AJV Officers
Kevin Bayen has been the Director of Music in the Hewlett-Woodmere Public School on Long Island, New York since 1989. In addition Mr. Bayen taught for 10 years as an Elementary, Middle School and High School Band Director. As the Director of the Hewlett HS Jazz Ensemble and Wind Ensemble Mr. Bayen's groups consistently received the top performance ratings at local and regional festivals. Kevin also conducted the Nassau Community College Band from 1990 -1994.
A past President of the Nassau Music Educators Association as well as the Nassau County Chapter of the New York State Council of Administrators of Music Education, Mr. Bayen also served on the Executive Council of NYSSMA from 1997-2003. Currently Mr. Bayen is the co-director of professional development workshops for the Nassau County chapter of NYSCAME.
Former trumpeter and currently senior counsel in the intellectual property law practice in the law firm of Sills Cummis & Gross P.C. in New York City. He has doctorate degrees in both chemistry and law and teaches patent law as an adjunct professor at St.John's University Law School in Jamaica . His full credentials can be found on his law firm's website at www.sillscummis.com.
EdBride@aol.com
Promoter, publicist;
Founder and Chairman, Pittsfield City Jazz Festival; Board Member, New England
Jazz Alliance; Board Member, New England Jazz Ensemble. (Past Chairman of the
Villanova Intercollegiate Jazz Festival).
Uzzo has worked with every major music recording label and for untold numbers of major label recording artists. He has mixed albums and singles at major recording studios worldwide, and has been awarded over 40 RIAA gold or platinum sales awards. (See Selected Discography) His clientele is diverse, including pop, hip-hop, dance, compas, salsa, jazz, rock and legitimate classical musical styles. Tommy Uzzo is most widely known for his mixing capabilities, as well as his ability to faithfully capture a live acoustic musical event. He also does some audio post (sound for picture) work.
Tommy Uzzo has been owner or part owner of many recording studios in Manhattan or on Long Island. You can see pictures of some of them here online in my Picture Gallery.
Tommy Uzzo is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music, and has a continuing education certificate from New York University in computer programming. He has interned at the Carnegie Hall Recording Department, and taught audio engineering at the Institute of Audio Research.
More details about Tommy Uzzo can be found on his web site "www.tommyuzzo.com".
AJV Board of Directors
Assistant
dean & chair of the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Department.
Conductor of
the International High School Grammy Jazz Ensemble.
Eli Yamin is a jazz and blues pianist, producer and educator. He co-founded The Jazz Drama Program, which creates, records and licenses original jazz musicals for children to perform for children. He is head of instruction at the Middle School Jazz Academy and training specialist at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Eli has completed three world tours as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State and has performed and taught at the Obama White House. His most recent recordings are You Can’t Buy Swing with his jazz quartet and Nora’s Ark, the jazz musical with his jazz quintet and the Grammy award winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Eli is constantly blown away by the power of jazz and blues music to uplift, inspire and unite people of all ages and backgrounds.
Rich DeRosa has arranged and conducted
music for Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra to feature
Toots Thielemans, Annie Ross, and Abbey Lincoln among other notable artists.
His arrangements for the Wynton Marsalis quintet feature Willie Nelson and
Norah Jones on the Blue Note record label. Other commissioned arrangements have
been performed by the New York Pops, the Cleveland and Houston Orchestras,
Portland Symphony (Maine), the Swedish Radio and Television Orchestra, and the
Metropole Orchestra in Holland. He has created arrangements for rising trumpet
star Dominick Farinacci on his CD Lovers, Tales, and Dances and acclaimed solo
violinist Anne Akiko Meyers on her CD Seasons…Dreams. Earlier endeavors include
many recorded arrangements for vocalist Susannah McCorkle (Concord Records) and
for the Mel Lewis (Atlantic Records), Gerry Mulligan (DRG) and Glenn Miller
bands (Heiss).
He currently holds a
tenured position as the director of jazz composition and arranging at the
University of North Texas. Former faculty positions include William Paterson
University, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School.
An award-winning
jazz vocalist, and founding member of THE
MANHATTAN TRANSFER, the original
jazz vocal group, Erin Dickins continues to enchant audiences throughout the
world. She has performed and recorded
with Leonard Cohen, Bette Midler, James Taylor, The Talking Heads, James Brown,
Barry Manilow, Jaco Pastorius and Ashford & Simpson, to name but a few.
Dickins comes from an artistic family. Her
mother, who traded photo-portraits to a local opera singer in return for
singing lessons for nine-year-old Erin, was formerly a dancer with the
Rockettes in New York. Erin’s father was
a passionate amateur jazz pianist who taught Erin to sing and play, sharing
with her his deep love of music.
Ms.
Dickins has studied voice with David Soren Collier, music with Helen Jordan and
acting at the HB Studio in New York City. At present, she continues voice and
musicianship studies with the esteemed Nancy Marano. Dickins is currently in
pre-production for the follow-up to Nice
Girls with Frederick.
Ms. Dickins continues to devote her time
working with children as a member of the board of directors at American Jazz
Venues in New York, and at SummerFame,
a performing arts summer program she founded in 2000, along with other
charitable efforts.
In Memoriam
American Jazz Venues celebrates the life of our founding president Clem DeRosa, who passed away on Dec. 20, 2011.
Clem DeRosa's career as a musician spans forty years with Ben Webster,
Mingus, Coleman Hawkins and Clark Terry, as band leader of the Glenn
Miller Orchestra, Co-Founder and past President of the International
Association of Jazz Educators and member of the "Jazz Hall of Fame".
Read Clem DeRosa's Obituary
Songwriter, music producer, and owner of Rod
McBrien
Productions. He
creates music for commercials, national tributes, special
events, and feature films. Recipient of
four Clio Awards and two-time winner of the American Song
Festival.
In Memoriam read
more
here
HMadbak@BakerLaw.com
Technical
advisor & producer of AJV video & audio programs 
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