Rabbit Hole Sessions with Abe Ovadia

Guitarist Tom Dempsey’s reputation for hard swinging sophistication and pure musicality have made him a distinct voice in the New York jazz scene. Dempsey has performed and/or recorded with a virtual “Who’s Who” of world renowned jazz musicians including: George Coleman, Kenny Barron, Roy Haynes, Bobby McFerrin, Jack McDuff, Jim Hall, John Abercrombie, Brad Mehldau, John Scofield, Tal Farlow, Buddy Montgomery, Gerald Wilson, Mel Torme, Richard Wyands, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Dave Brubeck. He has recorded four CDs as a leader: What’s Going On (Citytone Records), Perspectives (Imaginary Records), Blues In The Slope (Igmod Records/TJD Music), If Only We Knew (TJD Music). Tom has also recorded as a sideman on many recordings. Since 1992, Tom has been performing as a leader and a sideman at some of the top jazz venues throughout the world including the JVC Jazz Festival, SF Jazz Festival, The Blue Note, Yoshi’s, Smalls, and Smoke. Tom is an Artist Endorsee for Thomastik-Infeld Strings. Known for his versatility as a musician Dempsey has made numerous appearances on New York radio and television including performances on The Rosie O’Donnell Show, the HBO series Sex and the City, and NPR. Dempsey has also performed for many Broadway shows including Bring In ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk, Patti Lupone on Broadway, and Aida. Along with his active performing career, Tom Dempsey’s talent as a composer is receiving noteworthy attention. Because of his distinctive sound and style Dempsey’s music has been described as having “fine compositional ability and stylistic accessibility.” His music has been featured on his four CDs as well as television and radio programs throughout the world including the HBO hit series Sex and the City. Tom received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Jazz Studies from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in May 1991. In May 1996, he acquired his Masters Degree in Jazz/Commercial Music at Manhattan School of Music. Tom’s deep commitment to education has made him a highly sought after educator and clinician. In recent years he has been teaching at Jazz at Lincoln Center, SUNY New Paltz, Rutgers University, and the National Guitar Workshop where he serves as Artistic Director for the Jazz Summit and Director of Music for all of the campuses. As an author Dempsey work includes four books: The Jazz Guitar Experience, Easy Jazz Soloing for Guitar, Sight-Reading for the Contemporary Guitarist and Classic Jazz Styles for Guitar and one DVD entitled Theory for The Contemporary Guitarist which are available through Alfred Music and Workshop Arts. He has also produced over 170 online music lessons for WorkshopLive.com. For more about Tom, visit www.TomDempseyMusic.com.

Charles Owens is a master tenor saxophonist, composer, band leader, recording artist, and educator and has been performing, composing, and teaching for over 25 years.

Joshua Bruneau was born June 23,1988 in Waterbury Center, Vermont. While growing up, Josh was frequently found on the baseball field. After seeing a Time Life commercial, he was instantly drawn to classical music. Josh asked for classical tapes and records by composers like Bach, Mozart, and Chopin. His life took a dramatic turn when he was introduced to the trumpet and subsequently, jazz.  Josh began to study the art of music and taking trumpet lessons when he 10 years old. These formative years proved very important as Josh discovered many recordings of musicians such as John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker. He immediately fell in love with these musicians and made a conscious decision to try to emulate these people’s playing. He started forming his own groups and playing locally from a young age. He was soon traveling with a local big band. He honed his skills all through high school at Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vermont.  In the fall of 2006, Josh began his studies at the Jackie McLean Institute at the Hartt School. Josh was introduced to his two most important mentors, Nat Reeves and Steve Davis. He immediately started gigging around the Hartford area with local musicians and fellow students. Josh received the opportunity to travel to Ireland with Nat in his freshman year. Ever since, Josh has been playing with his instructors, Nat and Steve, on a regular basis. That same year he played with Nat, Steve, Eric McPherson, Alan Palmer, and Jovan Alexandre opening for Dionne Warwick.  Because of his established relationship with his two mentors, Josh now frequents New York City to perform at world famous Jazz clubs such as Smoke and Smalls.  September 2011 he played at the Detroit Jazz festival with another of his great mentors, Curtis Fuller. He has also shared the stage with artists such as Harold Mabern, Mike LeDonne, Eric Alexander, Joe Farnsworth, Carl Allen, John Webber, Ken Fowser, and Larry Willis to name a few.  Now with the 2014 release of his debut album as a leader, Bright Idea (Cellar Live), Josh continues to look forward musically and push himself and his colleagues further.  

Guitarist, composer and teacher Nat Janoff, has been working steadily in the contemporary jazz scene for the past 15 years. Nat’s earliest experience with music started with the piano. Then, he switched to bass. After hearing Eddie Van Halen, Nat had to play guitar. Growing up in the 80’s, Nat’s musical interests were all things rock and metal and Nat earned a reputation for being one of the best shred guitarist in the area. Nat’s transition from metal and rock guitar to jazz occurred when he sought out a platform to improvise for longer than the standard rock riff. That, and hearing Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds of Fire for the first time. Pursue jazz he did and after earning his Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from William Paterson University in 1996, Nat set to work forging his own musical path.

The first marker on that path was Nat’s debut album, Looking Through featuring the rhythm section of world renowned electric bassist, Matthew Garrison and drummer Gene Lake, putting Nat on the map as both a player and a composer.

“Any 29 year old that can hang with this duo (Garrison & Lake,) let alone lead the date, has transitively proven himself worthy of attention.” Review of Looking Through by Phil DiPietro for allaboutjazz.com 2000

Two more albums soon followed—a live acoustic recording with fellow William Paterson alumnus Jake Schwartz simply titled, Live and a collaborative project with Rave Tesar (of Annie Haslam’s Renaissance on keys and left-hand bass) and Ray LeVier entitled, Berkana.

2010 has been a busy year for Janoff with regards to recording. He was honored with the opportunity to contribute to ESC Records latest tribute album, Mahavishnu Redefined II, recording the track, Are You the One? with bassist Ray Riendeau and drummer Martin Diamond. Janoff also played guitar on three tracks on Ray Riendau's latest cd, Atmospheres. Most recently, Janoff went into the studio to record his latest cd, Come Together Move Apart with the great talents of pianist John Escreet, bassist François Moutin and drummer Chris Carroll. This album was officially released on September 28th 2010.

In addition to playing with his own groups, Nat Janoff has performed with the R&B singer, Joe, R&B legend David “Pic” Conley from the group Surface, legendary pianist, Norman Simmons and drummer Victor Jones’ group, Culturversy. Nat can also be heard on Atlantic Records’ recording artist Debelah Morgan’s CD, Dance With Me and on R&B artist Roland Clark’s new track, The Simple Things.

Jon Herington is a longtime New York city based guitarist, singer/songwriter, producer, and bandleader. He is the leader of the Jon Herington Band and has been the guitarist of choice with the iconic band Steely Dan for both recording and touring since 1999. With the launch of (quiet) encore, Jon now has eight solo releases in his discography. His previous release, Time On My Hands, was nominated for Vintage Guitar Hall Of Fame Album of the Year. His guitar work with Steely Dan can be heard on their recordings Everything Must Go and Two Against Nature (both the CD and the live DVD) and on the Steely Dan VH1 Storytellers and Making of Aja DVD releases. Jon was also featured as lead guitarist on the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue's Live at Lincoln Center DVD.

Jon also tours regularly with unique song stylist Madeleine Peyroux and has previously toured with Donald Fagen; Boz Scaggs; The Dukes of September (a supergroup featuring Donald Fagen, Boz Scaggs, and Michael McDonald); Bette Midler; Phoebe Snow; and Bobby Caldwell.

Roberta Piket is a pianist who loves to swing while exploring the more adventurous harmonic possibilities of jazz and improvised music.

Roberta’s father was the composer Frederick Piket, whose works were performed by the New York Philharmonic under famed conductor Dimtri Metropolis. (The elder Piket, who passed away when Roberta was eight, is also renowned for his significant contribution to the musical liturgy of reform Judaism.)

From her mother, Cynthia, Roberta learned by ear the tunes of Porter, Gershwin, Kern, Rodgers, and Berlin (as well as accompanying lyrics).

In her early teens, a chance encounter with a classic LP rescued from a flea market changed the course of Roberta’s life.

“My older brother had bought a few copies of an old Muse LP of Walter Bishop Jr.’s trio for 25 cents each. He played it for me and I flipped. I just fell in love with the sound of the jazz piano trio. The CD was called Speak Low, and I found the original sheet music for that tune in my mother’s collection. I learned all the songs on that record,” which, in addition to the title tune, included Alone Together, Milestones and On Green Dolphin Street. Shortly after that epiphany, Roberta became fascinated with the 20th century classical recordings that had belonged to her late father. Soon she was dividing her time between the stacks of old sheet music in the attic, learning standards, and the Bartok and Schoenberg records and scores in her father’s library. Sprinkled into the mix were a handful of Ellington scores borrowed from the New York Public Library, and saturation listening to WRVR-FM, the New York jazz radio station at the time. As her passion for music intensified, Roberta’s mother tried to discourage her from the difficult path of a professional musician. As a compromise, she attended the joint five-year double-degree program at Tufts University and New England Conservatory. “Coming from a high school with a strong liberal arts curriculum [New York’s prestigious Hunter College High School], I was not opposed to continuing in the liberal arts tradition in college, rather than narrowing my focus only to music. I believed then, and still believe, that an artist needs to be stimulated by the surrounding culture and not live in a vacuum.” Roberta graduated with a degree in computer science from Tufts and a degree in jazz piano from New England Conservatory, but after a year as a software engineer, it was clear her heart was in music, and she returned to her native New York to study and play.

After applying for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, she began to study with pianist Richie Beirach. “I was so young and naïve when I moved back to New York. I didn’t really know much about Richie’s music. It was sort of blind luck that I started studying with someone who was able to help me integrate my love of modern classical music into my jazz playing and composing.” As her artistry developed, Roberta found herself in the unusual situation of playing both “straight ahead” jazz as well as so-called “free” music. After a last minute gig subbing with the Lionel Hampton band brought her to the vibraphonist’s attention, she was invited to play on two tunes for his upcoming CD. “The first CD I ever recorded was with Lionel Hampton. The production was a bit disorganized so I ended up doing a little of everything from helping Lionel rehearse the music, to writing out lead sheets for Ron Carter (who chastised me for writing diminished chords instead of dominant 7th chords), to helping in the editing stage. ” Around the same time, Marian McPartland would hear her as a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Composers Competition and invite her to appear as a featured guest on NPR’s Piano Jazz, the first of three appearances she would make on the show. “Marian was a good friend to me and to countless young musicians,” Roberta recalls. A 1999 Japan tour with her own trio magically brought Roberta full circle. “The first night we arrived, I was sitting in my hotel room playing with the cable radio system. There were several jazz specialty stations. As soon as I turned on the radio, the first music I heard was a track from that long ago Walter Bishop Jr. LP, Speak Low. It was eerie and incredibly moving to be brought back to that moment when I first fell in love with the piano trio while on my first international tour with my own trio.” Over the years, Roberta has appeared professionally as a sidewoman with David Liebman, Rufus Reid, Michael Formanek, Lionel Hampton, Mickey Roker, Eliot Zigmund, Benny Golson, Ted Curson, Virginia Mayhew, and the BMI/NY Jazz Orchestra. She has also toured and performed with some of the most interesting musicians in European and American improvised music, including drummers Klaus Kugel and Billy Mintz, and saxophonists Roby Glod, Petras Vysniauskas and Louie Belogenis. A gifted composer as well, Roberta was a finalist in the Thelonious Monk BMI Composers’ Competition. She was also the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Roberta is from Queens, NY. Her father gave her her first piano lessons when she was seven. Roberta began serious music studies in her early teens, studying jazz piano with Walter Bishop, Jr and classical piano with Vera Wels. While at New England Conservatory she studied privately with Fred Hersch, Stanley Cowell, Jim McNeely and Bob Moses. Upon returning to New York, in addition to six years of study with Richie Beirach, she studied briefly with Sofia Rosoff. In addition to Japan, Roberta’s trios have toured Spain and the U.S. She has performed at the Kennedy Center (Washington, D.C.), at the Earshot Festival (Seattle), at the Rochester (NY) Jazz Festival, and in New York at Small’s, Mezzrow’s, the Blue Note, Birdland, and Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center. On her 2011 CD release, Sides, Colors, in addition to featuring her trio, she orchestrated several pieces for winds and strings, sang, and played organ as well. An eclectic series of projects has followed, including an electric band, Alternating Current, the free improvisation trio Belogenis, Piket, Mintz, the international Roby Glod Quartet, and the Nabokov Project, which sets poems by Vladimir Nabokov to music for piano, violin, mezzo-soprano, percussion, and speaker, blending neo-classical harmonic concepts with lush melodies and free improvisational sections. Roberta’s most recent focus has been solo piano performance. Her 2012 CD, Solo, made the “ten best of the year” list of three jazz critics. A spring 2015 follow-up CD is called Emanation (Solo: Volume 2). Recent solo concerts include Kostel sv. Vavřince in Prague, Reigen in Vienna, Palomar College in San Marcos, CA, An Die Musik in Baltimore and Smalls in New York City. As an educator, Roberta has held master classes at the Eastman School of Music (where she performed solo and in duet with Marian McPartland), Rutgers University, Cal Arts, Duke University, the Northwestern University Composers’ Colloquium, and others in the U.S., Europe and Japan. She has served as a panelist for the Queens Council on the Arts grant review process and has taught at the Litchfield Jazz Camp and the Vermont Jazz Center. She is also the author of the Jazz Piano Vocabulary series of workbooks. Roberta occasionally performs on B3 organ at clubs such as the Harlem landmark Showman’s, as well as now and then leading her own groups at Smalls and Mezzrow. She has written several big band compositions, and is also a self-described “closet singer”. In recent years she has toured Europe several times, including France, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Ukraine and Spain. The melding of different musical worlds in her youth resulted in Roberta’s unique musical sensibilities and interests. Her numerous recordings reveal an artist equally at home playing standards (Solo, Emanation), free improvising (Poltva, Op Der Schmelz), and composing and arranging her own music (Sides, Colors; Live at the Blue Note). For Roberta, there are no genre boundaries, only the opportunity to make exceptional music.

Putter Smith was born in Bell, California, and began playing the bass at the age of eight, inspired by his older brother, jazz musician Carson Smith. He made his performing debut aged 13 at the Compton Community Center.