Results for "Hartford"

Steven Bulmer

Born: June 15, 1960

Steve Bulmer is a multi-dimensional musician actively performing and recording on upright bass, electric bass and tuba. A native New Englander from Connecticut, Steve enjoys a very active career that spans many musical idioms including jazz, classical, musical theater and pop/rock. Initiated on piano at age 6, his music journey sent him acoustically lower and lower as he was drawn to the inspirational role the bass plays both rhythmically and harmonically in all type of musical idioms. Steve was formally trained at the Eastman School of Music where he received a bachelor’s degree in both Music Education and Music Performance

Ace Livingston

Ace Livingston’s musical artistry creates a rich, passionate, and emotional journey inspired by his life. His current CD, My Metamorphosis (2014), and debut album, The Ace Livingston Project (2007), complement his extensive and successful musical career as a sideman and solo artist. Ace Livingston's eclectic skills and versatility are especially outstanding during his live performances. He has gained national and international notoriety for his musical and professional reputation. His dynamic musical resume includes tours and collaborations with Harry Connick, Jr., 98 Degrees, J

Warren Byrd

Born: January 24, 1965

Pianist / vocalist / composer Warren Byrd is a Hartford native with an international touring schedule after many fruitful years playing Jazz throughout Connecticut, Southern New England, and New York.

Early Years: He’s youngest in a family of music lovers. Showing talent early on, he was encouraged to perform, singing in the Gospel choir at age 4. Also, he was nurtured to love big band jazz early. Would pursue a Theatre career starting at age 14 and had amassed extensive performing credits throughout his teen years. He began composing music at about age 11. Grew into a passion for bebop jazz, especially the music of Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson. Studied Jazz Piano and Music Theory notably with Thomassina Neely, Music Director of Warburton Community Church and R. Leslie Childs Music Teacher at South Catholic High School. Several consecutive summers in the Hartford Stage Company Summer Youth Theatre exposed him to fine musicianship in the aegis of John Johnson, Ed DeGroat, and Stephen Barnicle leading to a curiosity for 20th century classical music, especially Stravinsky. By high school graduation 1983, he’d earn a full scholarship for Classical Voice at Hartt College of Music. He would soon leave to forge his own studies of Composition, Theory, and Jazz Piano.

Nicki Mathis

Josh Evans

Josh Evans, born and raised in Hartford, CT, was drawn to the trumpet after hearing a Roy Eldridge and Dizzy Gillespie recording at the age of 10. Josh began studying with Raymond ‘Dr. Rackle’ Williams and within a year he began performing regularly with Dr. Rackle’s Sound Griot Brass Band. By the age of 14 Evans’ musical career began to take shape when he started to study with and be mentored by the celebrated alto saxophonist/composer, and educator Jackie McLean. Studying under McLean who shared the bandstand with Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Art Blakey, would be pivotal in Josh's career

Earl MacDonald

Born: July 26, 1970

Described as “a magical, musical alchemist of hip hybrids” (Hartford Courant) and “a major force in the world of jazz composition” (Dan Bilawsky, AllAboutJazz.com), MacDonald’s inexhaustible commitment to the jazz art form reveals itself in his performing, composing and teaching. All seven of MacDonald’s albums differ in instrumentation — ranging from a quartet comprised of cello, saxophone, piano & percussion to a full 17-piece jazz big band. This variance speaks to MacDonald’s restless artistic spirit, unquenchable inquisitiveness and his desire to continue stretching himself musically

Dolo Coker

Born: November 16, 1927

Charles Mitchell "Dolo" Coker was a jazz pianist and composer who recorded four albums for Xanadu Records and extensively as a sideman, for artists like Sonny Stitt, Gene Ammons, Lou Donaldson, Art Pepper, Philly Joe Jones, and Dexter Gordon. Charles Mitchell "Dolo" Coker was born in Hartford, Connecticut on November 16, 1927, raised in both Philadelphia and Florence, South Carolina. The first musical instruments Coker played in childhood were the C-melody and alto saxophones, learning them at a school in Camden, South Carolina. By the age of thirteen he was starting to play piano

Take Five with Mike Casey

by AAJ Staff
March 16, 2017

About Mike Casey Saxophonist, songwriter, and teaching artist Mike Casey has been a fixture on the Hartford jazz scene and beyond since 2011, when he began attending the acclaimed Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford's Hartt School. In 2015, Mike was one of 24 young jazz composers worldwide chosen by ...

Rising Saxophonist Mike Casey Releases Debut Album "The Sound Of Surprise: Live At The Side Door”

February 14, 2017

Saxophonist and composer Mike Casey is proud to announce the February 7, 2017 release of his debut album The Sound of Surprise: Live at the Side Door. Splitting his time between alto and tenor saxophone, Casey and his longtime trio present a fresh approach to the chordless saxophone trio format over the course of seven first-takes. ...

Kris Allen: Beloved

by Mark Corroto
June 14, 2016

You have to love how a sommelier might describe a certain wine. It has “a jammy taste with a sweet attack, leather, tobacco, and very muscular with integrated wood." Listening to saxophonist Kris Allen's Beloved reminds us that jazz listeners use similar terms to describe the music they're hearing. Allen's alto saxophone is flavored with hints ...