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Ted Piltzecker
“The melodies are superb! The vibes work is exceptional.” JAZZ REVIEW
About Me
Vibraphonist/Composer Ted Piltzecker has eclectic musical interests. He has performed at jazz and percussion
festivals, and in concerts throughout the United States and around the globe. (Germany, Austria, England,
China, Brazil, Norway, Nepal, India, Australia, Iceland, Turkey, The Netherlands, Argentina, Peru, Sweden, Mexico,
Canada, Japan, Finland, and Puerto Rico). His five albums as a leader have been critically acclaimed and
influential in both the percussion and jazz worlds.
His debut album, Destinations, climbed to number eight in national jazz airplay, and his second release,
Unicycle Man on the Equilibrium label (featuring Bob Mintzer, Harvie S, James Williams, and Dave Meade)
remained on the Gavin Jazz Chart for months. The Victory Music Review calls it “a thoughtful recording filled
with tasteful flair, the product of confident mature musicians who are committed to the ensemble.” Jazz writer
and critic, the late Nat Hentoff praised the album as “a lyrical, thoughtful, relaxing meeting of mutually
appreciative improvisers whose time is timeless.”
All About Jazz reports that in his solo vibraphone album, Standing Alone (a collection of standards) “fills the
43-minutes with expressive grace, maintaining interest throughout.” Muse calls it “a simultaneously
technically impressive and deeply relaxing listening experience.” His release Steppe Forward has been cited
as “an upbeat, joyous and uplifting album, from beginning to end” by All About Jazz, and “a nice voyage into
what good jazz is all about in contemporary times” by the Jazz Review. Ted's 2018 release entitled Brindica
that is a reflection of his recent four-month venture around the world. It was recorded in New York and in
Buenos Aires. “Piltzecker writes and arranges tunes that draw on tango, second-line, Afro-Cuban, South African,
and even carnatic influences, always in an organic, fun, and respectful way. The result is a stylistic
kaleidoscope of an album that reveals new combinations of rhythm and harmony at every turn and always
sparkes with wit and good humor.” CDHotList
Ted has performed with many of the great names in jazz in New York (guitarists Gene Burtoncini and Vic Juris,
bassists Rufus Reid and Todd Coolman, drummers Lewis Nash, Dennis Mackrel, and Clarence Penn, pianists Jim
McNeeley, John Hicks, and Bill Charlap, and with saxophonists Chris Potter and Javon Jackson), and while
directing the jazz program at the Aspen Music Festival (Jimmy Heath, Joe Williams, Clark Terry, Mel Torme,
Ernie Watts, Hubert Laws, Slide Hampton, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and many more). He has toured internationally as a
member of the famed George Shearing Quintet, and has led many of his own unique ensembles including
Pendulum, a duo with Canadian pianist Jim Hodgkinson. Ted’s diverse musical interests have also included
tours with the Kenny Endo Taiko Ensemble, TV spots with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s John McEuen,
appearances at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York with organist Dorothy Papadakos, and
chamber music concerts with classical cellists, Yehuda Hanani and Julia Lichten, violinists, Ruben Gonzales
and Calvin Wiersma, clarinetists Ayako Oshima and Dick Waller, harpists Nancy Allen and Emily Mitchell,
bandoneónist, Hector Del Curto, table player Jagannath Dhaugoda, and gadulka player (Bulgarian violin)
Nikolay Kolev.
Ted Piltzecker has received awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on
the Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Lincoln Center Institute, and the ASCAP Foundation. His
works have been aired on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and the Canadian Broadcasting
Company’s “Arts National” and have been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Ensemble at the
Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. As a guest of the People’s Republic of China, he premiered new works
for percussion at the Conservatories in Beijing and Wuhan in the summer of 2013. In the summer of 2014 he
premiered two new works, one for wind ensemble and one for jazz band at the Conservatório de Tatuí in
Brazil. He is an associate professor of music composition at the Purchase Conservatory of Music, State
University of New York and also teaches vibraphone at the Hartt School in Connecticut.
Ted is a graduate of the Eastman and Manhattan Schools of Music. He is an active pilot and unicyclist who
performs using Musser vibraphones and his signature Mike Balter mallets exclusively. Additional information,
including recordings and videos, may be found at TedVibes.com.
