Rogerio Boccato
Percussion

Rogerio Boccato is a Brazilian percussionist, drummer and educator who holds a BM in Composition from The State University of Campinas (Brazil), where he taught Drum set and “Rítmica” until he relocated to the New York area.  He was also a member of the Jazz Symphony Orchestra of the São Paulo State since its began in 1990. With the Orchestra he played with Antonio Carlos Jobim, Cláudio Roditi,  Joe Zawinul, Dionne Warwick and more. As a sideman he has played with Dave Stryker, David Berkman, John Benitez, Dena DeRose, Arturo Sandoval, and with top ranking Brazilian artists. Rogerio played percussion on Kenny Garret’s most recent release, “Beyond The Wall” which was nominated for a 2007 Grammy for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.  He is a guest percussion faculty member at the Hartt School of Music. He has also been presenting clinics on Brazilian music, focusing on the traditional Brazilian rhythms and styles applied to the drum set and to Jazz combo. Rogerio has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2001.  www.rogerioboccato.com

Paul Bollenback
Guitar

Paul Bollenback's emotionally expressive style and eclectic approach is the result of years of listening, studying and playing music by Carlos Santana, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Kenny Burrell, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, and Jimi Hendrix. Bollenback attended the University of Miami as a music major. He later studied privately for eight years with Baltimore-based professor of Theory/Composition Asher Zlotnik. In 1997, Bollenback was named Musician of the Year at the Washington Area Music Awards, and became an Adjunct Professor of Music at the American University in Washington, DC. In addition to his continued associations with Gary Bartz, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Joey DeFrancesco, Joe Locke, and East Meets Jazz, Paul continues to tour with his own groups.

Recent performances include the Blue Note in Fukuoka, Japan, the Blue Note In New York City, Le Club in Moscow, the Newark Museum and the Rochester Jazz Festival. He teaches at Queens College, the New School and at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. Paul has appeared on the Tonight Show, Good Morning America, Joan Rivers, The Today Show, and Entertainment Tonight. Paul has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 1999. www.paulbollenback.com

Don Braden, Music Director
Saxophone

Don Braden has toured the world with jazz greats Betty Carter, Wynton Marsalis, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, Roy Haynes, and many others. He has recorded nearly fifty CDs as a sideman and fourteen as a leader. His latest record as a leader, released in March 2006 on HighNote, is "Workin’– The Don Braden Organic Trio" recorded live at Cecil’s Jazz Club in June, 2005. As a composer, he has created scores for albums, independent films and for Bill Cosby’s projects,“Cosby,” "Little Bill,” and “Fatherhood.” In 2000, he was honored with a Doris Duke Foundation New Works award. He works extensively as an educator, teaching for Litchfield Performing Arts, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, North Netherlands Conservatory in Groningen, Holland, and at William Paterson University. Don has been the music director of the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 1998. www.DonBraden.com photo: AsiraStudio.com

Claire Daly
Saxophone

Claire received her degree from the Berklee College of Music. After graduation she anchored the sax section in the Diva Big Band for 7 years and recorded 5 CDs with the brilliant, quirky composer/pianist Joel Forrester and their band "People Like Us." She then released two CDs as leader on Koch Jazz (now re-released on Dalybread Records), and a new release of her own called "Heaven Help Us All" (Dalybread Records). She has backed up Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney among many others. In the fall of '05, Claire began a new long-term project tracking down some of the hidden treasures of the jazz world, interviewing them on video and plans an eventual documentary. She is currently working with human beat box Napoleon Maddox and bassist Joe Fonda with "IsWhat?!", melding hip hop and jazz. Claire was the DownBeat baritone critic poll winner in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The Jazz Journalist Association named her the “baritone saxophonist of the year (2005).” Claire has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2000. www.clairedalymusic.com

Mike DiRubbo
Saxophone

A native of New Haven, Connecticut, DiRubbo began clarinet studies at age nine, and took up the alto a few years later. He attended Notre Dame High School where he subsequently won the school’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. After receiving a scholarship to the prestigious Hartt College of Music, he studied under the tutelage of alto sax giant Jackie Mclean. He has worked with artists such as Steve Davis, Joe Farnsworth, Eric Alexander, Jim Rotundi, Harold Mabern and Cecil Payne. DiRubbo later moved to Brooklyn, New York, and became a member of pianist Michael Weiss’ highly regarded sextet. DiRubbo has performed throughout the United States, Europe, and in Israel. His bands regularly appear in various New York City clubs and jazz festivals. Mike has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 1997 (since year one!). www.mikedirubbo.com

Jimmy Greene
Saxophone

Born in Hartford, CT, Jimmy Greene exhibited an affinity for music at a young age. Beginning to play the alto saxophone at the age of six, Greene formed his first quintet while in high school, and began composing music soon thereafter. While in High School Greene meet and played for Jackie McLean at the Artists’ Collective. Greene continued his studies at the Hartt School graduating cum laude. Greene was honored in June 1999 issue of Down Beat magazine as one of “25 Young Rising Stars in Jazz”. He tours and record extensively, most notably with Harry Connick, Jr., Tom Harrell, Claudia Acuña, and Lewis Nash. Greene was recently named the winner of the prestigious ASCAP / IAJE Commission in honor of Ornette Coleman, awarded the 2005 Artist Fellowship in Music Composition by the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism and chosen as a winner of the 2004 New Works: Creation and Presentation Grant for jazz composition awarded annually by Chamber Music America. Jimmy has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp on and off since 1997. www.jimmygreene.com

Jeff Hirshfield
Drums

Jeff Hirshfield has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, South America, Japan, Australia, South Asia, Israel, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. He has conducted workshops and clinics with a focus on creative drumming and interplay while on many of these tours. Jeff has performed with Jim Hall, Red Rodney & Ira Sullivan, Eliane Elias, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, John Zorn, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Bley, Toots Thielemans, Woody Herman, Bob Brookmeyer, Mike Mainieri, Dr. John, Tom Harrell, Charlie Mariano, Tim Berne, James Moody, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, George Garzone, Dr. Lonnie Smith, John Taylor, Gary Peacock, John Lewis, Chris Potter, Mose Allison, Joe Williams, Bob Berg, the Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band, John Abercrombie, Dave Binney, Mark Murphy, Mike Stern, Zoot Sims, Tim Hagans, Fred Hersch, Marc Copland, U.S. State Department Jazz Ambassadors and many others. He has played on over 250 recordings. Jeff has been a resident artist at The Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2000. Jeff has been a resident artist at The Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2000. More Info

Winard Harper
Drums

Winard Harper has been the leader for a vibrant sextet for almost a decade. The group now appears regularly all over the United States from the Kennedy Center to Yoshi's, legendary West Coast jazz club. Harper's first major gig was with Dexter Gordon when he was just 20. This led to a four-year stint with Betty Carter's band. During the 1980's he laid down the foundation for what would eventually become The Harper Brothers band. It was so popular, that it once held the #1 spot on the Billboard chart for two solid months. Winard continues to be one of the most sought after drummers in jazz today, leading his hard-swinging sextet and working with Dr. Billy Taylor, Ray Bryant, Wycliffe Gordon, Frank Wess and Jimmy Heath. His newest CD, Come Into The Light, has received rave reviews from critics and fans alike. Winard has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2003. www.winardharper.com

Steve Johns
Drums

Steve Johns was born in Boston, MA and began playing the drums at the age of nine. Steve has studied with Alan Dawson, Bob Gullotti, Fred Buda and Vic Firth. Johns graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he studied classical percussion. In the spring of 1982, Steve moved to New York City. There he began working with Joe Locke, Ralph Moore, Bill Evans, Steve Slagle, Conrad Herwig, Vincent Herring, Kevin Eubanks, Dennis Erwin, Dave Stryker, Benny Green and others.
As well as having a busy performance schedule, Mr. Johns has taught at the Vermont Jazz Center, The Jazz In July Program at UMass, The Thelonius Monk Institute in Aspen Colorado, Williams College in Massachusetts and is currently an adjunct instructor at Montclair State University. Steve has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2005. www.stevejohnsjazz.com

Peter McEachern
Trombone

Peter McEachern, a Connecticut native, has toured and recorded three CDs for Polygram with Blues legend Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown; has worked and recorded with minimalist composer Lamonte Young, and is featured on several important CDs: Insomnia with the Thomas Chapin Trio on Knitting Factory Works and Song for Septet with the Mario Pavone Septet on the New World Countercurrents label. Song for Septet was chosen one of the "Top Ten Jazz CDs of 1995" by The New York Times. He received a fellowship for music composition from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts in 2001. Currently he is on the faculty of the Indian Mountain School, The Academy of Music and Art in Hartford. He conducts the Jazz Ensembles at The Berkshire Music School, The Nutmeg Conservatory and Region 7 High School and is a busy freelance artist in the tri-state area. Peter has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 1998.  More Info

Peter Madsen
Piano

Peter Madsen was born in Racine, Wisconsin where he began his classical piano studies at the age of eight and double bass at the age of ten. In 1978, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a degree in Music Education, after which he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to concentrate on developing his jazz piano skills through intensive practice and a bursting schedule of gigs, composing and teaching. In 1980 Peter moved to New York City. He got one of his many breaks when Stan Getz hired him to tour Europe and the U.S. in 1987. For the past ten years Peter has had a duo with Austrian bass virtuoso Peter Herbert performing entirely original compositions and teaching workshops around Europe and Japan. Peter is now living part-time in New York and part-time in Vorarlberg, Austria. He continues to perform worldwide as well as teaching master classes, workshops and private students. Peter has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2004. www.petermadsen.us/en/  photo: AsiraStudio.com

Mario Pavone
Bass

Mario Pavone has been on the NY scene for almost forty years. He began playing bass in the early sixties studying with the world famous Bertram Turetzky and got his first big break in 1964 with pianist Paul Bley. During this period he played with Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon, Anthony Braxton and many other. In the 70's Mario formed his own record company called Alarca. He worked extensively in the late 70's and 80's in the New Haven, Connecticut area, with musicians like Jane Ira Bloom, Ray Anderson, Anthony Davis, Gerry Hemingway, Mark Helias, Leo Smith and many others. By 1975, he was a founding member of the New Haven, Connecticut-based Creative Music Improvisers Forum (CMIF), which produced concerts and recordings that gave musicians more control over their own music. In addition to his ongoing activities as a bandleader, Pavone's artwork and photography have graced the covers of dozens of recordings since the mid 90's, and he currently serves as an educator and board member for Litchfield Performing Arts. Mario has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 1998. Photo: Steve Sussman

Dave Stryker
Guitar

Dave Stryker grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and moved to New York City in 1980. After establishing himself in the local music scene, he joined organist Jack McDuff's group for two years 1984-85. From 1986-1995, Stryker played with the legendary saxophonist Stanley Turrentine at all the major festivals, concert halls, and clubs throughout the world. With Turrentine, Stryker was able to play with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard. He has recorded and published over 70 of his own compositions. Dave continues to perform with his working unit The Stryker / Slagle Band as well as his other projects: The Blue to the Bone Band, The Shades Project (w/ Lenny White), and his latest group Trio Mundo featuring Manolo Badrena on percussion and vocals and Andy McKee on bass. Dave has been a resident artist at the Litchfield Jazz Camp since 2000.  www.davestryker.com

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*Teaching Artists Subject to Change