If you put your ear to the ground, you can hear a slight humming coming from downtown Toledo. Is it the rumble of a new Jeep coming off the line? Is it the sound of the near-endless construction?
There’s a good chance the sounds you’re hearing come from local musician Jason Quick, a performer who spends his time making tunes for the Glass City.
“I’m a relatively busy working musician who plays 12-15 gigs month,” Quick said, all around the Downtown area.
Quick and his various musical acts have been performing, as he puts it, “social music that swings, grooves, and burns” around Downtown for years. You may have heard him perform solo or as a part of bands such as Quickness, On The Beach, Stonehouse, and the Quick Trio.
Tunes of Toledo
Though Quick is making a name for himself in music here in Northwest Ohio, his early life was spent in Michigan. Quick is originally from Livonia, and got his college degree in music from Wayne State University. After graduating, Quick moved down south to get his Master’s degree from Bowling Green State University, and from there began teaching and performing music in the area in 1998.
Since then, Quick has been regularly and often performing around the Downtown area at places like the Toledo Museum of Art, Degage, Hensville, Glass City Cafe, and Manhattan’s. In fact, music from the upcoming album is inspired by his gigs around Toledo: “On the record there is a tune called ‘Claude & Clifford’, dedicated to Claude Black and Clifford Murphy. Zac Kreuz (the Quick Trio’s drummer) played gigs with Claude & Clifford in the last days of Murphy’s Place. I have fond memories of sitting in with C&C on slow Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the club.”
Lasting longer
Ye Olde Durty Bird has become a regular stop for Quick and his various acts, which led them to release their new album, “A Few More Seconds,” at the cozy downtown bar.
“This group is the band that I have always wanted to get gigs for,” says Quick. “Since 2004 in Toledo, I have played with many musicians and called it Quick Trio. The group now with Zac and Josh (Bartolomeo) has been the longest-run with the same personnel and that has been a good thing for the music.”
Quick isn’t one to rest on his laurels: “I’m a musician trying to find work…I am grateful to all the musicians who asked me to play in their bands and for all the clubs that I have played at, and most grateful for my next gig!”
Find out more about Jason Quick and his acts online.
