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Dorian L. Parreott II

As a freelance tuba player from NY/NJ/PA tri-state area, Dorian Parreott II continues to perform in local orchestras, brass ensembles, jazz ensembles, small combos now in North Carolina.

About Me

Dorian Parreott, II attended The College of New Jersey with a BA in Performance and Music Education. In 2007, he received a Masters in Education with an emphasis on Educational Administration and has plans to seek a teaching degree in mathematics. Dorian is a 29 year retired educator in New Jersey which started in his hometown of Neptune, New Jersey. During his 10 years at Neptune, Mr. Parreott ran a 4th-12th grade summer band program, he ran 2 jazz bands, audio and video technician for musicals, assistant and marching band director, and many other activities. For the next twelve years, Mr. Parreott was the HS band director at North Plainfield HS in NJ where he lead the concert band, wind ensemble, two jazz bands, marching band, indoor guard unit, several small ensembles, and twice conducted the musical pit orchestra. He had also worked for the theatre department as lighting and sound engineer. Dorian also conducted the Central Jersey Honors Middle School Jazz Band. Starting as a performer in his teens, Mr. Parreott had performed with some of the biggest names in classical and jazz. He was always in demand as a performer since he was well verses in a variety of musical styles; starting out in the local symphonies both as a performer and as a featured soloist. Dorian always attributes his success in being at the right place at the right time such as his chance meeting in 1991 with recording artist and tuba player Bob Stewart who set up a meeting between Dorian and Henry Threadgill. In a few short months Dorian was traveling to England, Austria, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Sicily, Holland, and India. Dorian is heard on the recording “Too Much Sugar for a Dime” with the eight-time winner of the Avant-Garde Jazz Composers Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, Henry Threadgill and his group. From there, Dorian became a substitute and freelance performer in NYC on a regular basis filling in for other professional tuba players in a variety of musical venues and situations. In 1993, Mr. Parreott was a substitute for Bob Stewart for a few weeks which turned into performing for several years in the David Murray Big Band on stage at the famed Knitting Factory every Monday night. Later the group morphed into the Next Legacy Jazz Orchestra directed by saxophonists / composers Benny Russell & Jorge Sylvester which later relocated to the Brooklyn Conservatory for many more years and performances. The group was seen and heard in concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as well as many New York museums and various events in North America. This group ended its long run in 2005.

Sharing the stage with a number of legendary jazz artists and highly regarded New York musicians, Dorian had many new friends in the world of jazz and classical music. He has had the unique opportunity to play on a few CD's, one of which was Grammy Nominated for Best Jazz Album – hip-hop jazz artist, “Russell Gunn's” Ethnomusicology 3. Mr. Parreott also can be heard on a few children's albums, NJ Public Television programs, as a soloist in various orchestras and music publication recordings, and on a CD with the Jersey rock band - The Beacons. As he had done in the past, Dorian met yet another tuba player to which he was asked to performed several shows a week for two years with the Broadway Show RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL. Keep in mind that Mr. Parreott was continuing to hold down a teaching job while his nights were filled with the joyous sounds of the New York streets.

Although Dorian’s major instrument is tuba, he performs on trombone, baritone saxophone, and trumpet on many rock shows at the NJ State Theatre, the Count Basie Theatre, and many colleges. Along with performing in clubs, Mr. Parreott continues to perform in several brass quintets for weddings, a variety of cultural functions, church services, corporate events, and community programs all since the mid 1980’s. Even during his college years he played for three separate NJ college orchestras and various ensembles from Atlantic City to Doylestown, PA to Atlanta. During the mid 1990’s, he balanced his educational teaching with traveling to Morocco as a command performance for King Hassain V as part of the US State Department. Other teaching and performance opportunities in this time period included 2 separate performances with the Scott Joplin Orchestra in Houston, Texas; he was the only tuba player in Dallas at the 75th anniversary for the National Association of Negro Musician - which was a select orchestra of only the top professional black musicians from major orchestras around the globe, under the direction of Leslie Dunner (the associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony); guest artist / clinician for the NJ Educators Conference in Atlantic City; clinician and brass consultant for a number of high school jazz ensembles and marching bands all around central and northern New Jersey; Dorian conducted the Central Jersey Intermediate Jazz Band in 1996; featured soloist for 2 New Jersey Orchestras; in the 2000’s - many Beatle-mania reunion concerts; as a member in Howard Johnson’s Gravity featuring the great blues artist Taj Mahal and Ray Chew (of the Apollo); several years of performing with Glenn Burtnik’s (STYX) Xmas Xtravaganza as well as a musician and arranger for the New Jersey Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for 6 years; as arranger and performer for the anniversary of The Band’s live album, The Last Waltz at the Stone Pony; as a hired musician for many colleges in the tri-state area; as a member of the NY Housing Authority Orchestra (giving free concerts to families in the projects in Harlem); as founder of the Top Brass Quintet and Quintessence Brass Quintet (1985); as a member and soloist of the Monmouth Symphony; as a member and soloist with the Garden State Symphony in Toms River; and a slew of local community bands, Dixie combos, and big bands throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania as well.

In recent years, Mr. Parreott, at the request of Howard Johnson, performed on stage at NJ PAC in Newark for the Miles Davis / Gil Evans tribute which featured artists that performed on the original albums and other live performances with Miles and Gil. This performance featured trumpeters Sean Jones and Terrance Blanchard; legendary drummers Jimmy Cobb and Peter Erskine; the great tubist Howard Johnson; and bassist Christian McBride. There were many other performers in the jazz orchestra that performed with Gill Evans or Miles Davis at one time or another, but sharing the same stage and being asked to participate in such an event is surely one of the high points of his career as a musician. Dorian even had a shared solo with the former Saturday Night Live band leader, Howard Johnson. Within the same weekend he was asked to return as low brass instructor and performed at Alice Tully Hall with the Long Island Children’s Orchestra which is comprised of the area’s top students that study at the conservatory in Manhasset. Kean University has also requested Dorian on tuba for several concerts over the last few years while he still performs with the Whitehouse Community Band and the NJ Workshop for the Arts Wind Ensemble in Westfield, New Jersey. Dorian also taught summer programs and jazz programs with the NJ Workshop for the Arts.

Dorian continues burning the candle at three ends with performances at the State Theatre in New Brunswick with Glen Burtnik and his British Invasion 2 Show featuring music of the 1960’s. He has also collaborated for the last 6 years with Glen Burtnik as an arranger and performer for the annual New Jersey Hall of Fame Awards Induction Ceremony. Here Dorian was seen on tuba, baritone saxophone and trombone. He has had the opportunity to share the stage with a number of great iconic rockers year after year. Now living in North Carolina, Mr. Parreott continues arranging, gigging, educating, and creating musical projects for the forgotten tuba.

Mr. Parreott, although retired, repairing instruments and staying active musically, he resides at home with his wife of 19 years, his daughter, and 2 dogs. Dorian enjoyed devoting his time to his students in the North Plainfield school district, but vows to continue educating new students in North Carolina through the Moore Music Company Summer Jazz Camps he created. He also works with several music stores as an educator and repair tech.

For 29 years at North Plainfield and Neptune High School, he was driven by the student’s enthusiasm for the marching band and jazz band programs and describes his position at the time as a “7:30am to mid-night gig”. During his time at the high school the marching band students were continually at the top of their game winning recognition and trophies each week during the competition season for music, drill, guard, and percussion. Dorian continued to find time for each child individually and as a group so that he may find something deeper that the entire band shares as a unit. “Each artist has his own pains or life experiences to express in their art and each child needs to learn how to use their palette”. The devotion to music drives him to make each moment better than the previous one. With that in mind, Dorian had taken the band on trips every year to give them the educational experience of using the day to day skills acquired in and beyond the classroom. Along with his joy of jazz, Dorian teaches jazz ensembles and the students have won a few trophies and individual categories at festivals and competitions. He has also received the North Plainfield School's “The Teacher of the Year” award for the 2013 school year and receive the accolade as the one of the school's Top Ten Teachers for several years. He was also one of two teachers in the finals for NJ Teacher of the Year in 1998.

In his last 7 years of teaching in the public schools, Mr. Parreott had moved to the elementary school when a co-worker retired and took a 40-50 member band to the height of almost 300 students between the two schools. The students enjoy his enthusiasm for music as well as his calm demeanor and deliverance of musical knowledge. Mr. Parreott is proud of several of his former students who have continued in music and are successful composers, Grammy & Tony Award winners as well as Music Directors on Broadway and recording artists to which he has performed on the same stage with many of them. Although Mr. Parreott has his Masters in Administrative Education; he plans to continue to educate the masses of young musicians in hope to inspire his students to continue their search for themselves within the art of music.

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