David Friedman is considered to be one of the most influential vibraphonists in the history of the instrument. Internationally renowned as a vibraphonist, marimbist, composer and jazz educator, he has his own musical message, born of fascinatingly diverse musical influences. Having worked with such varied musical personalities as Leonard Bernstein, Luciano Berio, Bobby McFerrin, Wayne Shorter and Yoko Ono, few jazz musicians can claim as broad a spectrum of performing and recording experience.
The list doesn`t stop there. Friedman has been heard either live or on recordings with, among others, Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, Johnny Griffin, Hubert Laws, Jane Ira Bloom, Ron Carter and John Scofield. Friedman's vibraphone and compositions are both featured on Chet Baker's award winning Enja release Peace, with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Joe Chambers.

David is posting a video and will be posted here on Saturday.

Vibraphonist Tony Miceli is an outstanding musician, performer, composer, and teacher who performs presently as a leader and sideman in countless jazz clubs and concert halls throughout the US and abroad. Mr. Miceli has performed with jazz greats David Friedman, Joe Magnarelli, Dave Liebman, Elio Villafranco and many other notable musicians. He has played in festivals and clubs including the Degu Jazz Festival( Korea), The Reading Jazz Festival and the Kimmel Center (Pennsylvania), The Jazz Standard, The Zinc Bar, The Irridium, The 55 Bar (NYC), Evans Club (Korea), Thelonious (Argentina), and The Mallet Institute (Dusseldorf Germany). Tony's workshop appearances include The Curtis Institute of Music, The Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, Ireland, Millersville Universtiy, and the University of Delaware, among others. Tony is the founder and artistic director www.vibesworkshop.com. and is on the faculties of the University of the Arts and Temple University.

Tony is performing live from 12-2

“Gillece is a skillful creator of tunes, harkening back to the original hard bop days and beyond, without sounding like mere imitations of that era's classics.” Bruce Lindsay, All About Jazz

Since 2006, vibraphonist & composer Behn Gillece has made quite a name for himself on the New York jazz scene as a sought after sideman, as well as leader/co-leader. As a recording artist, he has appeared on 20+ recordings, with four albums of his own on the Posi-Tone record label, and he continues to tirelessly compose for new projects. On the educational side, Gillece has been invited to colleges and universities throughout the tri-state area for clinics and masterclasses. He has prepared over 200+ lessons for online instruction via vibesworkshop.com, where his lessons are studied by members internationally. Gillece has had the opportunity to perform his music throughout the country, at venues and festivals such as the Lincoln Center, Kennedy

Center, Kimmel Center, Smalls Jazz Club, Smoke Jazz Club, Fat Cat, Yoshi's, Chris’ Jazz Cafe, and music festivals worldwide, including the North Sea, Montreux, Nice, Molde, Ghent, Montreal, and Toronto festivals.
Weblinks: www.behngillecejazz.com

Behn is performing live from 12-2

Vibraphonist and composer Tyler Blanton is becoming recognized as a rising star in the New York City jazz scene. Over the past five years, his work has received reviews by numerous major publications including Downbeat, Jazztimes, Village Voice, and The New York Times. A native of California, Blanton has performed and conducted workshops throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His 2010 debut album, “Botanic,” was chosen as a top album of the year by both Hot House Magazine and Village Voice Critic’s polls. Since his arrival in New York City in 2007, he has shared the stage with a venerable list of prominent figures in the modern jazz scene: Saxophonists Joel Frahm, Donny McCaslin, and Seamus Blake, drummers Ari Hoenig, Richie Barshay, and Matt Wilson, among many others. His second studio album “Gotham,” is scheduled for release in March, 2014. This album documents original music written specifically for his working quartet which consists of bassist Matt Clohesy, drummer Nate Wood, and Grammy -nominated saxophonist Donny McCaslin.

Vibraphonist and composer NICK MANCINI began his professional career as a drummer, at the age of 15. His undergrad studies earned him degrees from Schenectady County Community College and The Crane School of Music at Potsdam. He moved to NYC and graduated from Manhattan School of Music with a masters degree in jazz performance; a recipient of the President's Award scholarship. After 10 years of honing his art as a performing and recording musician in NYC, he relocated to Los Angeles. He has performed and recorded with such diverse luminaries as Arturo Sandoval, Charles Fambrough, Harvey Mason, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Peter Erskine, Poncho Sanchez, Kenny Werner, New York Voices and Jennifer Holliday to name a few; and at notable venues such as The World Famous Apollo Theater; Showtime at the Apollo, Birdland NYC, the Aspen Music Festival, Fasching Jazz Club (Stockholm), Ford Amphitheater, Angel City Jazz Festival, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Catalina Jazz Club, The Blue Whale, Vibrato, Zipper Hall, Vitello's and virtually every jazz venue in Los Angeles.

In the summer of 2011, Mancini was celebrated as the Honoree at the 18th annual Jazz Vibes Summit in Los Angeles and was invited to join the faculty at California State University at Northridge (CSUN) and Long Beach, Bob Cole Conservatory (CSULB). Earlier that same year his face graced the cover of the popular arts magazine, Ventana Monthly. From 2011-2012 Nick served on faculty of the Thelonious Monk Institute. He is on the cutting edge of the creative music scene in LA. In addition to a busy performing and recording career, Mancini also curates a semi-annual performance series called "elastic hour," which features many of LA's most prominent performing ensembles and garnered honorable reviews by the LA Weekly. In the realm of production, he has arranged and overseen the production of multiple Jazz vocal records and boasts seven independently released records under his own name; "storyteller" and "West Coast Cool" in 2013 alone, around the same time as he signed endorsement contracts with Majestic vibes and Innovative Percussion mallets.

When asked, "Where do you see yourself now and in the years to come?" He responds, "I consider myself merely at the beginning of what is sure to be a many splendored life in music."

"From New York, vibist Mancini leads his ensemble to the Promised Land."
– James E. Fowler, LA Times

"In from New York City is the Nick Mancini Collective, led by an exploratory young vibraphonist with two toes dipped in tradition who splashes gentle swing, understatedly bent shoogabooga and exotic undersea layerings of filtered light. Original and good."
– Greg Burk, LA Weekly

Ted, a vibraphonist of warmth and eloquence, is a Bay Area native. He began his music studies at age 16, and within six months was studying jazz with noted vibist John Rae. Encouraged by Rae, Ted attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied and performed with Gary Burton, Dave Samuels, Bill Frisell, Joe Hunt, Mike Stern, and Tiger Okoshi. Within three years Ted was invited to join the faculty at Berklee. During his 8 year stay Ted provided guidance and direction to many students. Ted moved back to Calif in 1985 and today he frequently performs in small groups and as a soloist; always delighting audiences with his lyrical style and impressive technique.

Randy Sutin is a graduate of the Crane School of Music and currently plays in and around the Philadelphia area. He performs with The Jazz Sanctuary, Tim Price's Jazzadelic, as well as "Gong with the Didj", an experimental group that does healing music that is a blend of Aboriginal, Buddhist, jazz, African and New Age music.

Born in Thessaloniki Greece, Dimitris Angelakis was surrounded by music at a very early age. His father, Ioannis Angelakis, is a trumpeter/arranger who has taught many musicians including Christos Rafalides, and familiarized a young Dimitris with many funk and soul recordings. Dimitris began his musical studies playing percussion and piano, continued his studies in classical harmony, counterpoint and fugue and eventually acquired four degrees. After finishing his classical studies, Dimitris began studying music at www.vibesworkshop.com with Tony Miceli and David Friedman among others, while studying privately with Christos Rafalides. After winning the Fulbright Scholarship, he moved to Philadelphia to study with Tony Miceli at University of the Arts, and privately with Christos Rafalides and Kenny Werner.

As a professional musician Dimitris started working at age 12 with local philarmonic orchestras led by his father. Soon afterward, he began playing jazz, funk and rock gigs across Greece with well known artists and bands. His journey continues, playing in clubs and theaters in Europe (Holland and Spain) with local artists. In 2011 he worked with a great steel band orchestra from Delaware (USA) directed by Harvey Price. They presented their work in the 2011 ISME Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, and Dimitris was their official organizer of workshops and performances. Besides ISME, Dimitris has participated in various other Festivals like "International Jazz Meeting Kostas Kouvidis", "6th meeting of Jazz & Creative music”, “International Percussion festival in Vienna”. In those festivals he had the opportunity to share the stage with internationally renowned musicians like Mulate Astake.

Dimitris is also an in-demand educator and teacher. His latest workshop was in Spain (Seminario de Jazz e Musica Moderna Burela) where he had the chance to teach and perform alongside great musicians from all over Spain, including Israel Arranz and QuiQue Alvarado (Paquito D' Rivera's bass player). In addition, he has worked in many music conservatoriums as a music teacher and in public schools as a music improvisation teacher (Actice inclusion of Roma children in the educational system- an Aristotle University program funded by the European Union).

Joe Veltri is a multi-instrumentalist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Splitting his time between vibraphone, drum set, piano/keyboards, and other percussion instruments, Joe regularly performs and teaches in the Philadelphia area.

     A versatile musician, Joe has performed in a variety of settings ranging from classical, to musical theater, jazz, bossa nova, rock, R & B, gospel, and pop. Joe has performed with the Haverford-Bryn Mawr Orchestra, Hatboro-Horsham Summer Theater, bossa nova group Ensemble Novo, folk band Spirit and Dust, funk group Sara and the Streetwalkers, jazz group the Elijah Thomas Quartet and his own jazz quartet, among several others.  While earning his bachelor's degree in Music Education from Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance, Joe performed with the school's wind ensemble, wind symphony, percussion ensemble, chorale, gospel choir, marching band, senior jazz ensemble, and the big bands. As part of all three of Temple University's big bands, Joe was fortunate to perform with special guests Ralph Lalama, Wycliffe Gordon, Larry McKenna, Ingrid Jensen, and Christian McBride.

Currently, Joe is the keyboardist at Abundant Life Family Christian Church in North Wales, PA and in the pop cover band Just Press Play, as well as drummer/vibraphonist for Spirit and Dust.

     Since 2010, Joe has instructed and arranged the music for the front ensemble of the Neshaminy High School Marching Band. He has been a staff member of Summer Music Programs in Bryn Mawr, PA since 2008.  Currently, he teaches drum set, mallet instruments, and classical percussion at The Pennington School and The Lawrenceville School. He also teaches private piano lessons and is a contributor to VibesWorkshop.com.