Mike Orta

Piano

Michael was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He began studying piano at the age of seven. His greatest jazz influences have been Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock.

Michael was given a full arts scholarship to study at Miami Dade Community College-South Campus (MDCC-S) from 1984-86. While at MDCC-S, Michael performed in the Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of John Georgini, and recorded on their album, "Top Secret." In 1986, he performed with this ensemble at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland, as well as a 5-week tour of Africa with the MDCC-S Jazz Sextet. Michael graduated in 1986 with an Associate of Arts degree.

From there Michael went on to study, under full scholarship, at the University of Miami. While there, he studied with well-known jazz pianist and educator, Vince Maggio. Michael performed in UM's prestigious Concert Jazz Band (CJB) under the direction of Whit Sidener. He played on the band's CD entitled Pandamandium as well as performing on the CJB's one month Italian Tour. Michael received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Jazz performance from UM in 1989 and his Master's degree in 1992.

Michael has been very active on the jazz scene. He recorded two albums with his jazz/fusion group, "The Wave," on the Atlantic Jazz record label. This outfit also displayed his compositional abilities.

In 1991, Michael toured as pianist for the Arturo Sandoval group as well as recording on Sandoval's American debut album on GRP, "Flight To Freedom." With this group Michael toured throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. In 1993, Michael was chosen as one of five finalist in the prestigious Great American Jazz Piano Competition. He was selected out of a field of one hundred entrants from around the world. In 1994, Michael spent the year touring and recording with the Paquito D'Rivera group. He played concerts and clubs in Trinidad, Curaçao, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Paris, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Greece, Holland, and Slovenia. Michael has performed and/or recorded with some of the major names in jazz: Randy Brecker, Dave Weckl, Eddie Daniels, Vince Maggio, James Moody, Ira Sullivan, Gary Campbell, Toots Thielmans, Ignacio Berroa, Rene Toledo, Bobby Thomas, Jr., Nestor Torres, Ed Calle, Larry Coryell, and the list goes on.

Michael has also been an active clinician, sharing his musical knowledge and philosophies with music students in the U.S., Europe, Africa, and throughout South America.

Mike is Director of Jazz Performance at Florida International University teaching jazz piano, jazz improvisation, and directing both jazz and latin jazz ensembles. Michael has released his debut album, FREEDOM TOWER on the Fantasy/Contemporary label. This CD features Paquito D'Rivera, Nicky Orta, Gary Campbell and others. His book, "Jazz Piano Etudes," will be out in August, 2003, on Warner Brothers Publications.

Sam Lussier

Trumpet

Director of Jazz Bands

Composer, orchestrator, jazz arranger, trumpet and piano player, Sam Lussier is presently Director of Jazz Ensembles at Florida International University (FIU), where he also teaches Jazz Brass, Jazz Arranging, Evolution of Jazz, and Jazz Rehearsal Techniques. He also taught courses in Music Education, Music Appreciation, and Scoring for Bands.

Sam was a full scholarship recipient and graduate assistant at the University of Miami (UM) where he obtained his Master of Music degree in Studio Jazz Writing (1994).

Sam composed and arranged music for a variety of ensembles including Concert Bands,
Big Bands, Studio Orchestras, Vocal Groups, and Combos. His music was performed nationally and internationally by the Airmen of Note, the UM Concert Jazz Band, the FIU Jazz Band, and the New World School of the Arts Jazz Band at prestigious events such as the Mid-West Band Conference in Chicago and the International Association for Jazz Education conventions throughout the United States.

His Salute to Sinatra Overture – a 20-minute showcase for Big Band – was the grand finale to the 1989 Ottawa International Jazz Festival in Ottawa, Canada. After three years as staff arranger, trumpet soloist, and replacement pianist for the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) Regimental Band, he accepted a position as arranger for the Calgary Stampede Grandstand Show where over 200,000 people yearly, from 1993 to 1995, could hear his music.

Many outstanding musicians such Arturo Sandoval, Duffy Jackson, Steve Houghton, the Woody Herman Orchestra, Lisanne Lyons, Michael Gerber, Rachel Lebon, Ignacio Berroa, Gary Campbell, Mike Orta, the Florida State IAJE Faculty Big Band, and other jazz artists have performed Sam’s jazz arrangements. Recently, Duffy Jackson featured his arrangement of Topsy on the video Legends of Jazz Drumming.

Recent recordings of Sam’s works include the FIU CD’s Jazz, Hot & Cool and Jazz 2Hot & 2Cool, Rachel Lebon, Duffy Jackson Big Band, and the University of North Florida Jazz Ensemble. Recent commissions include Paul Green, the June Taylor Dance Company, and the New World School of the Arts’ Dance Connection.

As a trumpet player, Sam has performed with numerous artists including Michael Brecker, Joe Henderson, Slide Hampton, Red Rodney, Ira Sullivan, Bill Watrous, Paquito D’Rivera, Clark Terry, Louis Bellson, Don Menza, Phil Woods, Jim McNeely, John Fedchock, David Sanborn, and many others. He also performed with the Florida Philharmonic and the Florida Grand Opera.

Gary Campbell

Saxophone

Associate Professor & Director of Jazz Studies

A Fulbright Scholar, Gary is becoming one of this country's most sought after jazz educators. He taught for 12 years at the University of Miami (earning a Master of Music in Jazz Performance while teaching there), is Associate Professor of Jazz Performance/Saxophone at Florida International University, and for many years has been a performer/clinician at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops.

Gary has been awarded numerous National Endowment for the Arts performance grants and has published five highly acclaimed books on jazz improvisation:

* PATTERNS FOR JAZZ (co-authored with Jerry Coker);
* EXPANSIONS - a method for developing new material for improvisation;
* HANK MOBLEY TRANSCRIBED SOLOS
* CONNECTING JAZZ THEORY
* TRIAD PAIRS FOR JAZZ  

His compositions have been recorded by John Scofield, Ira Sullivan, Jeff Palmer, Duffy Jackson, Mike Orta, and the University of Miami Concert Jazz Band.

His exciting CD, INTERSECTION (Milestone Records), provocatively blends the currents of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music into the mainstream of modern jazz. His most recent CD release, THICK & THIN (Double-Time Records), features guitar great John Abercrombie.

Gary Campbell plays and endorses Yanagisawa Saxophones exclusively, and is a LeBlanc Clinician.

Professor Campbell's personal website is <http://www.garycampbelljazz.com>

Errol Rackipov

Vibes

Jazz vibraphonist, marimbist, and composer Errol Rackipov holds a Bachelor's degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA and a Master's degree from the University of Miami. Along with his band "Dream Hunter" Errol Rackipov has performed with Terence Blanchard, Bob Moses, Othello Molinaux, Herb Pomeroy and Kenny Werner.

He has recorded with Mike Orta in "Tower of Freedom" (with Paquito De Rivera and Gary Campbell) and Juan Pablo Torres in "Pepper Trombone" (with Paquito D'Rivera and Arturo Sandoval).

In 1996 his tune "Pictures from a train window" from the same title album won the "Jazziz" magazine "Percussionist on fire" competition.

Errol Rackipov's numerous pieces, arrangements and transcriptions are published by Rolly Publications, Inc.

Currently Errol Rackipov teaches Jazz Vibraphone and Mallet instruments at University of Miami and Jazz Improvisation courses at Florida International University.

Nicky Orta

Bass

Nicky was born in Las Vegas, Nevada.  After picking up the bass at age 13, he began to study with renowned teacher Vince Bredice. In 1984, Nicky was offered a full scholarship to study at Miami Dade Community College South. As part of the MDCC Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of John Georgini, Nicky performed at the Montreux, North Sea, and Umbria Jazz Festivals. In 1986, the University of Miami School of Music also offered him a full scholarship and the bass chair in UM’s prestigious Concert Jazz Band (CJB) under the direction of Whit Sidener.

In the late 80s, Nicky recorded two CD’s with his jazz/fusion group, The Wave, on the Atlantic Jazz label. The group's second CD, Second Wave, featured two of Nicky’s original compositions.

When noted jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval arrived in Miami in 1990, he recruited Nicky for a world tour with his group and to perform on his GRP debut album, Flight to Freedom.

Nicky has appeared on over a dozen recordings and has toured/recorded with some of the top names in jazz, such as Randy Brecker, Paquito D’Rivera, James Moody, Dave Weckl, and Othello Molineaux.  In the Latin/Pop genre, Nicky has recorded with Julio Iglesias, Alejandro Fernandez, Carlos Ponce, Rosco Martinez, Gloria Estefan, Simone, and Israel "Cachao" Lopez among others, and has been touring with Julio Iglesias since 1995.

As a very active participant in the field of jazz education, Nicky has given clinics in Africa, Brazil, Costa Rica, and the U.S.  He also co-organized three Jazz Bass Conferences held in Miami , FL (1992-94) which featured John Patitucci, Jimmy Haslip, Louis Johnson, Victor Wooten, Eddie Gomez, Jim Roberts and other influential bassists and educators. Nicky was interviewed by Bass Player magazine (Bull Ring Bass with Julio Iglesias.  Bass Notes.  July 1996).  He also appeared in Jazz Player magazine (Nov/Dec 1994) and BDGuide (Latin Jazz -- It's Not What You May Think.  Nov/Dec 1993), for which he was a contributing author.

Nicky currently teaches Jazz Electric Bass & Jazz Improvisation.

Arturo Sandoval

Trumpet, Artist in Residence

The arrival of celebrated trumpet player, Arturo Sandoval, has been joyfully applauded throughout the jazz and classical music communities. A protege of the legendary jazz master, Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba. Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of twelve, but it didn't take him long to get caught up in the excitement of the jazz world. He has since evolved into one of the world's most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugelhorn, as well as a renowned classical artist.

Sandoval, a founding member of the Grammy-winning group, Irakere, has performed with the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music. He was presented as a guest artist with the BBC Symphony in London and the Leningrad Symphony in Russia. Since his defection to the United States, Sandoval has increased his classical performances world-wide, including performances with the National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toledo Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Oklahoma Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony, among others. Arturo is one of the most acclaimed jazz trumpet players in the word. In 1995 Arturo won a Grammy for his recording Danzon. Arturo Sandoval is Professor of Trumpet and Artist in Residence within the School of Music at Florida International University. He has performed and offered workshops at the Conservatoire de Paris, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the Soviet Union, the U.C. Santa Barbara, University of Miami, University of Wisconsin, Perdue University, and at many other institutions in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Professor Sandoval maintains one of the most extensive educational programs in the industry with approximately fifty performances and clinics offered every year. In 1995 Hal Leonard Publishing released three new method books with recordings that include Arban and original exercises by Sandoval.