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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.