Results for "Original Jazz Compositions"

Matthew Fries

Born: September 24, 1968

Matthew Fries is a joyful voice on the piano with a unique and recognizable style that is authentically rooted in the tradition of the classic jazz pianists, while still looking forward to the future of the music and the instrument.

As a composer and leader he has performed his own music extensively, recording ten albums of mostly original compositions. His music has been described as playful and hopeful, introspective, full of joy and wonderment, and awash with tonal colors. But it is his deeply swinging piano style and collaborative spirit that have also made him an in-demand sideman for both instrumentalists and vocalists. He has toured worldwide, appears on scores of recordings, and his work has been described as “the best jazz accompaniment I’ve seen in a cabaret in years” (The New York Times), and “the crispest rhythm section imaginable” (The London Times).

Agustin Strizzi

Born: July 28, 1978

Agustin Strizzi is a musician and music instructor from Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a wide range of experience in percussion, composing, and arranging music. His love for music began at an early age when he found an affinity for the drums, his main instrument, and performing at gigs.

Wanting to pursue his passion further, Agustin followed both traditional and nontraditional means of education by attending several traditional schools such as the ITMC (Contemporary Music Institute) and then traveling internationally to expand his musical horizons. The music led him to the USA, Brazil, Cuba, Uruguay & Poland where he took private lessons with experts and renowned musicians along the way.

James Robert Murphy

When exposing the lives of others, we reveal our own fractured personality. When you try to be honest about your take on other people, your own weaknesses and insecurities emerge for all to inspect." This is regarding the embellished memoir, My Life Before I Decided To Commit Suicide.

James Murphy earned an MA from the University of Oklahoma in Administrative Leadership and a BS from the State University of New York with a concentration in Arts Management. He is the principal founding member of the New York State Blues Festival, serving as festival director from 1992-2003, and again in 2013-2014. He co-founded the Syracuse Guinness Irish Festival, serving as festival director from 1999-2003. Both of these community events continue to be popular in Syracuse, NY. 

Alberto Poggio

Born: March 4, 1979

Musician for passion, with experiences in various musical genres and theatrical collaborations.
Often, I think it happens to everyone, a certain music is inextricably linked to an instant of life or an emotion, if you think back to that instant the song comes to mind, and when you listen to the song you relive those same emotions.
I believe that my need to compose comes from here, when I experience something peculiar, which is good, bad, more or less important for any reason, and then I sit at the piano to improvise a bit, a music comes out, linked to that memory, and the desire to share it.

Francesco Crosara

Born: September 13, 1960

Francesco Crosara is a Seattle based Italian jazz pianist, composer and educator, typically performing in a range of formats, from solo, duet, trio, quartet, or more.  Originally from Milan, Italy, Crosara’s music melds an impressive mix of jazz improvisation, a romantic vein from his classical training, along with Latin influences.  His major piano influences are Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, and Herbie Hancock.

Crosara stands among the European-bred jazz greats, performing over the years with the likes of Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Hargrove, Richie Cole, Von Freeman, Bobby Shew, Ira Sullivan, Bruce Forman, Barbara Morrison, Don Menza,  Lilian Terry, and more. His recordings have featured a multicultural and international array of musicians.

Reggie Watkins

Born: August 24, 1971

Trombonist, pianist, arranger and composer Reggie Watkins has released three recordings as leader: A-List (2004), One for Miles, One for Maynard (2010), and Avid Admirer (2016), a tribute to trombonist Jimmy Knepper. From 1999 to 2006 he served as trombonist and musical director for trumpeter and band leader Maynard Ferguson. Now in addition to composing and performing with his trio he is a member of Orrin Evans' Captain Black Big Band, The Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, Postmodern Jukebox and a founding member of Steeltown Horns and The Keystone Jazz Collective.

Bryan White

Born: November 7, 1980

Asheville, NC based electric and double bass composer and performer. 24+year veteran of the Western NC/Asheville music scene. Currently recording/performing with Up Jumped Three.

Joe Hertenstein

Born in Germany. In NY since Jan07. Freelance musician. Joe Hertenstein's recent performances include concerts at the Philharmony in Cologne, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, and the Moers Festival and XjazzFestival in Germany; the Congress Hall in Warsaw, Bush Hall London for BBC, the Opera House in Toronto, the World Trade Center in Dubai, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, as well as Carnegie Hall, Dizzy's Club, Smalls, Roulette, Issue Project Room and The Stone in New York City. In 2005 "All About Jazz NY" magazine praised his performance observing that "Joe Hertenstein's drums seem to be shaping the music from the bottom up", and in 2011 “Hertenstein practices that loose time-keeping so prevalent in Europe that the ignorant use to claim that an entire continent can’t swing.” In November 2010 the Portuguese label Clean Feed Records released his remarkable debut album as a leader and composer “HNH” featuring Thomas Heberer (tp) and Pascal Niggenkemper (b). In 2009, the German government honored the further development of his trio "HNH" with a composition stipend to fund the recording of their next album "POLYLEMMA" which was released on the Canadian label Red Toucan in June 2011. For his artistic achievements, Mr. Hertenstein has received numerous awards and grants on both sides of the Atlantic. From 2007-2009, City University of New York, in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), granted him a full scholarship and tuition waiver to complete his Master of Arts degree in Jazz Studies at the City University of New York. Prior to his work in New York, Mr. Hertenstein studied music in Munich, Rotterdam, Berlin and Cologne. In Europe, he won multiple Jazz competitions, such as the Dutch Concours Ceramique Jazzcontest, and the German NRW-Jazzart-Prize. Mr. Hertenstein has received invitations to perform at a substantial number of festivals, such as the Hoeilaart Jazzfestival Brussels (Belgium), JekerJazz Maastricht (Netherlands), the Leverkusener Jazztage, Moers New Jazz Festival, Triennale 2007 (Germany), Portalegre Jazzfest (Portugal), Warsaw Jazz Summer (Poland) and many more. In 2009, he followed an invitation of the BBC to conduct a live performance with singer and Iranian dissenter Rana Farhan at Bush Hall in London. Mr. Hertenstein has performed and recorded with many international musicians such as Anthony Coleman, Kenny Werner, Chris Potter, Butch Morris, Juini Booth, Kenny Wollesen, Graham Haynes, Brandon Ross, Tristan Honsinger, Darius Jones, Jon Irabagon, Mat Maneri, Mossa Bildner, James Ilgenfitz, Sara Schoenbeck, Josh Sinton, Ken Filiano, Sean Conly, Todd Neufeld, Achim Tang, Thomas Lehn, Frank Gratkowski, Dieter Manderscheid, Matthias Schubert, Achim Kaufmann, Sebastian Gramss and Terrence Ngassa. He toured Europe in 2004 and 2005 with Canadian blues harp player Carlos del Junco. His work is released on labels such as MoersMusic, Cleanfeed, Red Toucan, 2nd Floor, jazzwerkstatt Berlin, Evil Rabbit, Chant, Springstoff, Ravello/PARMA, Meta, muworks, Konnex, Off, Fundacja Słuchaj, Leo and others. In addition to his performances, Mr. Hertenstein taught as a faculty member at the Offene Jazzhausschule Cologne from 2002-2007, he worked as a faculty member for drums and percussion at the Lycee Francais de New York, and the Trinity School in Manhattan and is a teaching artist for the Kupferberg Center of Queens College. For his album POLYLEMMA, Hertenstein won Belgian music critic Stef Gijssel's 'Happy New Ears Award' for most innovative listening experience of 2011. Joe Hertenstein’s project 'FUTURE DRONE' features German bassist and 'Improviser In Residence' in Moers 2011, Achim Tang, and the winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk Competition, tenor saxophonist Jon Irabagon. The debut album of 'FUTURE DRONE' was released on jazzwerkstatt Berlin in June 2012. Hertenstein was a member of Butch Morris' NY ensembles Nublu Orchestra and LUCKY CHENG Orchestra. BBC broadcasted a short documentary on the band on November 13th 2011: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15715308 He performed with Adam Rudolph's GO:OrganicOrchestra and Karl Berger's Improviser's Orchestra.

Benjamin Schaefer

Benjamin Schaefer (*1981) is a jazz pianist/ composer based in Hamburg, Germany. He studied jazz piano and composition at Cologne conservatory and is a former member of the German Youth Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO). Concert tours have led him to 26 countries on four continents. He has played hundreds of club and festival shows, many of them with his own bands Benjamin Schaefer Trio (2004-14), Expressway Sketches (2008-21), Quiet Fire (2014-19), Hive Mind (2017-19), Stone Flowers (2020- ) and solo (2022- ). He leads his own concert series open.fundus (2019- ) in Hamburg.

Jeff Lopez

born and raised in New York City, He has been playing bass for over 45 years and is an accomplished composer and arranger. 

Jeff is also an accomplished bandleader, composer, and arranger. This is evident on his first two CD releases, Sun And The Rain 1998 and Jeff Lopez-Jazz Composer, as well as numerous Jazz Ambassador recordings. Jeff’s compositions have appeared in various film and network TV productions.

Jeff’s professional career has included performing and touring that have taken him around the globe, including a 20-year tenure as the bass player of the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors, He has toured in 35 countries and all of 50 states in the USA. Some performance highlights were his two orchestral appearances at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall.