Results for "Contemporary"

David Najera Gonzalez

Born: June 27, 1998

David Nájera González is a Mexican drummer, composer and educator currently based in NYC. Since his childhood, a strong gravitation towards music has acted as a driving life force. At the age of 19 he moved to NYC and attended the New School for Jazz And Contemporary Music.

David graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in 2021. He is currently enrolled in Queens College pursuing a master’s degree in jazz performance. He is mentored by Dennis Mackrel (Count Basie, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra) Antonio Hart (Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Hargrove) David Berkman (Cecil Mcbee, Tom Harrel) and Michael Mossman (Slide Hampton, Horace Silver). 

Nicol River

Born: December 3, 1997

Nicol River is a composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and director. She has recorded an album of jazz standards and has released several singles which have received an overwhelmingly positive response by her audience.

Nicol River's music can be described as 'contemporary folk', as she draws her inspiration from traditional music across the world including Balkan, Indian, Celtic and Nordic music, and translates it all to modern arrangements. Her lyrics delve into the philosophical complexities of life and death, joy and sorrow, spread across experimental harmonies and atypical time signatures.

​Nicol is the Director of River Music School London, the founder and co-organiser of the Young Cats Jazz Workshop at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, and a governor at the Wandle Learning Trust.

Gerhard Daum

The award winning film music composer Gerhard Daum writes music for US and European films and TV, successfully blending the musical spirit of the two continents to create a fresh and unique voice.

Early in his life Gerhard learned to play the trumpet, performing in marching bands. In his teens he focused on the guitar and piano, subsequently studying classical music and Jazz at the universities of Karlsruhe, Germany and Graz, Austria, and later on teaching guitar and improvisation at the popular Jazz & Rock Schule Freiburg. Performing with internationally acclaimed musicians and touring with his own Jazz/Rock Quartet throughout Europe initialized his passion for composing and blending multicultural influences in his works.

Rowan McJimsey

Born: February 28, 2005

Born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Rowan McJimsey began playing piano at age four, and started studying jazz at age eleven with trombonist and harmonica player Phil Arnold. Shortly thereafter, he began playing numerous gigs with renowned Albuquerque-based jazz vocalist Carla Van Blake, with guitarist Steve Terwilliger, bassist Micky Patten, and saxophonist Arlen Asher. Concurrently, he joined the Youth Jazz Collaborative of New Mexico, a jazz ensemble for middle- and high-school students, directed by Arnold.

At age thirteen, Rowan began studying with pianist and University of New Mexico music professor Jim Balagurchik, who helped him develop his solo piano repertoire and introduced him to more advanced theory concepts. At age sixteen, he began studying with jazz pianist, bassist, and former Berklee professor John Funkhouser, who introduced him to more advanced improvisation concepts and increased his technical proficiency at the keyboard.

Eunmi Lee

Eunmi Lee is a New York-based Korean jazz pianist, composer, and educator who is fearless in experimenting with blending her cultural background with contemporary Jazz. At a young age, she discovered her love for music. She did her associate degree at the Seoul Institute of Arts in Korea.

After graduating, she worked as a professional musician in many different fields, including theater, bandstand, and media music in Korea. In 2016, she expanded her music horizon by studying and playing abroad during her Bachelor of Music degree in the Netherlands as a Jazz piano major with a Holland National Excellence scholarship.

Lorenzo Cellupica

Born: August 16, 1992

Lorenzo Cellupica was born in 1992 in Frosinone (Italy). He’s a pianist, keyboardist, composer and music teacher from Isola del Liri (Frosinone). He began to study at a local music school and carried on his own from the age of 13 till 25. His studies ranged from classical music to jazz, from rock to pop. In 2011 he won a contest for emerging bands in Alvito (FR) called Non solo Jazz (“Not Only Jazz”) with his band Yellowcake. In 2015 he was chosen as the best musicians by the newspaper TG24 for partecipating at a contest organised by the music school Industrie Sonore in Isola del Liri, where he played some original compositions for piano solo

Miles

Born: June 13, 2000

Daniel Villa Verde

Born: August 22, 1985

In 2002 Daniel started his work as a teacher of electric guitar, focusing on technique, harmony and improvisation. Worked with local musicians in Rio de Janeiro with jazz / fusion presentations from 2004 to 2007. He Joined the federal college UNI-Rio in 2005 and studied two and half years until, in mid-2007, he moved to Florianópolis where he had the opportunity to be among music therapists, which added to his informal training during his professional path construction. In 2007, the opportunity to present his work as solo acoustic guitar player in another country appeared. He went to Quilpué and Valparaiso, in Chile and played in the “World Music Festival” at the Sala Rubén Darío and the “Quilpué Vecinal Theatre Festival”, both festivals occurring in the second half of 2007. On these occasions the local radio station Valentin Lethelier played his music on national level. Still in Chile, Daniel stayed with artists at the joint work with Casona Campbell Cultural Center. From 2008 to 2010 he traveled widely troughtout Brazil along with the visual artist and companion Julie Kolker, focusing on music and Agroecology (music in ecovillages and communities) and during this period he exchanged musical experiences in communities such as Terra Una With a little musical interlude to accompany his partner's pregnancy and the birth of his first son (João da Terra), Villa Verde returned to the scene in the second half of 2011 by joining the drummer Antonio Neves (known for his work with Mario Adnet, Eduardo Neves and New Lapa Jazz) and bassist Marcelo Muller (Guinga and Itiberê Zwarg) and the flautist Johanna Weglinsky (Egberto Gismonti) to rehearse and record his first collective Album: An Atom of Antares.

Kristina Socanski

Born: November 21, 1990

Kristina Socanski is a Serbian-Norwegian pianist and a diverse musician who explores both classical and modern repertoire. She performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician and a collaborative pianist, in Norway and abroad. Kristina holds official degrees in piano performance from The Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and The Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. In 2019 she graduated from the “soloist class”, the advanced postgraduate program at RDAM in Copenhagen, specializing in chamber music and accompaniment. The most valuable musical impulses, she obtained through studies with professors Håkon Austbø, Einar Smebye and Niklas Sivelöv

Mark Lotz

Born: June 12, 1963

Flutist, Improvisor, Composer Mark Lotz is more than just a big voice in the European jazz scene. He is at the forefront of jazz, classical and World Music and is obviously enjoying every minute of it! (Tomas Pena, Jazz.com & Latin Jazz Network) Raised in Thailand, Uganda and Germany Marks appetite for musical adventures takes him all over the globe ever since. This spans an arc of collaborations with not only in jazz but also world music, theater, performance art, visual arts, film, dance and Vj. As improviser and composer Lotz is transporting his horn into areas of contemporary music. His personal language combines esthetics and techniques of contemporary and classical music with the virility of jazz. His interpretations of Afro Cuban religious folklore, West African Fula music, Turkish free improvised music and his solo recitals particularly gained much international high acclaim. Mark maintains a busy schedule in multiple capacities as soloist, bandleader, composer, producer, teacher and curator. Seeking to capitalize on the music-hungry fanbase that developed Mark launched festivals and concert series, serving the community through the arts. Mark is passionately committed to music education and outreach, having given clinics and masterclasses around the world. Some facts:

• Grew up in Thailand and Uganda as son of jazz researcher Dr. Rainer Lotz. Started playing flute at age of seventeen and ended up studying both jazz and classical music at the School of Arts Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Private tuition in the US. Price winner of the Karlovy Vary and Middlesea Jazz competions. 2008-2010 student of Indian Bansuri Flute at Codarts.
• Through the years Mark has performed and recorded with many unknown and many equally talented famous artists. Literally from A(rmenia) too Z(ambia). A.o. Don Byron, Chris Potter, Dave Tronzo, Carlos Zingaro, members of the Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba, Miguel "Anga" Diaz, Michael Moore, Jason Robinson & Cosmologic, Najma Akthar, Eddy Martinez, Nicky Marrero, Petar Ralchev, Amelia Pedroso, Anatol Stefanet, David Haney, Michael Vatcher, Zuco 103, Theo Lovendie, Ernst Reisegger, Han Bennink, Thomas Strønen, etc.
• Toured Festivals in Canada, USA, Moldavia, Ukraine, Russia, Suriname, Bulgaria, French Guyana, Senegal, Cuba, Egypt, China, Taiwan, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Nepal, India, Scottland, Spain, Finland, France and Turkey.
• Mark Lotz was part of the “Music: World Series” concert organisation and the free improvised music concert series "u-ex(perimental)". Curated Festivals in Holland and Taiwan. At present is director of the 'Jazz On The Sofa' Festival, VOLfest and Jazzcafé Zeist. Mark has hold masterclasses in Holland, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, Finland, Poland, Italy, Japan and Taiwan. Teaches flute at the HKU and Codarts Conservatories in the Netherlands.
• His music was rated no’s.1 - 10 at lots of music charts, top ten's, tipsheets, published on Compilation CD’s and chosen as Best of, editor pick and special feature in diverse international publications.
• As leader Mark has released 19 Cd's for German, Belgian, Dutch, Turkish, French, Swiss, Polish and US record labels.