His steady pace and rapid style have begun to reshape the more aggressive enclaves of Atlanta’s underground rock scenes. Earlier this year, when he joined ranks with Order of the Owl, his motorik dirge effectively stripped the doom-laced trio of its doomy tendencies, getting the lead out of its sludgy grind, and pushing the group into deeper, higher, and much faster realms of sonic terrain. At the ripe old age of 23, Sweat is forcing the scene to march to his beat. www.mangledmetal.bandcamp.com, www.scavengerofdeathrecords.bandcamp.com/album/manic-s-t-7. less...

There’s a story about IKE STUBBLEFIELD when he was 15 years old and doing his first session with the Motown studio band. He knocked over an expensive microphone and made a general nuisance of himself. Afterward, he piled into a car with the other musicians on a cold January day in the middle of a snowstorm. Somewhere on the interstate, the musicians stopped and deposited Stubblefield on the side of the road. “We’ll come back to get you when you’re ready to behave in the studio,” someone told him. Stubblefield apparently got it right, because he went on to play with such luminaries as Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye. Since moving to Atlanta in 2001, he’s established himself as the premier Hammond B-3 organist in the city, with a sound that comes right out of the church. Expect a solo album, with an all-star cast, this fall.

www.myspace.com/ikestubblefieldmusic

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Whether leaping burning Led Zeppelin riffs or standing still enough to balance a bar glass on his head while zooming through a Pagannini, violinist BOBBY YANG has gotten noticed in Atlanta during the few short years since moving here from Aspen, Colo. A musician of genuine range and depth, Yang is fully engaged in his performance, whether rock or classical. Some critics may dis violin as a delicate instrument with itty-bitty strings, but Yang makes it rock true with a signature style in live concert, without the tepid pablum that comes from so many billed as “crossover” artists and without merely throttling your brain with sheer volume.
www.bobbyyang.com.

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A life of classical training has given TERRI ONSTAD a unique set of tools in her role as Atlanta’s musical journeyman, providing cello, rhythm guitar, bass, and vocals to a number of different projects. Whether working with Sonya Tetlow, No River City, Slim Chance & the Convicts and others, her quick ear for picking up a melody and her powerfully emotional cello playing bring new textures to whatever style of music she’s experimenting in. She also effortlessly provides pitch-perfect harmonies that would make Emmylou Harris green with envy. If you are looking for something special and unique to make that next recording project stand out, Terri is the go-to gal. less...