Chris Dingman

Chris Dingman is a vibraphonist and composer known for his distinctive approach to the instrument: sonically rich and conceptually expansive, bringing listeners on a journey to a beautiful, transcendent place. He has been profiled by NPR, the New York Times, DRUM magazine and many other publications, and has received fellowships and grants from the Chamber Music America, the Doris Duke Foundation, New Music USA, and the Herbie Hancock Institute (formerly the Thelonious Monk Institute).

Dingman has done significant work with legendary artists Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter as well as next generation visionaries such as Jen Shyu, Ambrose Akinmusire, Steve Lehman, and many others, performing around the world including India, Vietnam, and extensively in Europe and North America. Hailed by the New York Times as a “dazzling” soloist and a composer with a “fondness for airtight logic and burnished lyricism,” the fluidity of his musical approach has earned him praise as “an extremely gifted composer, bandleader, and recording artist.” (Jon Weber, NPR).

"The whole enterprise has the ring of the new, but you can imagine hearing it on WBGO, the local radio standard of the straight-ahead jazz tradition. ... Mr. Dingman's own style stands out: he uses it not just for melody and percussion but also for sound, in long, smoky chords beaming out like floodlighting. " - Ben Ratliff, The New York Times

"First and foremost, what you get from this record is this strong, very mysterious, very enthralling atmosphere throughout." - Kevin LeGendre, BBC 3, Jazz on 3

"The year is still relatively young, but Chris Dingman has already notched what's certain to be one of its watershed recordings: Waking Dreams, a gorgeous, contemplative sequence of moody original compositions played by an outstanding band." - Steve Smith, Time Out New York

"First and foremost, what you get from this record is this strong, very mysterious, very enthralling atmosphere throughout." - Kevin LeGendre, BBC 3, Jazz on 3

"Vibraphonist Chris Dingman delivers a sure-footed and deeply lyrical debut, a showcase both for his luminous compositions and for his rapport with a network of peers" - Nate Chinen, The New York Times

"Beautifully rendered and thoroughly accessible ... a work of art and form. To bring ideas into fruition - let alone ones from dreams - into music that's articulated at this level, is something to admire." - Mark F. Turner, All About Jazz

"If you believe that ballads deserve the same taut interplay as uptempo tunes, you're likely down with vibraphonist Dingman, whose new Waking Dreams is a suite of reflections that rebuffs somnambulance with inventive exchange after inventive exchange." - Jim Macnie, Village Voice

"Vibraphonist Chris Dingman has become one of jazz's young leading lights." - Michael Hamad, Hartford Advocate

"The composition is part ars poetica, a creative manifesto that reveals the musicians personal investment in his craft and the project overall. "Waking Dreams" is a wonderfully layered and complex piece that resonates most strongly because of its attention to layering and polyrhythmic detail." - Ebony Noelle Golden, Revivalist Music

"His own compositional creativity is on full display with Waking Dreams, an exquisite fourteen-movement suite being issued this month. Its harmonies, rhythms and textures reflect [an] abiding interest in non- Western musics." - Paul Blair, Hot House

"Chris Dingman has already shown his improvisatory gifts and innate lyricism in Steve Lehman's quintet and octet and Harris Eisenstadt's Canada Day. His debut as a band leader, Waking Dreams, a suite, is a kind of continuous reverie in which densities shift and complexities arise to be ultimately resolved in washes of shimmering metallic overtones." - Stuart Broomer, New York City Jazz Record

"Chris Dingman's Waking Dreams is a meticulously crafted album that's equally as strong as the sum of its parts." - Anthony Dean-Harris, Nextbop.com

"Dazzling .. with a fondness for airtight logic and burnished lyricism" - Nate Chinen, NY Times

"Jazz vibist-of-the-moment" - Phil DiPietro, All About Jazz

"Dingman is downright hypnotic" - John Barron, All About Jazz

"Dingman gives even the most skeletal constructions the right amount of harmonic flesh." —David Adler, JazzTimes

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Primary Instrument

Vibraphone

Location

New York City

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

In addition to performing, Chris is an active educator, working with students of all ages and levels for the past 15 years. His extensive teaching experience includes presenting master classes at conservatories and schools both nationally and internationally (including Miami-Dade College, Trinity College, Vancouver Jazz Festival, the National Conservatory of Vietnam, Staffeldsgate College in Oslo, Norway, and more), directing a summer music camp for students ages 11-18, leading jazz ensembles at the high school and middle school levels, and teaching group percussion classes for both children and adults. In addition to presenting workshops and educational residencies throughout the world, he teaches vibraphone, composition, piano, percussion, and jazz improvisation in private lessons and group classes through Inner Arts Initiative and Play Music in Brooklyn, NY, and teaches vibraphone performance at The New School University.