Carl Maguire, Oscar Noriega, Dan Weiss, Stephanie Griffen, John Hebert
Carl Maguire grew up in Madison, Wisconsin where his early piano teachers included Jacquelyn Patricia, Ellsworth Snyder, and Joan Wildman. He continued on to the University of Wisconsin, studying improvisation with Roscoe Mitchell. Moving to New York in 1995, Carl engaged in a curriculum of liberal arts at Hunter College, Schenkerian analysis at Mannes, and post-tonal theory at CUNY Graduate Center. He studied piano with Fred Hersch, Marilyn Crispell, and Ursula Oppens, and of particular importance, composition with Mark Dresser. Carl performs on piano and Rhodes, with both traditional and less-traditional technique. He has performed or recorded with the Carter Thornton Assembly; Brett Sroka’s Ergo; Tyshawn Sorey Quartet; The Wau Wau Sisters; Laura Andel Orchestra; Barbez; Ben Gerstein Collective; Momenta Quartet; and was a featured soloist in Butch Morris’ New York Skyscraper.
Since 2001, Carl has led Floriculture. The band’s release on Between The Lines has been short-listed by several reviewers and hailed by Glenn Astarita as “one of the true modern jazz surprises of 2006.”
An Arizona native of Mexican origin, Oscar Noriega’s first professional experience was peforming in Hermanos Jovel, a Ranechera group with his four brothers. After studying alto saxophone and bass clarinet at the University of Arizona and Arizona State, Oscar moved to Los Angeles, and then to Boston in 1990, where he played with the Duke Ellington Repetory Orchestra (conducted by Gunther Schuller), the Either/Orchestra, and the Jazz Composers Alliance. Oscar has lived in Brooklyn since 1992, where he has worked with artists like Lee Konitz, One Ring Zero, Slavic Soul Party, Jeff Parker, and Satoko Fuli among many others. He released the critically acclaimed Luciano’s Dream on Omnitone Records in 2000. He also plays the drums and enjoys hosting, barbecuing and fine wine.
Dan Weiss started playing drums at the age of 6. He attended Manhattan School of Music studying drums and composition. He has played with Lee Konitz, Kenny Werner, Village Vanguard Orchestra, Dave Binney, Ravi Coltrane, Wayne Krantz. He is a member of diverse ensembles around New York and has been touring the United States and Europe for the past 5 years regularly. He has been studying tabla for the past 5 years under the careful guidance of Pandit Samir Chatterjee. He has accompanied Ramesh Misra, Mandira Lahiri , Mitali Bhoumik, and Steve Gorn.
Canadian violist Stephanie Griffin has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, and as a champion of Indonesian composer Tony Prabowo. She has worked closely with numerous other composers both as a soloist and with some of New York’s premiere new music ensembles, including Continuum, Parnassus and the Argento Chamber Ensemble. With Argento she played Tristan Murail’s seminal chamber work “Ethers” and Michael Lévinas’ “Les lettres enlacées” for solo viola under the auspices of the International Festival of Spectral Music. Argento also featured her as a soloist in their performance of the first half of Gérard Grisey’s monumental cycle “Les espaces acoustiques.” Her quartet, Momenta, is in residency at Temple University. Stephanie has recorded for Siam Records, Aeon, Koch International, Arte Nova and Harmolodic. She holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Samuel Rhodes.
John Hebert moved to New York City from New Orleans in 1994, where he has become a highly in demand jazz bassist. He has worked with world class musicians Paul Bley, Lee Konitz, Blue Note recording artist Andrew Hill, ECM recording artist Kenny Wheeler, Dave Liebman, Grammy Winner Maria Schneider, Nasheet Waits, Grammy nominated Fred Hersch, John Abercrombie, Billy Hart, Blue Note recording artist Greg Osby, Tim Berne, Mat Maneri, Tony Malaby, Ralph Alessi, Ben Monder and many others. John continues to tour extensively in the USA, Europe and Canada performing in major jazz festivals and venues.
