musicians

I call on these cats to help me out with my gigs very often.  They're beautiful!  Each one of them brings their own style to the gigs.  That keeps things fresh and different.  How fortunate I am to keep meeting and playing with such great performers!  By the way--they're listed alphabetically.

Let me introduce to you Aaron Allen and his bass fiddle.  Aaron has grown up in Austin, and I've known him for years now.  His talent just keeps amazing me.  Aaron's a senior at UT majoring in Jazz Performance.   You'll find him playing at The Ginger Man on Sunday nights with Marc Devine, at Zax Pints & Plates on Wednesdays, and here and there all over town.  Certainly, you can catch him playing the Elephant Room and other venues with me!  His favorite color is blue (dig that shirt), and he could never pass on a crazy plate of pasta.

 

Welcome Anthony Belfiglio on the keys!  Anthony has been influenced by Wynton Kelly & Herbie Hancock.  He's got a bachelor's in Jazz Performance & a master's in Piano Pedagogy from Temple University in Philadelphia (his hometown), a Master's in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami (he moved to AusTex from there), & is currently earning a doctorate in Music & Human Learning (with a Jazz emphasis) at UT.  Whew!  Anthony is teaching at Belmont University in Nashville these days, and he's in Austin every now and then.  You'll probably catch him playing while he's here!  He's got a CD online at www.musiciansshowcase.com.  Check him out!  Oh yeah--his favorite color is green, & he's a big fan of the sushi/Thai combination.

 

Hey, Ryan Bowman--looking super fly on that bass, brother!  Ryan always keeps the killer solos coming.  He studies at UT and plays with some of the best around town.  One of his dearest projects is his Metal band Azoth, who play around town regularly as well.  His influences include Alex Webster, Marty Friedman, Jaco Pastorius and Dave Liebman. Ryan's favorite color is green. Give him a bowl of mac and cheese and you'll have a happy bass player.  His bass playin' makes many a happy listener.

 

Here's Rob Greenfield.  Great piano player.  OUTSTANDING piano player!  He studied at UT and has a degree in Piano Performance.  He played on cruise ships for three years, and you can catch him regularly at Romeo's on Barton Springs, as well as all over with cat after cat.  His favorite color is--what else?--green, and he digs his mom's fruit salad the most of all.

 

 The lovely guitarist Lauren Gurgiolo studied and got her Jazz degree at UT. She's part of The Pistol Love Family Band, in which she plays mandolin and fiddle as well, and Bright Lights Society, along with local songstress Elizabeth McQueen.  She's one of Neal Kassanoff's Infidels, and lately she has been manufacturing cool grooves with The Dialtones.  Man--click on something, will ya?   Her favorite color is blue, and she's fondest of dark chocolate.  Mmmm, chocolate...

 

Here's Andrew Moorhead.  He plays a mean red keyboard, boy.   He's fresh out of UT, with a couple of degrees under his belt:  a bachelor's in Jazz Performance, and one in Physics.  Andrew's got plenty of work all over town with plenty of instrumentalists and vocalists.  Smokin' on those keys, just smokin'!  He's got more hair than that now, and it's curly, by the way.  His favorite color is gray. His favorite comfort food?  Why, polish sausage, of course.  (He's part Polish.)

 

Ryan Murphy, on keyboards, just finished his studies at UT and has a Computer Science degree and a Jazz Composition degree to show for his hard work.  Besides playing fabulous music all around town, he is a songwriter whose tunes you should definitely check out.  He grew up in Toronto, and moved to Dallas at the age of ten.  He admires greatly Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett.  He has a hard time choosing a favorite color, but for now, he'll go with gold.  He gets all warm and fuzzy when he has anything off Mothers' menu.

 

Phillip "Real Deal" Owen is an amazing Blues/Jazz guitarist who's studied (and tossed a few tortillas) at Texas Tech.  His other love is the Theatre--for which he's worked in LA, Maine, Baltimore, New York, and even Ireland.  He's been an Actor, Sound Designer, Assistant Director, Band Director, and Musical Director, and is very involved in the Theatre Program at St. Edward's University here in Austin.  His favorite color is blue, and he's happy as Larry devouring a stack of his mom's pancakes.

 

 How happy I am to include pianist Matt Russell in my roster of fabulously hep cats!  Matt grew up in Colorado, and he's got his bachelor's in Jazz Studies and his master's in Jazz Composition from UT. He's all over the place with the Monster Big Band, the Drew Smith Band, and as one of Truluck's resident virtuosos.  His expertise on the keys is mind-blowing.  His favorite color is red, and the good ol' boy in him just loves chicken fried steak.

 

 

 ...And Terry Shimazu on piano!  Terutada "Tater Tots" Shimazu grew up in Japan & spent 1989 in Austin as a foreign exchange student.  Gene Harris, Ray Charles & Jimmy Smith are among the greats who've influenced him.  Terry went to Japanese college, and returned to the States to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, majoring in Professional Music.  He's been back in Austin for over a year now.  His favorite color is navy blue, and his tummy smiles most when full of Kung Pao Chicken.

 

Tyler Summers is here from Albuquerque, New Mexico, drumming with lots of different ensembles and studying for his Masters in Aerospace Engineering at UT.  His bachelor's is in Mechanical Engineering from TCU.  He admires the styles of Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones and Tony Williams.  He's also very much into Bill Stewart, Peter Erskine and Brian Blade.  He's one of Mah Boys, and you can see and hear him with me at our Elephant Room gigs, as well as at other venues.  His pupils are happiest when fixated on something blue, and he can't decide between biscuits and gravy or pot pie as his favorite comfort food.  Why try?  They're both delicious.

 

Jacob Wise is from Austin and has been playing guitar for sixteen years now.  He's played in numerous Jazz, Blues and Rock bands.  Jacob performs with the David Chenu Quartet regularly.  His favorite color is green, and he feels the snuggliest after a plate of his mom's french toast.