I am currently the Coordinator of the Jazz & Composition Department at the River Ridge Music School in New Orleans, LA. I am a multi-instrumentalist (piano, saxophone, bass, drums) with a background in classical music as well as jazz. As an active jazz pianist, I have been working with a contemporary jazz trio called ABIEA. We recently released our debut album, which features all of my music! As a composer and arranger, I ve written a wide variety of music, much of which can be found in my first published collection, The Tunebook, Vol. 1. I've written music for big bands as well as small combos and am an active member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers.) One of my recent pieces was performed at the 2000 IAJE (International Association of Jazz Educators) festival by the Loyola University Big Band. I'm the President of RYCUN Music Company (through which all of my music is published and available for sale.) I studied jazz piano with Michael Pellera and arranging/composition with John Mahoney at the Loyola University College of Music (New Orleans) where I graduated Magna Cum Laude earning a Bachelor of Music Performance degree specializing in jazz studies. In the Fall of 2002, I'll be heading back to school to complete my M.M. in jazz writing at the Florida State University. My influences are many: for playing, I've always been a fan of Hank Jones, Horace Silver, Bill Evans, Bud Powell and discouraged by Oscar Peterson. For writing, I'm in awe of Don Sebesky, Bill Holman, and Thelonious Monk.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments at: info@rycunmusic.com.
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