Tim Albright, Dane Richeson, Marc Urness, Bill Carrothers & Ted Piltzecker

media release: A BlueStem Jazz Presentation

Trombonist Tim Albright enjoys a diverse career as an internationally recognized chamber musician, jazz artist, soloist and educator. He joined the Lawrence faculty in 2016, and was previously on faculty at State University of New York at Purchase and the Juilliard School Pre-College Division. Equally at home as a performer of classical, jazz and pop music, Mr. Albright strives to enable his students to become not just masters of their instrument, but whole artists, at ease in multiple genres and unafraid to tap into their individual creative potential. His students adhere to traditional methods of trombone study and also explore composition, improvisation, and vocalization in their lessons.

Dane Richeson is recognized as one of the most versatile virtuosi in percussion. Throughout the world he has been featured in such diverse roles as solo marimbist, percussionist in contemporary music settings, world percussion specialist and jazz drummer. Performances have been with such diverse artists as Bobby McFerrin, Gordon Stout, Nancy Zeltsman, Gunther Schuller, Geoff Keezer, Joe Lovano, NDR Big Band of Germany, Roscoe Mitchell, Medeski-Martin-Woods, Kenny Wheeler, Uri Caine, and Lyle Mays. He regularly performs with the chamber ensembles CUBE (Chicago), The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society (Madison, WI) and has been a featured marimba artist/teacher at several of the Zeltsman Marimba Festivals, the Ivana Bilic Marimba/Percussion Week in Croatia, and the Central Conservatory Chamber Music Festival in Beijing. Moreover, he has performed at festivals such as Ravinia, North Sea and Montreux Jazz Festivals, and Beijing Music Festival.

Mark Urness is a versatile bassist, composer, and educator. His diverse performance experience encompasses orchestral, chamber, solo, jazz playing. He was awarded first prize in the International Society of Bassists Jazz Competition.  His unaccompanied jazz CD, Foreground, was released in 2009. Bass World magazine described his playing as completely in command of the instrument and the tunes, rife with good ideas, melodic instinct, and groove, not to mention killer intonation on the double stops and chords.  Recent performances include chamber music broadcasts on Wisconsin Public Radio, and jazz performances with Bill Carrothers, Danilo Perez, Peter Erskine, and Joe Locke. 

Bill Carrothers has been a professional pianist for over 25 years. He has played many venues throughout the U. S. and Europe including the Village Gate, Knitting Factory, Birdland, Blues Alley, New Morning (Paris), the Audi Jazz Festival in Brussels, theNevers Jazz Festival (where he shared the bill with Abbey Lincoln), the Montreal Jazz Festival , Jazz Middelheim, and theMarciac Festival in France. In October of 2000, Mr. Carrothers headlined the prestigious Rising Star Tour throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. He has been a leader on seventeen recordings, all of which have received critical acclaim. His sideman credits have included some of the greatest names in jazz, including Joe Beck, Scot t Colley, Buddy DeFranco, Dave Douglas, Curtis Fuller, Eric Gravatt, Drew Gress, Tim Hagans, Billy Higgins, Ari Hoenig, Lee Konitz, James Moody, Gary Peacock, Dewey Redman, Charlie Rouse, James Spaulding, Bill Stewart, Ben Street, Ira Sullivan, Toots Thielemans, and Benny Wallace.

Ted Piltzecker has performed at festivals throughout the US and around the globe. His five albums as a leader have been critically acclaimed and influential in both the percussion and jazz worlds. The current release  Brindica reflects his recent four-month venture around the world. It was recorded in New York and in Buenos Aires, and evokes musical encounters in Iceland, India, Nepal, and Bali. "Piltzecker writes and arranges tunes that draw on tango, second-line, Afro-Cuban, South African, and even carnatic influences, always in an organic, fun, and respectful way. The result is a stylistic kaleidoscope of an album that reveals new combinations of rhythm and harmony at every turn and always sparkes with wit and good humor." CD HotList

Ted Piltzecker has received awards from the National Endowment, NY State Council, NJ State Council, Lincoln Center Institute, and the ASCAP Foundation. He is a professor emeritus of music composition at the Purchase Conservatory of Music, SUNY and also teaches vibraphone at the Hartt School in CT.