Results for "Pittsburgh"

Mark Jackovic

Mark Jackovic, M.M., Jazz Education and Archives Manager at MCG Jazz, is an award-winning jazz performer with more than a decade of teaching experience. Jackovic holds a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Music Education from Duquesne University, with a major in K-12 general, choral, and instrumental music education. He also holds a Master in Music degree from Rutgers University, with a major in jazz saxophone performance.

DK Anderson

Born: November 19, 1979

DK [Darnell Kenneth] Anderson was born on November 19, 1979, a mill town kid from the city of Monessen, Pennsylvania. He began his musical studies on tenor saxophone at the age of 11. At the age 16 he started playing the piano and became interested in composition. DK Anderson graduated from Duquesne University School of Music having studied with saxophonist James Houlik; composition and orchestration with Mike Tomaro and David Stock; counterpoint with Dr. Robert Shankovich; and jazz studies later with Sean Jones of the Lincoln Center Jazz Band. In 2001, Anderson premiered his first work for big band at Pittsburgh's Mellon Winterfest Jazz Festival

Maureen Renihan

Born: April 21, 1975

Maureen is a native Pittsburgher who recently returned to the area from Boone, NC. She acquired a love of old standards through her experience performing in theatre. Later she turned to jazz for creative expression and began performing professionally in 2012.

Frank Hammond

Lou Stellute

Mike Tomaro

Born: October 9, 1958

Mike Tomaro is a saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator specializing in jazz and commercial music. He recently retired from the Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA, where he was its Jazz Studies Program Director since 1997. Prior to this, he was a member of the Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, a unit of the prestigious “Pershing’s Own” U.S. Army Band for 17 years.  While a member of this group, he served as its Enlisted Musical Director and performed for Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton as well as heads of state from around the world.  He also composed and/or arranged much of the Army Blues repertoire and was featured as a soloist on several of the group’s albums and CDs.  Mike is a Yamaha Performing Artist and Vandoren Diamond Artist.

Jeff Grubbs

Born: July 2, 1963

Jeff Grubbs, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, is a jazz bassist who is also a veteran member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He received his musical training at Youngstown State University, The Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Southern California. In 1986, Jeff won one of Downbeat Magazine’s “Dee Bee” awards for Best Collegiate Bass Soloist, and has since performed in the local jazz scenes of Cleveland, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and Pittsburgh with a number of internationally recognized jazz artists including Nat Adderly, Mose Allison, Terrence Blanchard, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Kurt Elling, Roger Humphries, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Lovano, Ellis Marsalis, Chris Potter, Diane Schur, Lonnie Smith, Ira Sullivan, Billy Taylor and Joe Williams

Tania Grubbs

Born: October 5, 1965

Vocalist TANIA GRUBBS doesn't just sing nice songs. She crafts stories out of well-chosen songs with love and care - and lets the listener feel the spirit behind each note. She doesn't stand in front of a stellar band of sidemen. Her voice is an integral instrument in a quintet of equals, a guiding thread that weaves everyone together whether singing a warm, engaging note, a challenging phrase, an especially stirring arrangement, a soulful turn, or hopeful sentiment.

When world-renowned trumpeter Sean Jones described Tania Grubbs, he said knowing her has been a joy, “not only because of her skill as an artist but because of her connection to humanity.”  There probably couldn’t be two more perfect words to describe not only Tania but her fascinating, beautiful music: joy and humanity. 

Joe Sheehan

Born: February 6, 1981

Joseph Sheehan is a composer, pianist, and educator immersed in classical, jazz, and world musics. In his music Sheehan aims to share joy, depth, and beauty, connecting with artists and audiences of diverse musical communities. Sheehan’s music celebrates and explores a tapestry of both song and dance, forms at the root of many musical cultures throughout the world. An independent study of traditional song and dance in Ghana, West Africa, from 2008-09, was especially influential on Sheehan’s musical language. West African music, as well as jazz, has informed recent pieces such as Vibraphone Loops, for vibes and tape, featuring a solo percussionist accompanied by soulful harmonies and synth loops; and Dances from Afar, a suite of three distinctive dances for violin and piano

Jeff Bush

Apollo, Pennsylvania native Jeff Bush began studying music at the age of four on an unlikely instrument, the banjo. He followed with the piano and then discovered the trombone which has become a lifelong pursuit. Working as a professional musician while still a college student, Bush performed with The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and toured with The Glenn Miller Orchestra. In his final year of undergraduate study, Bush became linked to one of his musical heroes, receiving the Frank Rosolino Memorial Scholarship. The award featured Bush at the 1999 International Trombone Festival and allowed him to study in Berlin, Germany with acclaimed trombonist, Jiggs Whigham. In 2000 Jeff moved to New York City to begin a Master's degree at The Manhattan School of Music and to pursue a freelance career which continues to flourish today