Stretch is an established Boston-area musical group, incorporating jazz, rock, reggae, african, blues, latin, electronica, avant-garde, and psychedelic influences into their tuneful mix.The Stretch seed was planted in 1999 when bassist George (Giorgio) Chinaglia and guitarist Paul Erlich began jamming with various friends, often in a progressive rock vein. Several improvisations, recorded on tape, stood out and became the basis for Stretch's compositions, spanning styles such as bossa nova, klezmer, classic funk, and John Scofield-influenced fusion. As the music began to jell, sax player Dave Hess was brought into the picture, and his expanding collection of horns has brought an ever-increasing scope to Stretch's sonic picture. A search for the ideal drummer ensued in 2000, with about fourteen drummers participating in rehearsals and, in many cases, gigs. The phenomenal Matt Taylor played drums on Stretch's Demo CD. Then an excellent drummer surfaced in the form of Doug Betensky. Doug had earned a reputation with the group Silas, which entertained Somervillians every Thursday night at the now-defunct Tallulah's, as one of the premier jam musicians in the area. His fierce, precise technique, facility with odd time signatures and polyrhythms, and forward-looking sense of funk provided the keystone of both Stretch's grooves and its flights of improvisational fancy. Stretch then added a second guitar player, Mike Hermans. Berklee grad Hermans has been jamming with Stretch members for eight years while expanding stylistically with various projects around Boston. His beautiful tone and articulation, combined with high-level jazz savvy and a transcendent use of effects, add new dimensions to Stretch's sound and improvisational explorations. With Mike in the fold, Stretch now benefits from the contributions of three former members of Crazy Bus -- one of Boston's tightest fusion bands during the 1990's.The Bus chemistry lives on in the dynamic interaction between Hermans' tasty and colorful guitar work, the unshakable bass foundation of George Chinaglia, and the Dave Hess virtuosity (now expressed on tenor, alto, _and_ soprano sax). But Paul Erlich's ballsy guitar work and doumbek player Garo Papazian's spicy accents, and the duo's forays into ethnic-styled acoustic music, keep Stretch from being simply a Crazy Bus Mark II, giving it instead an original sound that stands out from the jam-band crowd. Stretch had the good fortune of participating in the 2003 Northwest Jazz&Wine festival, sharing the bill with luminaries such as John Scofield, Branford Marsalis, and the Jazz Mandolin Project. Since then, Doug has moved to NYC; Stretch has continued gigging and recording with even more impressive drummers such as Andreas Brade and currently Randy Wooten, both staples of the Boston music scene. If you would like to be informed of Stretch's upcoming performances, please send an e-mail to stretch-music-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, and you'll be added to their mailing list.Hear even more Stretch music on Paul's MySpace page below . . . Also below you'll find a few of Stretch's favorite musicians and bands -- find more of those on Giorgio, Dave, and Mike's MySpace pages.