I am very happy to announce to be the recipient of a 2007 grant by Chamber Music of America to write a piece for Tina Marsh's innovative new 10 piece ensemble aka Creative Opportunity Orchestra.
This new piece will be created with support from Chamber Music America's New Work: Creation and Presentation Program, funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
Performance will take place in NYC October 4th 2008 @ Roulette.
September 2008 I will have a new CD coming out on the Art of Life Records label. I have joined guitarist Scott Sherwood on his recording entitled "Ripples". Please use the following link if you are interested in purchasing "Ripples".
Also my CD's Mist, Corridor and Reinventions are available in MP3 format or via itunes.
Any questions please email me or call.
Thanks and take care,
Bob
Calling All Adult Piano Students
Campbell/Rodriguez PIANOPHILE DAY
Series of Sundays to study & share your love of piano playing with other adults.
Classes will be held @ the
GARDEN STATE ACADEMY OF MUSIC
420 Valley Brook Avenue
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071
# 201.933.5454
DATES FOR 2008-2009 PIANOPHILE ARE PENDING.
We want to invite all adult piano students to a series of PianoPhile dates, held on Sundays throughout the year. Our school, Garden State Academy of Music in Lyndhurst, New Jersey will host these events. If interested please call our music office (201) 933-5454 or contact us by email info@gsamusic.org to have an application sent to you or to answer any questions that you may have.
Let us hear from you, and in the meantime, Happy Practicing!
Tunefully Yours,
Cathy Campbell & Bob Rodriguez
PIANOPHILE Dates; TBA (9:30AM-6:00PM)
Sunday 9:30 AM Registration
10:00-12:00 Piano Jam *
12:00-1:00 Lunch (provided)
1:00-2:00 Private Lesson
2:00-3:00 Practice Time
3:00-4:00 Ensemble (duet practice)
4:00-5:00 Lecture
5:00-6:00 Open Recital; students and faculty invited to play
* Piano Jam or Jazz Jam: an ensemble playing class with several keyboards and a full drum set. Pieces will be selected and students will have the opportunity to learn/play their part and become a member of an ensemble.
Critically acclaimed pianist Bob Rodriguez is one of the most
distinctively imaginative musicians in contemporary jazz today.
Possessing a refined virtuoso technique, extraordinary harmonic sensibility and an incomparable approach to his instrument that melds aspects of European classical and Latin music with modern jazz, Rodriguez's performances and recordings of his own compositions and interpretations of standard material have distinguished him as a truly original pianist with his own tale to tell.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Rodriguez began studying classical piano as a child. At 15, after hearing Teddy Wilson on the radio, he was inspired to write an original blues, revealing a nascent aptitude for composition and prompting his teacher to send him to his first jazz instructor, Hank Kahout, an expert on Wilson and Art Tatum, who was a stride piano specialist. Next, he studied privately with Bill Gidney, a bebop pianist who had accompanied Charlie Parker. Rodriguez studied harmony formally at the Modern Music School of Cleveland with Phil Rizzo (a former Stan Kenton arranger) and twelve tone composition at Baldwin Wallace University. Later, he attended Akron University, where he spent time analyzing modern classical techniques under the tutelage of Pat Pace, who had written arrangements for Miles Davis.
Rodriguez was an active player on the Cleveland jazz circuit throughout most of his twenties, but by the mid eighties he was weary of the local scene there and seized an opportunity to move to Houston. There he played jazz and latin gigs with his trio, occasionally working with visiting luminaries such as Kenny Wheeler, Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Billy Hart, Muhal Richard Abrams, Joe Farrell, Pharoah Sanders and Freddy Hubbard. He was invited to teach jazz piano at the prestigious Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and in 1988 he met modern jazz vocalist Tina Marsh, who engaged him as pianist and composer-in-residence for her forward looking fourteen piece big band, the Creative Opportunity Orchestra. Rodriguez made his first cd recording with Marsh and the Orchestra on her album The Heaven Line. He's also recorded with singer and his trio on their co-led disc Out Of Time.
In 1989 Rodriguez moved to the New York area to study with pianist Richie Beirach, the final step on his road to developing a personal style built on very modern harmony with an exceptionally melodic approach. He performed his music with the BMI advanced composers workshop and in 1994 recorded his first date as leader, Mist, for the Nine Winds label. An album of rare beauty, it featured Rodriguez's own compositions as well as pieces by Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock, two of his primary influences. In 1998 he recorded a solo cd, Reinventions, that includes two Chopin Preludes that he had arranged for 4 hands (with a guest pianist). Since his arrival in the jazz capitol of the world Rodriguez has performed at the Blue Note, Birdland, Cornelia Street Cafˇ and Trumpets. He played solo concerts at Gracie Mansion and various venues in the tri-state area and broadcast performances on NPR in Texas, Maine, and New York.
In 2005, Rodriguez released his most recent cd, Corridor, a much praised masterwork featuring bassist Mike Richmond and drummer Eliot Zigmund. More recently he's the recipient of a 2007 grant by Chamber Music America to write a piece for Tina Marsh's innovative new 10 piece ensemble aka Creative Opportunity Orchestra. This new piece will be created with support from Chamber Music America's New Work: Creation and Presentation Program, funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
In addition to his highly respected work as a performer, Rodriguez is a very much in demand clinician/instructor in the world of jazz and classical music education.
Click here to download Bob Rodriguez's Biography.(2005) with Mike Richmond, bass and Eliot Zigmund, drums
Click here for an mp3 sample of the title track.
(1999) solo piano
Click here to listen to stardust.(1995) with Ken Filiano, bass and Ron Glick, drums
Click here to listen to mist.As a Co-leader
Tina Marsh and the Bob Rodriguez Trio on CreOp Muse, Out Of Time (2000) Tina Marsh, voice - Ken Filiano, bass - Ron Glick, Drums
As Pianist, Composer and Arranger
"The Heaven Line" with Tina Marsh & CO2 on CreOp Muse (1994)
"World Wide" with Tina Marsh & CO2 on CreOp Muse (1998)
"Migration" with Tina Marsh & CO2 on CreOp Muse (2007)
****..."the end product is an intriguing trio sound that is, largely, unlike anything on the scene."
- Down Beat Magazine/Will Smith/September 2005 "Corridor" voted "Notable Release" in 2005
- Jazzreview.com/Bryan Zoran"What distinguishes Rodriguez from countless other jazz pianists covering the same material is a preference for pulling the songs into new terrain"
- Cadence Magazine"Rodriguez' versatility spans the languid and the stormy; the trio evokes the Bill Evans-Scott LaFaro-Paul Motion group... impressionistic bop to romping post bop..."
- Midwest Jazz Magazine***(*) Mist, "A rewarding and idiosyncratic addition to the piano-trio literature... Rodriguez has a lovely touch ..."
- The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD...Corridor, "this is enjoyable music with performances that reveal themselves to be much deeper than at first blush."
- Jazziz/John Frederick Moore."With "Corridor" Bob Rodriguez takes his place among such lyrical keyboard artists as Keith Jarrett, Richie Beirach, Fred Hersch and Brad Mehldau"
- Berman Jazz Music Foundation/Tom Ineck
"Private lessons, online or by mail available" Studios in Manhattan and New Jersey. See links for the nearest location of music schools.
Email: bobrodriguez@mac.com Voice Mail and Fax: 212.229.8389