by Barnaby Woods

“Nothing could have prepared me for this scenario” bassist Aidan Plank said over the phone. In March 2020, the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic threw the livelihood of freelance musicians into question. Jazz professionals with flourishing careers suddenly found themselves without work and unable to safely collaborate with their colleagues. Since then, the world has found ways of adjusting to the pandemic — Cleveland’s Bop Stop has installed state of the art streaming equipment to facilitate live performances for audiences to enjoy safely from their homes. On Thursday, October 29th at 7PM, Plank and his Pulse Quartet will be performing a set at The Bop Stop for a restricted live audience. You can also tune in via the jazz club’s Facebook page.

In addition to Plank, the ensemble features Anthony Fuoco on piano, Dustin May on drums, and Brad Wagner on saxophone. Plank is a well known bassist in Northeast Ohio. Outside of Pulse, he performs in Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, Cleveland Jazzworks, and Dan Bruce’s Beta Collective and was featured on NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” in 2019. Having started on piano in elementary school, he was introduced to jazz at a young age by his grandfather. “As a kid I would go to his house and there would be jazz records playing all the time — I remember looking at the album covers and I simply liked the way the bass looked — it looked big and fun and I loved how it sounded.” [Read more…]