Rocco John Iacovone Biography
Composer/Saxophones/Piano Rocco John Iacovone studied privately with Lee Konitz. He holds a BA and Master’s degree in Composition from Hunter College where he studied classical music under the direct disciples of Nadia Boulanger. To round out his education, he went on to study and perform under the direction of Sam Rivers’ Orchestral Explorations at the Studio Rivbea in NYC. Rocco has been actively involved in composing, performing, and teaching ever since.
Presently, in addition to composing and performing events with his arts group, The Coalition of Creative Artists (COCA), Rocco John plays regularly in NYC with the Rocco John Group. Most recently he has been active playing in groups other than his own. Rocco also has a recurring summer Jazz residency in Alaska playing original and straight-ahead jazz with his group “Rare Form”.
Rocco cut his teeth playing first Alto in Sam Rivers’ “Orchestral Explorations” at the Studio Rivbea during the “loft” years. He’s played with Karl Berger, Barry Atschul, the Jazz Composers Orchestra, Larry Grenadier and Phil Grenadier. His years of study with Lee Konitz, and training under Sam Rivers helped Rocco create a compositional and playing style that often reflects Lee’s emphasis on tasteful restraint combined with Sam’s sense of adventurous abstraction. Given his musical training, and classical influences, it is no surprise that Rocco’s music blurs the lines between “in” and “out” playing; creating a link between the two for the audience to follow. Audience participation is important to Rocco’s philosophy of sharing the universal aspect of music. He encourages his audience to be active listeners, and sometimes runs shows, through COCA, that encourage audience participation in multiple disciplines in a very tangible way.
Read more
In addition to performing and recording, Rocco is dedicated to the idea of strengthening the Jazz idiom by passing the music on to the next generation. To that end Rocco has spent many years as a Teaching Artist, teaching Jazz, Improvisation and Jazz History. Rocco frequently gives Jazz residencies with his band and has been the recipient of three Chamber Music America Residency Grants. Rocco does Jazz residencies and workshops all around the world.
Rocco has a number of CD’s as leader. They feature The Rocco John Group. The first one, “Miles To Go”, is a free approach to a collection of original and standard tunes. The second CD, “Don’t wait too Long…”is comprised entirely of original tunes by Rocco. Their third CD, also all originals, is called Devotion, and it is a dedication album to some of Rocco’s Jazz favorites. Like the others, has garnered critical acclaim. There are also four CD’s with RARE FORM. RARE FORM is Rocco’s duo with Murray Nash (composition/keyboard/bass), his collaborator in Alaska. The CD’s: “Live at the Fairview”, “Please Seat Yourself” and “Conversation in 3”are freewheeling interpretations of standards and originals. The fourth CD, “Lose Yer Blues” features original music by both artists.
Rocco has additional collaborative CDs with other groups., and is working on original music for his Octet, The Improvisational Composers Ensemble. Rocco started ICE as a platform for composers whose work features improvisation as a compositional element. He has played his original suites with ICE at Arlene's, Piano's and The Stone, and continues to write for this ensemble.
Rocco can often be heard in NYC and has recently played at Nu-Blu, Pianos, Arlene’s, Clemente Soto velez, Freddie’s, ABC No Rio, Shape shifter Lounge, The Downtown Music gallery, Culture fix, Zirzamin, Goodbye Blue Monday and others. He can be heard most summers with Rare Form, in Talkeetna Alaska. For his schedule, go to www.roccojohnmusic.com. Rocco’s CDs can be heard at cdbaby.com. Rocco can be reached at [email protected] 1-917-312-9487 Show less
