Tom Mank and Sera Smolen have been performing and writing music together since 1994. Mank, a self-taught singer-songwriter, and Smolen, a conservatory trained cellist, blend their musical languages into an eclectic style. Guitar, voice, and cello have many ways of blending, with the cello as bass, and doubling with guitar or soloing. Mank’s eloquent writing of instrumentals is contrasted well with his poetic lyrics. Their latest CD, “Paper Kisses", was recorded in Bearsville, NY with both Ithaca and Woodstock area musicians and vocalists contributing - and has received rave reviews. They will take this CD to The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in November 2011. Their previous CD, “Where the Sun Meets the Blue”, received enthusiastic reviews in both the US and Europe and was rated one of the best CDs of 2008 by a reviewer at the Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange. Previous to that, “Souls of Birds” was released on I-Town Records and was rated as the 5th best CD of 2004 by Real Roots Café in The Netherlands.
Tom Mank, an independent singer-songwriter for the past twenty years, has played in folk, blues, and bluegrass bands collaborating with a host of singers and instrumentalists in Boston (MA), Brattleboro (VT), Keene (NH), and Ithaca(NY). He currently performs with Smolen and many other musicians and continues to generate new music.
Dr. Sera Jane Smolen is an active performer of many genres of music, including four centuries of classical music. In addition to her collaboration with Mank, she has performed extensively with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, Albert Consort (New Violin Family), Tri-Cities Opera, Mansfield University Piano Trio, Ithaca Piano Trio, Trio Melange, Chiron Festival of the Creative Spirit, and Cornell University Hesterian Musicism. She has taught at Mansfield University, Alfred University, Hobart & William Smith, and Ithaca College. She is the assistant director of the New Directions Cello Festival, a founding member of the Binghamton Cello Festival, and a guest clinician around the US and Canada. RECORDINGS: Paper Kisses, 2010; Where the Sun Meets the Blue, 2007; Souls of Birds 2004; Conversations in Waves, 2001; Almost Time, 2000.
For an in depth bio written by Frank Gutch Jr - click here:
http://www.rockandreprise.net/manksmolenithaca1.html