Daily Dose Of Jazz…
John Troy was born on June 3, 1989 in Buffalo, New York. He began playing the saxophone at age twelve. After showing exceptional ability in the classical realm throughout middle school, with the tutelage of William Eicher, his attention gradually turned toward the study of Jazz Saxophone. He honed his skills with lead alto saxophone for Concert and Jazz All-County Ensembles, and New York All-State Bands as well.
John played both lead alto and tenor in the Fredonia Jazz Ensemble, student big band. He can be heard on the 2009 release of the FJE’s, Still Kickin’ and his debut album All Ahead Flank. He led his own small groups, Jazz Quintessential, and an organ trio, the JT Trio both with significant success.
He has performed and/or studied with the likes of Eric Alexander, Grant Stewart, Ralph Lalama, Todd Coolman, Tim Armacost, Chris Potter, Tom Harrell, Stacy Dillard, Hal Galper, Arturo O’ Farrell, and Pete Malinverni, among others.
Tenor saxophonist John Troy continues to find his musical way through performance and recording in the hard bop genre..
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hilaria Kramer was born on June 1, 1967 in Frauenfeld, Switzerland and began playing the trumpet when she was ten years old. Beginning in 1983 she attended the vocational school department of Jazz School St. Gallen, where she studied under Benny Bailey and Art Lande.
After graduating she went on to work in Italy with the Claudio Fasoli Quintet, with Gianluigi Trovesi. She performed with Steve Lacy, Enrico Rava, Joe Henderson, Bob Mover, Sal Nistico, Chet Baker and Sangoma Everett. 1988 saw her recording her debut album leading her own quartet. The album was released in the spring of the following year on Unit Records.
1991 had Hilaria performing on the TV program Ladies in Jazz with singers Nina Simone and Carmen McRae. Over the next few years, she performed with Uli Scherer in Vienna and also toured around Europe.
In 2014, Kramer was awarded the Jazz Prize of the Fondation Suisa for her services as a musician, composer and band leader as well as her work in various organizations that support Swiss jazz.
Trumpeter and composer Hilaria Kramer, who has a discography of eighteen albums as a leader and sidewoman, continues to record, perform and tour.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Marc Hoffman was born April 16, 1961 in Salisbury, North Carolina. He attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and received a degree in composition. He continued his education at The Dartington International Summer School of Music in Devon, England then studied film composition at the University of Southern California. He studied with David Ott, Sherwood Shaffer, Leo Arnaud and Neil Hefti.
Up until the early 1990s Hoffman wrote concert music, music for theater, pop, Christian music and film composition. Then he focused his attention on jazz and began writing original compositions, both instrumental and vocal, creating his own arrangements of jazz standards. Establishing his own label, Virillion Music, he recorded Long Way Home in 2003 followed by his sophomore album Christmas Time. In 2010 he released Curioso of all-original jazz.
As an educator and author he teaches and lectures on classical, pop and film music and has published two books. He also is an instructor of piano, composition, and voice at Bold Music in the Charlotte, NC area.
Pianist, composer and vocalist Marc Hoffman continues to write concert music, instrumental and vocal jazz pieces, film scores, as well as performing works solo, or with his trio, quartet or quintet and with four- or five-piece bands in a variety of venues.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
George Mesterhazy was born April 8, 1954 in Hungary and came to the United States with his family when they fled Hungary following their country’s 1956 revolution. Settling first in upstate New York, they later moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey where he first played guitar and trumpet.
Switching to piano he became a professional musician, relocated to Los Angeles, California but eventually became well known in the area of Cape May, New Jersey.
Mesterhazy had recently released a new album with singer Paula West, Live at Jazz Standard, and the pair was scheduled to play the New York club together in May.
He was nominated for a Grammy for his arranging work on Shirley Horn’s 1997’s Loving You album, on which he also played. George also played with Les Paul, Bernadette Peters and others.
At Rowan University he ran the jazz piano program, taught privately and managed Cape May’s Merion Inn. Pianist and composer George Mesterhazy died quietly in his sleep at his home in Cape May on April 11, 2019 of natural causes. He was 59.
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Daily Dose Of Jazz…
Hank Roberts was born on March 24, 1954 in Terre Haute, Indiana. By the early Eighties made a number of recordings for the defunct JMT label, was a featured member of the Bill Frisell Quartet, and was an important voice in many groups of saxophonist Tim Berne.
Roberts also recorded three discs with the Arcado String Trio, an improvisational chamber group featuring Mark Feldman, violin, and Mark Dresser, double bass.
The 1990s saw him leaving Frisell’s group and discontinued touring. He sporadically released records, including with the progressive folk group Ti Ti Chickapea. Leaving his hiatus in 2008, Hank began touring and performing regularly, releasing Green on the Winter & Winter label. Stefan F. Winter’s subsequent label to JMT. Three years later they released his Everything Is Alive, as well as re-releasing his entire JMT catalogue.
Cellist and vocalist Hank Roberts, who emerged with the downtown New York City jazz scene of the 1980s, continues to be associated with its post-modern tendencies.
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