Neil Podgurski lives in Philadelphia where he works as a sideman and leads his own band, New Fire. Neil has performed with Mickey Roker, the late Arthur Harper, Larry Mckenna, Frank Tibiri, George Garzone, David Schnitter, the late Jimmy Oliver, Tim Warfield, Eric Alexander, the late Dennis Charles, Joe Cambers, the late Arnie Lawrence, Byron Landham, and Robert Landham. Neil also acknowledges the great lessons he has learned in rhythm section playing as a pianist from his good friend and mentor Sid Simmons. The band repertoire consists of a steadily growing book of Neil's originals. The band is a quintet comprised of John Swana on trumpet, Brian Settles on tenor saxophone, Mike Boone on bass and Doug Hirlinger on drum set. New Fire has had an amazing opportunity to develop a band sound and concept over several years thanks to Pete Sauders, the owner of Ortlieb's. With a place like Ortlieb's to play regularly, where there is such a strong sense of love and support for and among the musicians, a jazz band can really have a chance to develop. This is rare. With the release of New Fires debut album, “Revolutions”, on Dreambox Media, Neil plans to broaden the performance schedule of New Fire and take them to venues in different cities.
