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The Musical Legends Performers
Karen Lopes-Ector
KAREN LOPES-ECTOR, storyteller, vocalist, actress and educator, is part Blackfoot Indian with a heritage that includes African-American and Brazilian roots.
Ms. Ector's credits include performances at The Edinburgh Theatre in Scotland as well as performances throughout Europe and the U.S. Karen is an Orff certified teacher who is also an artist-in residence in the NYC public school system, as well traveling throughout the United States as a children's theatre performance artist. She has performed with the Universal Language Ensemble, NJ PAC and Arts Horizons teaching arts programs, as well as Wolf Trapp and Arts Genesis for students with special needs.
A diversified artist with many talents, Karens hold a BA in Dance and, as a jazz vocalist, has opened for such luminaries as Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton and Cab Calloway.
Allen Farnham
Born in Boston, pianist ALLEN FARNHAM attended the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio with degrees in Classical Piano and Jazz Studies.
In 1983, Farnham moved to New York City, working in area jazz spots, as well as teaching, composing and arranging. In 1988, he joined the staff of the California based independent jazz record label, Concord Records, as a producer and director of Radio Promotion.
In 1989, Farnham received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, which funded the recording of his first album, "Fifth House" and continues to record extensively for Concord both as a sideman and leader. His most recent album, "Allen Farnham Meets the RIAS Big Band" (Concord 4789) features Farnham's original compositions and arrangements for 17 piece big band performed by the renowned Berlin Radio RIAS Big Band.
Farnham's performance credits include working with noted vocalists such as Susannah McCorkle and Mel Torme. He presently continues to freelance in New York City, including on Broadway with the Lion King, as well as touring internationally as a solo artist or member of drummer Jae Sinnett's trio.
Bill Moring
A veteran of the New York City jazz scene for almost 20 years, bassist BILL MORING has established a reputation as one of the city's most in demand players anchoring the big bands of legends Count Basie and Woody Herman, as well as Dizzy Gillespie and Slide Hampton.
He attended Indiana State University and, after moving to New York City immediately began working with drummer Mel Lewis. He joined the Woody Herman's Thundering Herd and the Count Basie Orchestra and spent a year touring the world, performing at the Hollywood Bowl, the North Sea and Pori jazz festivals among other venues. Other big band experiences include the Village Vanguard Orchestra and the Toshiko Akiyoshi/Lew Tabakin Jazz Orchestra.
He has played with renowned singers such as Joe Williams, Mel Torme, Maxine Sullivan, and Susannah McCorkle and jazz legends such as Frank Foster, Tommy Flanagan, Mel Lewis, and Ray Barretto. Throughout his career Bill has been involved with the education of younger students and has given many clinics at various high school and college jazz festivals. In addition, he was on the faculty at Long Island University, teaching group ensembles and private lessons. He also has taught at Rutgers University, The New School, and Jersey City University.
Vincent B. Ector
VINCENT B. ECTOR, percussionist and educator, hails from the musical city of Philadelphia where he attended the University of Pennsylvania.
He was trained in music beginning at age nine through GAMP, a music magnet school in Philadelphia and Temple University while still a junior high school student. He then began studying privately, as well as performing for six years as a percussionist with the United States Army Band.
As a performer, Vince has worked with such jazz luminaries as Freddie Hubbard, Gloria Lynne, Charles Earland, Ted Curson, George Cables, and Grover Washington Jr. to name a few. He is featured on over 40 International musical recordings and performs regularly at jazz festivals around the world. He has also performed on numerous network television programs in the U.S. and abroad, including appearing as a musician on ABC television's "One Life to Live" daytime soap opera.
Mr. Ector is a sought after teaching artist in the NYC, NJ and Connecticut public school system providing workshops, performances and professional development, which includes populations with special needs. He has been featured as a Clinician at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Rutgers University and Lincoln University. He is also a sought after Artist-in-Residence for other organizations such as; The Manhattan New Music Project and Arts Horizons Inc. of Englewood, New Jersey.
Most recently, Mr. Ector was a featured teaching artist in the 2001 Harcourt/Brace Media Literacy Video Series, which will be distributed nationally. Always striving, always learning, he currently attends William Paterson University for music performance.
Tim Horner
For over 21 years TIM HORNER has offered his experience, knowledge and skills as one of New York's most in demand jazz drummers.
Through these years he has traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, North and South America with some of the world's greatest jazz talents, playing concerts, clubs, and recordings. Growing up with a musical family in Roanoke Va., he started singing in the church choir at a very early age and by the 4th grade he began playing violin, viola, and drums in his public school music programs. He continued playing in The Roanoke Civic Orchestra upon entering Berklee College of Music in 1974.
He has worked and recorded with some of the worlds leading talent in the jazz industry, starting with The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and continuing with a list of names that span from Joe Williams and Hank Jones to contemporaries such as The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, vibraphonist Joe Locke and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.
He is currently on faculty at Jersey City Sate University.
Nitza Danieli Horner
The Award Winning NITZA DANIELI HORNER is currently a teaching artist, tour guide and educator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art where she won an award for programming excellence, the 92nd Street Y, and Robert Woods Johnson University Hospital.
She studied at the Art Teachers College in Ramat Hasharon, Israel, and has traveled extensively in Australia and England. She teaches art in schools, shelters, hospitals, and many other nonprofit organizations. Nitza worked with Palestinians and Israelis in a collaboration with author Robert Wolf to create the book Violence in the Holy Land (Free River Press, 2004) in which her work “10/14/1973” was published.
As a sculptor, she works in stone, concrete, plaster, and clay. Artistic awards include taking first place at the juried art show “SummerFest” in New Jersey.
She has been commissioned to create a sculpture installation through the Puffin Foundation in their Outdoor Sculpture Garden in Teaneck, NJ and currently lives in Teaneck with her husband, Tim, a jazz musician, and her son, Ty.
Melvin Dean
MELVIN DEAN, Steel Pan Drummer, Vocals, and Small Percussion, has performed at numerous venues from private parties to world festivals including The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Carnegie Hall, Regis & Kathie Lee Live, 1993-94 NFL Super Bowl Party in Atlanta Georgia, the American Black Festival in Monreale, Sicily, and the Ed Sullivan Show.
He formally studied music playing the clarinet throughout Junior and Senior High School and studied at the Jazz Mobile Workshops in Harlem. Melvin began playing the Steel Pan in 1962 at the St. Nicholas Community Center in Harlem and at Minisink Center. He eventually became an instructor and taught pan drumming for over 10 years to many of the kids throughout community.
Melvin attended Bernard M. Baruch College.
Veona Thomas
VEONA THOMAS is a Playwright, Director and Storyteller. She is the Artistic Director of REJOTI Productions, in Teaneck, New Jersey and has directed three productions each season as well as a theatre festival of 4 to 6 short
works for the past twenty years. She has written more than 30 plays, including the hit play Nzinga's Children which has been produced up and down the East Coast and California. She recently joined with playwright Martha Thomas (no relation) to form TWICE Thomas Productions, who produced an Off Broadway production of The Diva and the Rapper this past summer, a play written to help bridge the gap between the youth and their elders. H.A.D.L.E.Y. Players has also produced Veona's play Heaven Sent, which garnered an AUDELCO nomination.
Ms. Thomas is the winner of the Puffin Award, the Grandmother Winifred Award and many others. As a professional storyteller, she writes for, directs, and instructs children and young adults. She has told stories at schools, libraries, after school and senior citizen facilities throughout New York and New Jersey. She enhances her performances and workshops with hand puppets, pictures, artwork, musical instruments and songs.
Gloria Boucher
GLORIA BOUCHER is a professional actor/director and has taught acting for 25 years, with several students on Broadway. She currently teaches at Dance Education Unlimited, in Tenafly, NJ, and previously at Dance Plusin New
Jersey, the Weist Barron Television School in NYC, the Screen Actors Guild Conservatory, and Stagedoor Manor.
As a director, Gloria's work includes Off-Broadway, The Theater at Monmouth, and The Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. Acting includes leading roles Off-Broadway and in regional theaters, and movies and soap operas.
She is a graduate of AMDA, and attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and Western Michigan University.
James Rana
JAMES RANA is a member of the next generation of physical performers, known as NEW VAUDEVILLIANS. He has toured the U.S. and Europe as a clown, Mime, magician, juggler, stilt-walker, fire-eater, and story-teller and has
performed in numerous theatres throughout the country in many plays and Vaudeville shows. He has also performed in hundreds of festivals, parades, schools, and private functions.
Stage credits in the U.S. and abroad include numerous productions in the works of Shakespeare, W.B. Yeats,Bertolt Brecht as well as many new plays at: Worth Street Theatre, Classical Theater of Harlem, Circle East, Rasa Theater, Princeton Repertory Co.,Coney Island U.S.A., Shakespeare & Company, Luna Stage, Playwrights Theater of NJ, 12 Miles West, National Audio Theater Festival, Globe Neuss, Biennale Bonn (Germany).
His film and television credits include: THE WAR WITHIN, THE ASSASSIN, the comedy short AKHMED, "LAW & ORDER:SVU," "THIRD WATCH," and several appearances on "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN."
He is an adjunct professor of theater at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he has directed productions of: A CHRISTMAS CAROL, MURDER ON THE NILE, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, CHASING RAINBOWS, and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS: THE RADIO PLAY.
Belden Bullock
BELDEN BULLOCK is an accomplished acoustic/electric bassist who hails from his hometown of Boston, Massachusetts where he has played and recorded with many of the top acts in the area.
He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, and spent several years teaching at Berklee after graduation as an ensemble professor.
Since moving to New York in 1988, Mr. Bullock has become a regular fixture at most of the top clubs throughout the tri-state area. In the early 1990's, he played exclusive engagements with such jazz greats as pianist Ahmad Jamal, pianist Andrew Hill, saxophonist James Spaulding, and the late tenor saxophonist George Adams.
Belden currently plays regularly with such artists as Enja recording artist Abdullah Ibrahim, Evidence recording artist the Ralph Peterson Fo'tet, Black Saint recording artist The Oliver Lake Quintet, and Muse recording artist The Jay Hoggard group.
During his career, he has performed with the following prominent jazz artists: drummer Roy Haynes, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, vocalist Gloria Lynn, and trumpeter Ted Curson.
Mr. Bullock continues to perform with many of the top musicians in the New York City area. |
