Charlie Lindner & The Pickle Mafia

Melting genres of music together is a talent Charlie Lindner has marinated over time. Charlie has made a name for himself in cities across the US, playing jazz, blues, and especially electronic dance music to push his musical boundaries. He is always striving to entertain in new and exciting ways, performing both sit-down grand piano concerts and the bar/venue dual set shows that offer a taste of jazz in the first set and live electronic dance in the second set. Lindner’s live electronic concerts fire up the crowd with four on floor grooves and high energy live bass and drums. Mixing in popular remixes and vocal samples puts the Charlie Lindner as boarderline DJ and a showtime crowd-pleaser. Lindner’s sit down concerts offer an array of styles, from classics like “As Time Goes By” to original Jazz arrangements of the Who, Weezer, and Nirvana. Lindner has also been known to bring random members of the audience on stage unexpectedly, and encourages participants to be inspired by the music and draw a picture during sit-down performances. This unique quirk adds an element of fun and surprise to the shows, and has created a collection of awesome fan art! Lindner’s past projects showcase his range and depth as a musician, with experience in Progressive Rock (Derelict Brew, 1999), Jazz-Fusion (The Move, 2003), Funk and Soul (Macro Meltdown 2008), Live Electronic Dance Music (The Manhattan Project, 2010), and Jazz (Charlie Lindner Trio, 2015). The Manhattan Project, one of Lindner’s most successful endeavors, has resulted in international tours, sharing the stage with top electronic artists such as Bassnectar, The Disco Biscuits, Lotus, Papadosio, Big Gigantic, and many more! Marco Cirigliano was born in a small town called Rochester in upstate New York on March 31, 1997. At the age of 9, he was introduced to the drum set for the first time by his cousin. After learning his first beat seemingly easily, the passion within for playing the drum set was discovered. This is when he coined his nickname, "The Italian Drummer". Marco has studied primarily by himself for his life, honing in on the fine details of his craft through extreme discipline and hard work. That being said, he was involved in most of the music programs in his schools and graduated from McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he studied some subjects with the staff of the drum department. He is an extremely well versed drummer, fluent in the styles of rock, country, pop, punk, funk, hip hop, R&B, gospel, fusion, jazz, latin, drum n bass, jungle, and metal. A few months after graduating music college, Marco landed this opportunity to share the stage with Grammy award winning artist Nelly, drumming for this gospel artist by the name of Sir the Baptist. Leg one was opening for BJ the Chicago Kid in a few East Coast cities in the US. Nelly's tour took them through all of the UK and some parts of Ireland and Scotland. This tour took off right after Marco won a competition that allowed him to attend PASIC for the first time. In 2019, Marco had his first performances at his first time ever attending NAMM through his newly endorsed in-ear company, MEE Audio. You can currently see Marco along the East Coast performing with one of the ten bands that he is in, each a different genre. When he is not performing, he is putting in countless hours practicing, beating away at his craft to become one of the most influential drummers that the world has ever seen. Ben Chilbert grew up in Geneva, NY in the early ‘90s listening to his fathers’ extensive record collection which included over 300 different jazz albums. Everything from Kenny G, Fourplay, and George Benson, to Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and Weather Report. For twenty years since then he has studied and enjoyed music on his own while playing in multiple bands of many styles. With Charlie, Ben finally makes a return to his roots with jazz. Ben has shared the stage with many names including members of the Allman Brothers Band, Neville Brothers, Snarky Puppy, and Grammy Award winning Ms Monet (Boz Scaggs, Tower of Power). Advocate of all genres and avant garde originality, Ben appreciates fluent genuine expression in music above all. Given his own never ending journey in music, joining Charlie and The Pickle Mafia represents his experience of the past twenty years being channeled into a modern genuine form of jazz that isn't afraid to break the mold. When not touring with The Pickle Mafia, Ben can be seen with his original bands Haewa or Rootscollider who both have made seperate names for themselves in the Northeast for being heavy, unique experiences.