Faculty

Mark Beaubriand – Academic Advisor and Saxophone
A graduate of the University of Miami with a Master’s degree in Jazz Pedagogy, Mark Beaubriand is currently the Chair of the Music Department and Director of Band and Jazz Band at Saratoga Springs High School. Under his direction, the Saratoga Springs High School Jazz Ensemble has won many NY State and national awards and has commissioned works by Frank Mantooth, Jeff Jarvis, and Jim Snidero. Beaubriand is a frequent performer in the northeast and has appeared with Manhattan Transfer, New York Voices, Johnny Mathis, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Rosemary Clooney, Liberace, and Bobby Vinton.

Todd Coolman – Bass and Combo Leader
A Grammy award winner who teamed with Joe Henderson on the CD Lexicon, Coolman has performed and recorded with a who’s who of jazz artists: Horace Silver, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Renee Rosnes, Benny Golson, Art Farmer, Tommy Flanagan, Lionel Hampton, Benny Goodman, James Moody, Ahmad Jamal, and Slide Hampton. As Director of Jazz Studies at SUNY Purchase, with a Ph.D. in music from New York University, Coolman works worldwide as a clinician and lecturer. He is a recipient of the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Recent recordings include Our Delight with Hank Jones and James Moody and Perfect Strangers, an ArtistShare project. 

Bill Cunliffe – Piano and Combo Leader
Winner of DownBeat and Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano awards, Cunliffe has performed with jazz greats such as Buddy Rich, Ray Brown, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, and Art Farmer. The Grammy-nominated composer’s arrangements have been performed by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Illinois Philharmonic, and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. He received his master‘s degree from the Eastman School of Music, and tours frequently with his own trio and flutist Holly Hofmann. Recent releases include Transformation with James Walker and the All Saints Choir and The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Take Two. 

Curtis Fuller – Trombone and Combo Leader
A legendary jazz artist, Fuller began his career in the early 1950s in a Cannonball Adderley-led army band, as a Bud Powell sideman, and a contributor to John Coltrane’s classic “Blue Train.” He then joined the Art Farmer-Benny Golson Jazztet; spent five years with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, one of the most exciting and distinctive bands in the history of hard bop; and launched a freelance career that has included touring with Dizzy Gillespie. Fuller has worked with many jazz greats, including Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and of course Bud Powell. In 2007 the National Endowment for the Arts designated Fuller a Jazz Master.

Bob Halek – Drums
Educated at the Crane School of Music, drummer Bob Halek has performed and recorded with a variety of artists including Nick Brignola, JR Montross, Cole Broderick and Colleen Pratt.  Adept at playing a range of styles including R&B, Pop, and Latin in both big band and small ensembles, Halek’s credits include performances with Slide Hampton, Byron Stripling, Rufus Reid, Jimmy Health, Wycliffe Gordon and Randy Brecker among others.  A member of the Empire State Jazz Orchestra, Halek is also a respected clinician across the northeast.

John LaBarbera – Trumpet, Composition and Combo Leader
A respected composer and arranger whose works have been recorded and performed by the bands of Woody Herman, Count Basie, and Dizzy Gillespie, LaBarbera got his start in the late 1960s as a trumpeter in the Buddy Rich Orchestra. Later, as co-producer and arranger of Christmas recordings for the Glenn Miller Orchestra, he helped land Gold and Platinum records. LaBarbera is co-founder of the internationally acclaimed, all-women big band DIVA. A two-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts’ jazz composition award, he is a former editor of the International Trumpt Guild, and is currently a professor at the University of Louisville.

Pat LaBarbera – Saxophone and Combo Leader
One of the finest sax soloists carrying on in the Coltrane improvisational style, LaBarbera established himself as tenor soloist with the bands of Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, and Woody Herman, and had a long association with Elvin Jones. Boasting more than 20 albums and many TV and radio show appearances, LaBarbera received a Juno award for his CD Deep in a Dream. The Humber College instructor maintains an active performing schedule and is in demand as a clinician and lecturer.

Dennis Mackrel – Drums
Perhaps best known as the drummer hand-picked by Mel Lewis to take over the drum chair in the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Mackrel got his start playing in the Count Basie Orchestra. Since that time he has played with an impressive list of ensembles including the Carla Bley Very Large Band, Slide Hampton and the Jazz Masters, the Hank Jones Trio, Manhattan Symphony Jazz Orchestra, Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, and the American Jazz Orchestra. His compositions have been recorded and performed internationally, most notably by the McCoy Tyner Band, whose Grammy-award winning CD’s The Turning Point and Journey included Mackrel’s arrangements.

Donald McCormack – Director
As Dean of Special Programs at Skidmore College, Don McCormack founded the Skidmore Jazz Institute in 1987. Under McCormack’s 20-year tenure as Dean, the College offered nationally recognized programs in the arts, among them the NYS Summer Writers Institute, Skidmore Summer Dance Workshop, Skidmore Summer Flute Institute, SITI Company Summer Theater Workshop and the Summer SIX Art Program. A long-time advocate for arts education, McCormack has been the inspiration and the impetus for creating artistic residencies and scholarship funds that serve disadvantaged students. Currently he serves on the Board of Directors at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Hal Miller – Jazz History
Having collected in excess of 14,000 jazz videos, Miller contributes frequently to TV documentaries and special programs. His “Jazz Heritage” series was shown on Black Entertainment Television, and he collaborated with Ken Burns on the PBS documentary, “Jazz: A History of America’s Music.” Miller is Director of Programming for Jazz Video Networks and Associate Producer for Jazz Icons, providing rare jazz video materials to colleges and universities. He frequently tours with the Carlos Santana Band and is collaborating with Santana to write his autobiography. Miller is also a writing and research consultant for jazz history and CD liner-note projects.

Bobby Shew – Trumpet and Combo Leader
Grammy nominee Bobby Shew got an early start to his professional career playing in high school and spending three years in the famed NORAD multi-service band. He then joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra and went on to play with Charlie Shavers, Della Reese, Buddy Rich, Art Pepper, Bud Shank, Horace Silver, Louie Bellson and Benny Goodman among others. His studio credits for tv include Hawaii 5-0, Streets of San Francisco, Bob Newhart, Happy Days, and Mary Tyler Moore and he has performed on the soundtracks for Grease I and II, Rocky I and II, and Taxi. In addition to being a busy clinician and private teacher, he is a successful recording artist in his own right. Shew is active on the board of Directors of the International Trumpet Guild and has served as Trumpet Chairman of the International Association of Jazz Educators for the last 16 years.

Gerald Zaffuts – Combo Leader
Gerald Zaffuts was the Director of the Skidmore Jazz Institute from 1987-2007. A graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, he has taught at Bennington College and Skidmore College. Zaffuts was principle trombone with the Colorado Fusion Orchestra under the direction of Pat Williams and has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, The Bach Choir of London, and at the Newport and Kool Jazz Festivals. He is a regular member of the New Columbian Brass Band and The New Walnut Street All-Star Orchestra, and as a free-lance musician has performed with a wide variety of recording artists and entertainers.

Past Faculty Members:

Buddy Baker Clayton Cameron Ryan Cohan Vince DiMartino Jack Fragomeni Don Friedman Billy Hart Milt Hinton Dick Katz Steve LaSpina Frank Mantooth

Don Menza Eijiro Nakagawa Dick Oatts Jim Pugh Renee Rosnes Rob Schneiderman Ed Shaughnessy Bob Sheppard Terell Stafford Al Vizzutti

2010 Guest Artists: (Coming Soon)

 

Past Guest Artists at the Institute have included:

Geri Allen Jonathan Batiste Terence Blanchard Randy Brecker Nick Brignola Ray Brown Joey Calderazzo Joe Chambers Bill Charlap Gerald Clayton Jimmy Cobb DIVA Lou Donaldson Kurt Elling Robin Eubanks Jon Faddis Maynard Ferguson Robert Glasper Benny Golson Eddie Gomez Jerry Gonzalez and the Ft. Apache Band Wycliffe Gordon Benny Green Slide Hampton Barry Harris Stefon Harris Joe LaBarbera Joe Lovano

Russell Malone Pat Martino Christian McBride Jackie McLean James Moody Jason Moran Ralph Moore Arturo O’Farrill Aaron Parks Nicholas Payton Marcus Printup Don Pullen Rufus Reid Wallace Roney Renee Rosnes Gonzalo Rubalcaba Hilton Ruiz Christian Scott Mark Shim Arthur Taylor Jacky Terrasson Clark Terry Nestor Torres Chucho Valdes Dave Valentin Village Vanguard Orchestra Bobby Watson