DIFFERENT STROKES
A Very Unusual Jazz Duo
featuring Yehudit, five-string violin
and Beth Snellings, cello.

You've never heard jazz played quite like this! Two classically trained and jazz-savvy string players stretch the bounds of their instruments to create a unique approach to jazz standards and original compositions. Formed in the spring of 2000, Different Strokes has performed at venues around the Bay Area, including the Old First Church Concert Series, San Francisco Arts Festival, the SIMM series, the People in Plazas Series, the Canvas Gallery, the Dolores Park CafÈ and the Citizen Cupcake CafÈ (San Francisco), the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival, the Bird’s Nest Jazz Series and the Voila Juice Bar and CafÈ (Oakland), Rustico’s Restaurant and Caffe Trieste (Sausalito) as well as the Healdsburg Society for Music and Art. Different Strokes is also on the performance roster of Bread and Roses, Inc. The duo’s debut CD, “Different Strokes Live,” is available on the Edgetone label.

Jazz violinist Yehudit (pronounced "yeah who DEET") is making a place for herself in the forefront of the jazz mainstream, demonstrating that the electric violin, in Yehudit’s hands, is a convincing and innovative jazz instrument. A tenured member of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, she performed for two years with the jazz/blues band John Handy with Class, and has appeared with many Bay Area artists. She has headlined at Yoshi's (Oakland), Lunaria (Los Angeles), La Ve Lee (Studio City), the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts (Walnut Creek), the Fillmore Street Jazz Festival (San Francisco), the Union Street Art Fair (San Francisco), the Sacramento Arts Festival, and other venues in the Bay Area and California. "Yehudit," her debut album, was released in 1997. Her second CD, “Valentine,” featuring jazz treatments of classic love songs, was released in May 2001 on the Edgetone label, and is being distributed nationally by Jazzheads Records. Yehudit also performs with Strings ‘n Things, a straight-ahead quintet led by bassist Walter Savage.

Beth Snellings, cellist, has been performing in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 20 years. Her performing experience spans such musically diverse contexts as symphony orchestras, musical theatre, television, chamber music ensembles, jazz combos and new music groups, with an emphasis on extended techniques and improvisation. Beth’s recent credits include a European tour of “West Side Story,” performances with the Austin Willacy Band, performances and CD recording with Copus, a spoken word/music ensemble, as well as numerous engagements as a chamber musician for private events and entertainment. She is also the music director of “Funky Fitness”, a TV show produced in San Francisco. Beth is a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and of the University of Arizona. Her teachers have included Bonnie Hampton, Mark Summer (of the Turtle Island String Quartet), Gordon Epperson and Martha Gerschefski.

Link to downloadable music samples

Booking contact:
phone: (925)686-4573 or (415)566-4036.

Email: yehudit@yehudit.net or bethsnellings@earthlink.net

Website:
www.differentstrokesmusic.com

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