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Terry Plumeri

Terry Plumeri's innovative style of bowing jazz solos on the acoustic bass has garnered comments like "Stunning... a very high level of music..." from the Washington Post. "Terry Plumeri's bowed bass work is endlessly compelling" from All About Jazz. "Extraordinary bowing facility" from Jazz Improv Magazine.

In speaking about his latest jazz release Blue In Green, Jazz Improv Magazine has said “The performances and solo improvisations on the parts of Terry Plumeri on bass, David Goldblatt on piano and Joe La Barbera on drums are outstanding. Blue In Green is an album bubbling with creativity, interactivity, magnificent improvisations, and the combined experience, sensitivity, and desire of three consummate musicians performing eight essential pieces from the jazz and standard repertoire. Go and listen.”

Terry Plumeri has just completed recording the 4th, 5th and 6th symphonies of Tchaikovsky as conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic for a summer 2007 release on the GMMC Records CD label. In the past, Terry's recordings with the Moscow Philharmonic of his original compositions have received such words of praise from Fanfare Magazine as, “These well-prepared composer-conducted performances and recordings are both technically and esthetically stunning. The emotional curve of Plumeri's music has a dramatic inevitability that carries the listener along without questioning and leaves him fully gratified, very much like the best of Tchaikovsky's efforts.” The Washington Post has said of these recordings, “Plumeri conducts the Moscow Philharmonic in a performance sensitive to the music's smallest nuances.”

While on scholarship to Manhattan School of Music in New York City, Terry studied with Robert Brennand, principal bass of the New York Philharmonic. During his period as a bassist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., he studied composition and conducting with the Hungarian conductor/composer Antal Dorati, himself a student of the legendary Bela Bartok.

During the past 15 years he has written the music to 55 feature films, which includes the score to the award winning crime story One False Move, which has recently been added to the “New York Times List of the 1000 Best Films Ever Made”. His score for One False Move was nominated for Best Score by the IFP Spirit Awards.

Terry's lectures on music have been heard at the Smithsonian Institute, Georgetown University, Maryland Art Institute and University of Southern California as well as in his private classes in the Los Angeles area on the Vocabulary and Psychology of the Music of Bernard Herrmann in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Psycho.

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27
Album Review

Les DeMerle: Once in a Lifetime

Read "Once in a Lifetime" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Drummer Les DeMerle recorded his first album, Once in a Lifetime, when he was a twenty-year-old prodigy in 1967. However, as is sometimes true in the music business, the album was lost in the shuffle at Atlantic Records and sat gathering dust until someone had the good sense to retrieve and release it some fifty-six years later. As the saying goes, better late than never. To share the front line on this dynamic (mostly) studio date, DeMerle ...

2
Liner Notes

Les DeMerle & Sound 67: Once in a Lifetime

Read "Les DeMerle & Sound 67: Once in a Lifetime" reviewed by Scott Yanow


Every once in a while, the discovery of a forgotten recording from the past results in the history of jazz being altered. Until now, it was believed that the hard-driving and swinging drummer Les DeMerle made his first recordings in 1969 with his debut as a leader, Spectrum. The first-time release of Once In A Lifetime, which was recorded in 1967, rewrites the history books a bit. At the time, Les DeMerle was 20 and already had quite ...

257
Album Review

Terry Plumeri: Water Garden

Read "Water Garden" reviewed by John Kelman


With the compelling, largely free-blowing 1971 session He Who Lives In Many Places (GMMC Records) finally issued on CD in 2006, Water Garden rights a similar wrong for Terry Plumeri, an overlooked bassist if ever there was one. Recorded five years later, Water Garden was an even more ambitious date that brought back guitarist John Abercrombie and percussionist Michael Smith, but also features enlists Ralph Towner and, in one of his earliest date, pianist Marc Copland.

322
Album Review

Terry Plumeri: He Who Lives in Many Places

Read "He Who Lives in Many Places" reviewed by John Kelman


There's no shortage of jazz bassists possessing distinctive voices with a bow. Few, however, have made Arco (the fine art of bowing the double-bass) their primary focus, with the exception of Terry Plumeri. Plumeri's never achieved his due in the jazz world, to some extent due to his parallel work in other spheres--scoring for film, classical composition and interpreting the music of iconic composers like Tchaikovsky. Blue in Green (GMMC, 2005), featuring pianist David Goldblatt and drummer Joe La Barbera, ...

527
Interview

Terry Plumeri: Singing Strings

Read "Terry Plumeri: Singing Strings" reviewed by Maxwell Chandler


Bassist Terry Plumeri wears several hats and wears them well. He has scored films, written his own symphonic tone poems, conducted symphonic orchestras all over the world and worked with some of the top names in jazz.

Chapter Index Conducting and Tchaikovsky Tone Poems Film Scores Jazz

Conducting and Tchaikovsky

All About Jazz: You have an affiliation of over a decade as a conductor of the Moscow Philharmonic. How did this partnership initially come ...

267
Album Review

Terry Plumeri: He Who Lives in Many Places

Read "He Who Lives in Many Places" reviewed by John Barron


Noted composer of film music, orchestral conductor and bassist extraordinaire Terry Plumeri made his debut as a jazz artist in 1971 with the now landmark release He Who Lives in Many Places. Newly re-mastered and re-issued, the ground breaking session from the fusion-era features an all-star cast consisting of pianist Herbie Hancock, guitarist John Abercrombie, drummer Michael Smith and percussionist Eric Gravatt.

The disc's five tracks, all composed by Plumeri, are open-ended in nature, allowing for spontaneous group invention. Beneath ...

264
Album Review

Terry Plumeri: Blue In Green

Read "Blue In Green" reviewed by Stephen Latessa


The sound that comes from the speakers is immediately arresting. It is a groan, or a whine, or maybe a croon. It shifts and slides from position to position, defying your efforts to pin it down. Now deep and sonorous, now thin and electric as feedback, Terry Plumeri's bowed bass work is endlessly compelling. Pair it with musicians the caliber of David Goldenblatt (piano) and the great Joe La Barbera (drums) on a choice selection of standards and the effect ...

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108

Interview

Bassist/Composer Terry Plumeri Interviewed at AAJ

Bassist/Composer Terry Plumeri Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz

Bassist Terry Plumeri wears several hats and wears them well. He has scored films, written his own symphonic tone poems, conducted symphonic orchestras all over the world and worked with some of the top names in jazz.

AAJ contributor Maxwell Chandler spoke at length with Plumeri, covering his film, classical and jazz work, including his recently-reissued 1971 album, He Who Lives in Many Places, which features Herbie Hancock, John Abercrombie, Michael Smith and Eric Gravatt.

Check out Terry Plumeri: Singing ...

340

Recording

Terry Plumeri's Re-Issues "He Who Lives in Many Places" Featuring Herbie Hancock and John Abercrombie

Terry Plumeri's Re-Issues "He Who Lives in Many Places" Featuring Herbie Hancock and John Abercrombie

Source: All About Jazz

Terry Plumeri's He Who Lives In Many Places, featuring Herbie Hancock and John Abercrombie, has just received it's re-release in the CD format by GMMC Records. Selected by Billboard Magazine to appear on their Hit Album Picks page at the time of it's original release, He Who Lives In Many Places was an influential recording of it's day. Still showing it's influence in it's ability to stand the test of time and sounding as fresh as if it were recorded ...

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Recording

GMMC Records Releases Bassist/Composer Terry Plumeri's "Blue In Green"

GMMC Records Releases Bassist/Composer Terry Plumeri's "Blue In Green"

Source: Massive Music

GMMC Records released Terry Plumeri's innovative jazz recording, Blue In Green. Blue In Green is something brand new in the world of recorded jazz. The entire CD showcases the exclusive use of the bowed acoustic bass, occupying the featured role in a repertoire of jazz standards. The extraordinary beauty of tone and technical proficiency shown on the bass, makes for a new and memorable listening experience. Plumeri's bowed bass work is endlessly compelling. Pair it with musicians the caliber of ...

Primary Instrument

Bass, acoustic

Willing to teach

Beginner to advanced

Credentials/Background

Terry's lectures on music have been heard at the Smithsonian Institute, Georgetown University, Maryland Art Institute and University of Southern California as well as in his private classes in the Los Angeles area on the Vocabulary and Psychology of the Music of Bernard Herrmann in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Psycho.

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Once in a Lifetime

Origin Records
2023

buy

Water Garden

GMMC Records
2009

buy

Water Garden

GMMC Records
2007

buy

Blue In Green

Unknown label
2005

buy

Ongoing

Unknown label
1978

buy

Come Back to Me

From: Once in a Lifetime
By Terry Plumeri

He Who Lives In Many Places

From: He Who Lives in Many Places
By Terry Plumeri

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