Staff photo / Andy Gray From left, Beth Glancy, Mariano Longo and Marty Cohen are shown in the rehearsal studio at the DownBeat Musical Arts Centre in Warren.

WARREN — In some ways, it’s easier for Mariano Longo to describe what DownBeat Musical Arts Centre isn’t.

“It’s not the School of Rock; it’s not the Guitar Center,” Longo said. “It’s not a music school or a dojo where a bunch of kids get dropped off.”

Instead, if being a musician was an Olympic sport, DownBeat is where those future Olympians would train.

“We’re dealing with a very narrow clientele,” said Longo, a Howland native who, when he’s not working at DownBeat, tours the country as music director for Wayne Newton.

He used singer-songwriter Aairo and guitarist Garrett Fry, two young musicians who will be a part of a concert DownBeat is staging March 1 at St. Demetrios Community Center in Warren, as examples of that clientele.

“These guys are no different than when you go to a high school game and see an athlete on the field that you know is destined to go to college or obviously going to the pros,” Longo said. “We search out and find those kinds of talents, and we put them in a session with older, experienced professional musicians who actually know what to do. And in those sessions, they learn an incredible amount.”

Longo has plenty of experience working with professional musicians and knows the needs of those who hire them. He is the founder and musical director of Orchestral Events, which has staged orchestral pops concerts with such acts as Gary Puckett and The Buckinghams. When he was music director for Puckett’s band, Longo staged the Generation Us concert at Warren Community Amphitheatre in 2007 with Puckett, as well as local acts such as The Kellys, all backed by an orchestra.

DownBeat was started to fulfill the needs of those musicians. Longo originally considered opening DownBeat on state Route 46 in Mineral Ridge because it would be easily accessible for those in both Trumbull and Mahoning counties, but the expense of building the center from scratch was cost prohibitive. He credited his wife with finding the building at 1171 E. Market St., Warren, a former warehouse that was an empty shell that could be adapted to DownBeat’s needs.

Working with Marty Cohen as vice president and Beth Glancy — whose many titles include art director, curator, social media and PR — Longo already has finished one rehearsal studio, fully equipped with musical gear and designed with asymmetrical walls so there’s no reflective surfaces. It’s available for rental for local bands and can be used by touring acts playing area venues that need a rehearsal space.

“They pay an hourly fee, and it’s plug and play,” Longo said. “They don’t have to worry about bringing anything. It’s state of the art with parking, bathroom facilities, a coffee machine.”

“I use it for my band, and it’s great,” Cohen added.

A larger, second studio is planned that will have enough room to accommodate a small orchestra.

The lobby is filled with photos of some of the many musical acts that started in the Mahoning Valley as well as fliers from old concerts and other artifacts collected by Glancy, who described some of the collages on the wall as bio frames.

“It’s like putting a biography together and using pictures to tell their story,” she said. “The bands used to have to draw up their flyers and go physically hang them, and we have some of those. Part of the coolest thing about this was I was just a little too young to be able to see some of these guys, and I have parents that didn’t let me go to a lot of things. To have them sit down and tell me their stories was so cool.”

The March 1 concert will include a mix of the Valley’s musical history and its future. Fry plays guitar with Brass Express, a group that focuses on the horn-driven rock of acts like Chicago, Tower of Power and Blood, Sweat & Tears. One of its singers is Doug Thomas, who was a member of I Don’t Care, which was signed to Buddha Records in the ’70s. Thomas also sings in the Full Moon Allstar Band with Bob Fiorino, who was a member of Mom’s Apple Pie, another local ’70s band that signed a national recording deal.

Other acts include Bekah’s Groove featuring Aairo, Mortisha’s Secret and Kevin Mazey’s Dimension. All of the acts are donating their time and talents for the event.

“We’re featuring them in 40-minute, best-of segments,” Longo said. “They’re not playing a whole set, they’re just doing a sampling of their best material.”

Mazey, who has been a member of such popular local cover acts as Link and The Houseband, will be playing some of his original material.

“They’re going to hear a really eclectic mix of music here,” Longo said.

In addition to performing at the benefit, Aairo will be one of four vocalists Longo will use for a concert he’s doing at Packard Music Hall on May 7 to close out the Warren Civic Music Association’s 2025-26 season.

Many music superstars, from the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, did quite well without being able to read music, but that’s not possible for jobs where musicians oftentimes need to be able to play a full concert of music with only a single rehearsal, Longo said. Unless musicians just want to play the same covers in local bars for shrinking paydays, there are skills they need to be working professionals.

DownBeat is looking at available grants to bring in music professionals for clinics to share their knowledge and expertise in a wide range of music-related fields.

“If I would have had this when I was growing up, it would have been wonderful,” Cohen said. “We had garages and basements.”

As the center grows, the goal is to provide resources for those who have the talent and the drive to excel.

“He (Longo) has been in the business,” Glancy said. “He can help a young person maybe skip some of those steps he had to trip over.”