Results for "Philadelphia"

Michael Pedicin

Born: July 29, 1947

In 2014, saxophonist Michael Pedicin wrote about music in a brilliant article in Downbeat called “The Improviser as Musical Philosopher,” writing, “No one thrives alone. We are all interconnected... Who we are is what we play.” Putting the emphasis on the “we,” Pedicin wrote, “...we do not play alone; we play with others.” It’s no wonder that this composer and improviser has been so drawn to John Coltrane all his life, as many instrumentalists are, if only for Trane’s facility on his horn. But Pedicin recognized a long time ago that the art of playing music, of improvising, has a deep heritage that Trane had tapped into in his young life. Pedicin arrived at this recognition through the long and winding road and interplay of playing jazz with his education in medicine and cognitive psychology, and just living a life adapting to the vagaries of the music business and helping others through his private practice as a psychologist.

Jason Fifield

Born: August 2

Jason Fifield is a filmmaker, and musician playing upright bass, guitar, drums, banjo, keys, laptop, and percussion. He has performed with musicians such as G-Love, Michael Hampton, Byard Lancaster, Joe Russo, Chuck Fishman and Amy Pickard. Career highlights include opening for the Meters and Charlie Hunter at the Fox in Boulder, CO, jamming with Dave Watts, Tony Furtado and David Grier at the Flying Dog in Aspen, CO, and a James Brown tribute show with my current act, The Sidecar Allstars, featuring Byard Lancaster. Newlife is his latest CD, released in 2006, with the gracious help of several local musicians

Ruth Naomi Floyd

Ruth Naomi Floyd is a gifted vocalist-composer who has been at forefront of creating vocal jazz settings that express Christian theology for over 13 years. As a leader, she has released several highly acclaimed recordings. Blessed with a soaring mezzo-soprano voice, critics have praised Ms. Floyd’s music for its distinctive sound of progressive ensemble jazz that is seamlessly blended with explicit Biblical messages of unwavering faith in God. Ruth Naomi Floyd leads her own multi-faceted ensemble and her recordings consist primarily of original compositions. Her association as the co-founder of Contour Records ® affords her complete artistic freedom to record her own works and collaborate with a diverse range of musicians. Ms

Scott Lerner

Born: February 22, 1966

Hi, I am a jazz, blues, and fusion guitarist living in the South Jersey/ Philadelphia area. Since 1992 I have been involved with a day gig in the financial world and have not been very active gigging. I recently was one of four artists featured on the Progressive Arts Music release "Fresh Blood". In addition, I am involved in producing demo clips for various equipment manufacturers such as Fuchs Audio Technology, Glaswerks Amplification, Lavacable, Hermida Audio (Zendrive), Eminence Speakers, Weber Speakers, Analogman, and Wolfetone Pickups...among others. I occasionally appear as a guest artist on other releases

Skip Wilkins

Skip Wilkins was born and raised in eastern Massachusetts. He grew up in a musical home and began listening to jazz at a very early age. His father played drums locally, so Skip was able to interact with professional musicians as a small child. He first found his way to the stage in kindergarten and has not left the stage since. In many ways his earliest experiences have proved the most enduring. He learned to love singing and listening to subtle harmonies before entering school, taking particular delight in the Great American songbook repertoire of such composers as Richard Rodgers, George Gershwin and others of the first half of the twentieth century

Kevin Diehl

Kevin Diehl is a musician/composer whose work centers on extending traditional folk forms to modern contexts. He has immersed himself modern compositions rooted in folk forms, yoruba cultural music, american jazz, Afro Cuban spiritual and secular forms, and abstract forms.

He was profoundly influenced by diverse innovators: from 80's New York loft scene's Air & Sam Rivers, to electronica's Brian Eno and the Orb, to avant garde modern composers Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Karlheinz Stockausen, and minimalist Morton Feldman, to traditional Afro Cuban folk performers Papo Angarica and Alfredo Coyoute Videax.

Kevin Leads and ensemble which realizes all of these influences

David Joel

Born: March 16, 1963

Since seeing Yellow Submarine on TV at the age of 9, my life has been all about the music. I picked up the guitar immediately and played in a number of bands, took private instruction, and generally pursued my passion throughout my teenage years. When I turned 18, I realized that I had to learn more in a formal environment if I was going to pursue music more seriously and with greater understanding and focus. I enrolled at Berklee College of Music in 1982 and graduated in 1986 with a Bachelors Degree in Jazz Composition and Arranging and Music Education. At Berklee I learned the value of self-discipline, music theory, ear training, arranging, composition, and many other areas of music

Ron Thomas

Born: January 27, 1942

Somewhere around 1900, Eleazar Thomas migrated from Wales to settle in the coal-mining community of Dickson City, Pennsylvania where he met his wife Martha and had four children: Mary, Benjamin Llywellen, David Wesley, and, my father, “Buddy” (Arja Worthington) born in 1917. Buddy’s two older brothers, Ben and Wesley, had each begun to work in the mines at the age of nine but Martha refused to allow Buddy, her youngest son, to join them, or so goes the official family story. Martha took her children to her sister’s boarding house in Newark, New Jersey; Eleazar joined them sometime later

Sam Dockery

Born: 1929

Although not a huge name in the jazz world, veteran hard bop pianist Sam Dockery has been well-respected on the Philadelphia jazz scene since the early '50s. Over the years, Dockery has enjoyed a reputation for being a very hard-swinging, straight- ahead player; Bud Powell is a major influence on Dockery, as are Thelonious Monk and Art Tatum. Dockery, who is originally from Lawnside, NJ but has spent much of his life in and around Philly, is perhaps best known for the year he was with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. Dockery, a frequent visitor to New York City, was with drummer Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1956 and 1957; he was Blakey's pianist after Horace Silver and Kenny Drew Sr

Ben Schachter

Born: October 7, 1962

Ben Schachter is a powerful and original saxophonist and composer. As a leader, he has six recordings on his own label. He has performed and recorded in the U.S., Europe, and Asia with; Tim Hagans, Conrad Herwig, John Zorn, Gary Bartz, Dick Oatts, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Terell Stafford, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Uri Caine, George Garzone, Marc Ribot, Mark Dresser, John Swana, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Charles Fambrough, James Genus, Jef Lee Johnson, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Burhan Ocal, Jack Walrath, etc. As a composer, Ben has been recognized with grants from the American Composers Forum (2003), Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2001 & 2005), and Pew Fellowships in the Arts (1999)