Musicians

Harry was born in Washington, D.C., in 1966. He has played at jazz festivals and clubs around the world. He has performed with Rosemary Clooney, Flip Phillips, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, and Harry "Sweets" Edison and has recorded with Tony Bennett, Johnny Mandel and Dave McKenna, among others. He lives in New York. To visit Harry's website, please click here.

John Allred hails from a musical family. His grandfather played jazz piano and banjo on Mississippi River boats; his father is well-known trombonist Bill Allred. John plays traditional jazz, swing and bebop. He has played in the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band, the Woody Herman band, Toshiko Akioshi's Big Band, Vince Giordano's Nighthawks and Harry Connick Jr.'s band. He plays in festivals here and abroad. He has new CD releases with Harry Allen and Warren Vaché and has recorded with Wycliffe Gordon. He lives in the New York City area.

Joe was born in 1961 and grew up in a musical family. He began playing drums at the age of two. He was a "roadie" for Buddy Rich as teenager, and got hooked on the jazz drumming of Rich, Gene Krupa, Jo Jones and others. He has toured worldwide and has appeared on nearly 50 albums as a sideman, recently debuing as leader on an Arbors album, "Post No Bills." He lives in New York. To visit Joe's website, please click here.

Born in Pasadena in 1955, Dan switched from piano to trombone in the fifth grade. He performs at festivals worldwide and is on many recordings. He has led his own bands and has arranged and composed for others. He was featured in Benny Goodman's last band, and has played in many movies, including "Cotton Club" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs." He lives in Costa Mesa, CA. To visit Dan's website, please click here.

Swingster John Cocuzzi has New Orleans flavor with East Coast class, playing with passion and intensity on piano, vibes and drums. For more than 25 years, John has been entertaining crowds in the Washington, DC area and nationwide, performing at festivals across the United States and in Europe. With dynamic style and diverse rhythms, John's innovation breathes new life into familiar tunes, from swingin' and burnin' jazz and blues to lush and sultry ballads. An intuitive performer, John possesses that musical "fire in the belly," igniting the crowd with skillful improvisation, "telling his story" through spirited, high-energy solos. In addition to being a fine pianist, John has earned a nationwide reputation as a premier swing vibraphonist. He now lives in Northern California, spreading the jazz/swing/blues gospel in the Sacramento area. To visit John's website, please click here.

"Fast Eddie" Erickson was born in San Francisco in 1948. He began his banjo/guitar career in the San Jose area in the mid '60s and moved to Monterey in 1969 to work at Capone's Warehouse on Canary Row. He has appeared with such noted jazz performers as Jackie Coon, Rick Fay, Dan Barrett, Dave Frishberg and Johnny Varro. From 1978 to 1983, Eddie led the "Riverboat Rascals" show band on board Disney's Empress Lilly Showboat. In recent years, Eddie has been featured with Big Mama Sue at festivals, fairs, and even the "Sancy Snow" Jazz Festival in France. To visit Eddie's website, please click here.

Born in Detroit in 1964, Jon began early, playing in a big band at age 11, in the International Youth Symphony at age 13, and in concert alongside Wild Bill Davis at 17. He also played with the J.C. Heard Orchestra. After moving to New York in 1989 to join Vince Giordano's Nighthawks, he has played with Ralph Sutton, Dan Barrett, Howard Alden, Milt Hinton, Dick Hyman and many others. He plays in festivals and concerts and with bands around the globe, and he is on the soundtracks of several movies. He lives in New York. To visit Jon's website, please click here.

Rebecca Kilgore is one of America's leading song stylists intent on preserving the vocal jazz of the 30s and 40s. Rebecca has performed with a number of small and large bands over the years and brings warmth and vibrancy to the music wherever she goes. In 2002, Rebecca joined musical forces with Eddie Erickson and Dan Barrett, to form her new band, BED (an acronym for members Becky, Eddie and Dan). Their audience-friendly humor combined with jazzy, jivey swing makes BED a favorite with listeners of all ages. To visit Rebecca's website, please click here.

Eddie, who was born in Allentown, PA, and grew up in Ann Arbor, MI, was three when the drummer in his father's Dixieland band gave him his first drumsticks. He played his first professional gig at the age 12. Since then, he has played with the Woody Herman Orchestra, Chick Corea, Clark Terry, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Scott Hamilton, Ken Peplowski, Ralph Sutton and many others. He has recorded on many labels, including Arbors, Fantasy and Nagel-Heyer. He has lived in the Orlando area for the past 20 years, 14 of which he was a fulltime staff musician at Disney World. He travels the world playing at concerts, festivals and tours.

Butch Miles continues to attract worldwide attention and acclaim. Born in Ironton, OH, in 1944, he has played with Count Basie, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman, Clark Terry, Benny Goodman, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Zubin Mehta, Itzak Pearlman, Dick Hyman and many others. Butch conducts jazz clinics at universities and high schools, continues to record CDs, and plays frequently at festivals around the globe. He is currently a faculty member in jazz studies at Texas State University. A graduate of West Virginia State College, Butch lives in Austin, TX. To visit Butch's web site, please click here.

Born in Australia in 1970, Nicki began her musical training on piano at the age of four and soon took up the flute as well. She switched to double bass at 15 because her sister, alto sax player Lisa, wanted a bass in her group. She moved to New York in 1994, and has since performed at the Newport, Lionel Hampton and Berlin jazz festivals, among many others. She plays regularly at the Iridium Jazz Club in NYC with guitarist Les Paul. To visit Nicki's website, please click here.

He has recorded over 75 albums under his own name, and has also appeared on recordings with Etta Jones, Lena Horne, Lou Rawls, Dakota Staton and Horace Silver. He is a recipient of the Eubie Blake Jazz Award. Two recent recordings on the HighNote label are "Dialogues" with bassist Ron Carter and "Sentimental Journey." He has played at Lincoln Center and at many festivals here and in Europe. Born in 1934, Houston grew up in Florence, S.C., and lives in Nyack, N.Y.

Born in New Jersey in 1926, Bucky is our 2011 SDJP Jazz Legend. He is one of the most well-known, highly-recorded and respected guitar players in the world. His professional career began at 17, touring with Vaughan Monroe's band. He later played and toured with Benny Goodman. He led his own trio and has recorded with Zoot Sims, Bud Freeman, Stephane Grappelli and his son, John Pizzarelli Jr. Bucky plays a seven-string electric guitar; the extra string tuned to "A" allows him to play a bass line to his own solos. He is also known for his proficiency as a classical guitarist and is a Faculty Member Emeritus at William Paterson College in Wayne, NJ. He plays at festivals and concerts around the world and lives in Saddle River, NJ.

Ed toured with Benny Goodman's sextet in 1973. From 1975 to 1985, he was manager, co-owner and bandleader at Eddie Condon's Club in New York. He has appeared in hundreds of concerts, festivals, and jazz parties here and abroad and has led his band in performances with symphony orchestras. His most recent CD is "Lionel, Red and Bunny-A centennial celebration of Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo and Bunny Berigan." Born in 1937, he lives in Brooklyn, NY. To visit Ed's website, please click here.

Born in 1964, Antti Sarpila is one of the few internationally-known jazz musicians from Finland. Based in Helsinki, he is well known and liked at jazz festivals through Europe and the United States. He was a student of Bob Wilber's during the 1980s, and played with Wilber in a "Tribute to Benny Goodman" in Carnegie Hall in 1988. He has played with numerous jazz stars and bands, including the Count Basie Orchestra. He has his own group in Finland, the Antti Sarpila Swing Band. To visit Antti's website, please click here.

John spent 23 years with the Jim Cullum Jazz Band as both its pianist and principal arranger, writing over 1,000 arrangements before leaving in 2002 to pursue a freelance career. He has recorded many CDs for Arbors Records and as a sideman has recorded with John Allred, Allan Vaché and others. His long association with the singer Banu Gibson began in 1990. Born in 1946, John lives in San Antonio.

Richard is one of the busiest bass players in the Los Angeles area. Born in Kansas City, he moved to L.A. in 1977. He performs at festivals, concerts, and nightclubs. He has recorded with Rosemary Clooney, Plas Johnson, Buddy Collette, Al Viola, Gerald Wiggins, and others. In 1995, he founded the UFO-BASS recording label to document the music of often-overlooked West Coast musicians. To visit Richard's website, please click here.

A widely acclaimed talent, Rossano graduated from the Italian Conservatory and began his musical career at the age of 18. He is now 32 and lives in New York. In 2002 and 2003, he played at the Ascona Festival in Switzerland with Dan Barrett's International Swing Party band. He has been a pupil of Barry Harris, and his piano hero is the late Ralph Sutton. Rossano has performed at New York's Town Hall and Lincoln Center and at the United Nations. He has played with a host of jazz notables, including Harry Allen, Scott Hamilton, Becky Kilgore, Warren Vaché, Howard Alden and Joe Wilder. He has recorded solo piano albums for the Blue Swing and Arbors labels. To visit Rossano's website, please click here.

Jason was born in 1978 in Sacramento, and began playing and taking piano lessons at age 6. Later, he played classical music and ragtime, adding jazz in his teens. Johnny Varro took him under his wing at a music camp. Since then he has played with trad bands, at the Sun Valley Swing and Dixie Jamboree, at Mammoth Lakes, with the Sister Swing band, and at numerous festivals. He now makes his home in San Diego. To visit Jason's website, please click here.