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About The Musicians Other Musician Websites (displays in new window): |
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Warren Byrd has performed on piano and keyboards as sideman with artists such as Archie Shepp, Charles McPherson, Eddie Henderson, trombonist Steve Davis, Mixashawn (a.k.a. Lee Rozie) and many others. Aside from his trio, he most recently has been touring with The Afro-Semitic Experience, a group he co-founded with David Chevan; playing around the world with Dutch trumpeter Saskia Laroo; and also with Funk De Nite, one of Poland's finest Fusion ensembles.
In 2000, Warren released his own Truth Raised Twice featuring his work as a composer and an interpreter of jazz standards. His discography also includes six albums with the Afro-Semitic Experience (USA), including the upcoming release, Plea For Peace; with the Explorers' Quintet (USA); Funk De Nite; and many others. Warren has also composed works for dance and theatre. Musician Website |
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Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading improvisers on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990's while working with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea's acclaimed sextet Origin and the renowned cooperative sextet, One For All.
Steve graduated in 1989 from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz (University of Hartford) and returned in 1992 to join McLean's sextet and begin teaching alongside his mentor at both the Hartt School and Artist's Collective. Steve is featured on over seventy recordings as leader, as a member of One For All and as one of the most in-demand trombonists working today. Musician Website Myspace Page |
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Mike DiRubbo's interest in jazz was spurred by an opportunity to play with the Mitchell-Ruff duo during a concert in high school; the New Haven native subsequently won the school's Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. DiRubbo received a scholarship to the prestigious Hartt College of Music, studying with the legendary Jackie McLean. A short time after graduation DiRubbo began a fruitful, long-term association with fellow Hartt alumnus Steve Davis.
DiRubbo began frequent work at Augie's, a renowned New York incubator of promising young talent. There he played with such emerging stars as Eric Alexander and Jim Rotondi, as well as veterans Harold Mabern and Cecil Payne. After moving to Brooklyn he joined pianist Michael Weiss' highly regarded sextet. DiRubbo performs throughout the US, Europe and in Israel and he regularly leads bands in New York City clubs and at jazz festivals. DiRubbo has evolved into a significant soloist, composer, and bandleader. Evidence of this progress is abundant on his two recent recordings as a leader for Criss Cross, Keep Steppin' and Human Spirit. A review from All About Jazz notes that Keep Steppin' “rides high on the combined strengths of a cohesive group sound, arresting compositions, and compelling individual performances by a quintet of energized young veterans.” Musician Website Myspace Page |
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Dezron Douglas is one of the most outstanding young bassists to hit the international jazz scene in recent years. A native of the Hartford-area and graduate of the Hartt School, Dezron has been touring most recently with the Cyrus Chestnut trio and led his own group at the notable New York jazz club, Smoke. Dezron has performed with Steve Davis, Pharoah Sanders, and many others. He is also co-founder of NJS (New Jazz Workshop) with saxophonist Lummie Spann.
Myspace Page |
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Josh Evans was born and raised in Hartford and started playing trumpet when he was ten years old. At age 13 his musical career was shaped by meeting the great alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, who became Josh’s mentor and private teacher, culminating in performances with McLean at such venues as the Blue Note, Iridium and the Bushnell Theatre. While attending the Greater Hartford Academy of the Performing Arts High School Josh was selected for the All-American Grammy High School Jazz Band, won the Wynton Kelly Award and an Outstanding Soloist Award from Down Beat magazine.
Josh has recently burst onto the national jazz scene, playing and touring with such luminaries as Cedar Walton, Barry Harris, Rashied Ali, Terell Stafford, Valery Ponomarev, Jimmy Greene, Steve Davis, Ralph Peterson and Winard Harper. Myspace Page |
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Craig Hartley has studied under such jazz greats as Jackie Mclean, Joe Chambers, Steve Davis, Gary Dial and Andy Laverne. Craig was awarded scholarships to the New School in New York City, the Hartt School in Hartford, CT, and the Manhattan School of Music, from which he graduated in 2006. From straight-ahead to free jazz, Hartley's music fully encompasses all aspects of the jazz idiom.
Craig was a member of the Steve Davis Quintet from 2002 through 2004. In 2003 Craig's distinctive compositional style was showcased at the Numazu Festival for International Design (Japan), where he performed in concert and presented an original work specially commissioned for the event. Craig is a member of the New Jazz Workshop, a musician's collective led by Dezron Douglas and Lummie Spann, with which he performed an opening set for Wynton Marsalis' group at "Beyond the Storm," a benefit for victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 2006 Craig performed a remarkable solo set at the Hartford International Jazz Festival and also toured Italy with the Matteo Sabbatini Quartet. Hartley has performed with jazz great Anthony Braxton and many other legendary muscians, including Eddie Henderson, Slide Hampton, Nat Reeves, Ugonna Okegwo, Jim Rotondi, Jimmy Greene, Kevin O'Neil, John Benitez, Mark Gross, Bob Mover and Claudio Roditi. In addition to performing with such preeminent artists at renowned venues and festivals worldwide, Hartley continues to work on a wide array of projects, including composing original vocal works, creating film soundtracks and leading multiple jazz ensembles. Musician Website Myspace Page |
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Kris Jensen was a semi-finalist in the 1996 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. A protégé of the great Jackie McLean, Kris studied with the legendary saxophonist at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music. He has performed in an array of musical genres, from the mainstream jazz settings of swing and bebop, to Latin jazz, jazz fusion, R&B and soul. Kris has performed with many top jazz artists, including Eddie Henderson, David Hazletine, Roy Haynes, Steve Davis, Randy Johnston, George Coleman and Jackie McLean. Kris was a featured soloist with Maynard Ferguson and Big Bop Nouveau. He has also performed with Cuba Gooding and "The Main Ingredient", as well as entertainers Ben Vereen, Patti Page, Frank Gorshin and Al Martino.
Myspace Page |
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Eric McPherson's mother introduced him as a young child to her wide orbit of friends, including major jazz artists such as Max Roach, Michael Carvin, Charles Moffett and Freddie Waits. At three, he told Elvin Jones, another household friend, that he was definitely going to be a drummer.
Eric attended New York's prestigious LaGuardia High School of the Arts and was selected for the New York All City High School Big Band, making his Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center debuts and winning several Outstanding Soloist Awards. Upon graduating he was recommended to Jackie McLean, leading to a full scholarship to the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School of Music, University of Hartford. While still a student Eric joined the Jackie McLean Quintet, remaining for 15 years until Jackie's recent death. Over those years, Eric recorded two CDs with Jackie and performed with him at major venues worldwide. Eric has also performed with a wide range of major jazz figures, including Pharaoh Sanders, Andrew Hill, Richard Davies, Claudia Acuña, Jason Moran, Greg Osby and Avishai Cohen. Musician Website |
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Nat Reeves hit the early '80s New York jazz scene playing with rising young lions like Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller and Tony Reedus. In 1982 he was touring Japan with saxophone giant Sonny Stitt. Nat then attracted jazz legend Jackie McLean's attention. Jackie asked Nat to join his band and to teach at the Hartt School, as well as at Jackie's foundation, the Artist Collective. For the next twelve years Nat's primary gig was touring and recording with Jackie's band. Nat appears on five of Jackie's recordings over this period. Their touring carried them all around the globe and to most of the world's major jazz festivals until McLean's recent death.
In 1995 Nat hooked up again with Kenny Garrett, touring with him internationally and recording four CDs over the subsequent years. Most recently Nat has been playing and recording actively with piano icon Harold Mabern, as well as with saxophonist Eric Alexander and with fellow Jackie McLean bandmate Steve Davis. Over the years, other jazz icons Nat has played and/or recorded with include Donald Byrd, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Curtis Fuller, Art Taylor, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Pepper Adams, Walter Davis Jr., Andy Bey, Jimmy Cobb, Michael Carvin, Philly Joe Jones, Woody Shaw, and Cedar Walton. Nat’s discography now numbers over 40 records. Musician Website |
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Albert Rivera was born in the Bronx and discovered jazz while attending the prestigious LaGuardia High School of the Arts. At 15 he received a scholarship to Litchfield Jazz Camp, where he was mentored by many superb musicians, including Don Braden, Jimmy Greene and Dave Santoro. It was also at Litchfield where Albert forged many deep musical relationships that continue to this day. Albert attended New School University in New York where he studied with Reggie Workman, Chico Hamilton, Junior Mance, Billy Harper, Rachel Z, Charlie Persip and others. Since then he has played at top jazz venues in New York, toured with his trio and quartet and performed with many jazz luminaries, including Junior Mance and Winard Harper.
Albert remains committed to music education and returns to Litchfield Jazz Camp each summer to teach. His newest CD "Re-Introduction" features master drummer Ralph Peterson, trumpeter Christian Scott, mentor and friend Jimmy Greene, guitarist Andrew Lipow, trumpeter Nick Roseboro, as well as two Hartford favorites and Litchfield alums who along with Albert now have blossoming jazz careers: brothers Zaccai Curtis (piano) and Luques Curtis (bass). Musician Website Myspace Page |
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Curtis Torian was raised in Danbury, CT, where he worked as a colonial snare drummer since the age of 9. While still a young student he performed with the Connecticut Rebels of 76 Fife and Drum Corp throughout Connecticut, as well as New Orleans, Los Angeles, Ireland, Canada, and a nationwide Bicentennial tour of the US in 1976.
His earliest jazz drumming influence was instructor Ralph C. Pace (1925 – 2006). After high school Curtis attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he made many friends who have become some of the most creative artists on the jazz scene in recent decades. While continuing his performing career, Curtis has been teaching in the Connecticut Public Schools and has completed addtional studies at Western CT State University (MS) as well as the State University of New York at Purchase (MFA). Curtis Torian has performed with many leading jazz musicians, such as Walter Beasley, Paul Brown, Warren Byrd, Joey Calderazzo, Todd Coolman, Steve Davis, Mike DiRubbo, Dezron Douglas, Jimmy Greene, Kuumba Frank Lacy, Branford Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Peter McEachern, Greg Osby, Mario Pavone, Billy Pierce, Steve Porter, Nat Reeves, Steve Slagle, Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith, Benny Wallace, and Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts. Myspace Page |
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