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Tom Wetmore

About Me

“An asset to the age of modern music,”* Tom Wetmore is an innovative pianist, composer, and bandleader working in the New York City area. Since 2005, Tom has been a regular on the NYC scene, performing in clubs and other venues from Harlem to Brooklyn (and everything in between)—leading a variety of top-flight groups, including his traditional jazz piano trio and genre-defying sextet, the Tom Wetmore Electric Experiment. His debut album The Desired Effect (2011), released on Crosstown Records, embraces the strikingly eclectic nature of his musical sensibilities.

Borrowing just as much from Bach as from Miles Davis, Tom has long embraced the pursuit of that rare breed of musical expression that defies musical boundaries. Though well-grounded in classic jazz— having completed studies with such traditional masters as Mulgrew Miller and Harold Mabern—Tom has delved even deeper into the more experimental elements in improvised music, completing extensive work with such modern innovators as James Weidman and Ran Blake.

His work with Blake—the Avant Garde legend who practically invented the notion of combining classical music with jazz (in the 1950s)— challenged Tom to look past all stylistic boundaries and, through exhaustive ear training, strive to eliminate any disconnect between his musical ideas and his ability to express them on the piano.

Just as comfortable composing as performing, Tom has made his writing an integral part of his creative process. Having studied jazz composition with Cecil Bridgewater and Jim McNeely and modern classical composition with Jeffrey Kresky, Tom has developed a style that combines the advanced harmony and rhythm of jazz and classical with the visceral groove of funk and other popular music. He has been a finalist for the ASCAP Young Composers award.

Tom has performed or recorded in various formats with such leading musicians as Jaleel Shaw, Michael League, Garrett Brown, TK Blue, Clark Terry, Slide Hampton, Brad Williams, Justin Sabaj, Bernard ”Pretty” Purdie, and many more.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Master’s in Jazz Studies from William Paterson University. He has also studied at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory.

*Vardan Ovsepian