Born: 1963 Primary Instrument: Vibraphone
Vibraphonist and composer Steve Shapiro has recorded with such diverse artists as Steely Dan, Ornette Coleman, Phil Collins, Spyro Gyra, Regina Belle and They Might Be Giants. Shapiro is also an accomplished producer and arranger whose work has appeared in hundreds of television and film projects.
In addition to having performed with the likes of Curtis Fuller, Jimmy Heath, and Marc Johnson, Shapiro has also notably collaborated with Nashville guitarist Pat Bergeson (Bill Evans, Chet Atkins, Bill Frisell, Lyle Lovett, Alison Krauss), with whom he has released three CDs, including BACKWARD COMPATIBLE (Apria Records) in 2009.
Before moving to New York City in 1985, Steve grew up in Connecticut and was a member of an award-winning high school ensemble that produced many fine musicians (including pianist Brad Mehldau). During this time, he studied percussion with artists Bob Moses, Dave Samuels, and David Friedman, and with composers Steve Swallow and Anthony Davis.
Steve's credits span many areas of the music & recording business, including major jazz and pop artists, television, feature films, commercials, multimedia, and education. He appeared on Steely Dan's Two Against Nature, which received 4 Grammy Awards including Album-of-the-Year. He has composed music for many television series, films, TV commercials and trailers, and is a long- time producer/arranger for the Walt Disney Company, with credits on projects related to over thirty-five feature film releases.
Steve has received awards from Berklee College of Music and IAJE, and has been featured and reviewed in magazines such as Downbeat, JazzTimes, Mix, JazzEd, Video-Systems and Modern Drummer.
STEVE SHAPIRO / PAT BERGESON:
Respected studio musicians from New York and Nashville, Steve Shapiro & Pat Bergeson have worked with artists such as: Alison Krauss, Madeleine Peyroux, Steely Dan, Bill Frisell, Lyle Lovett, Bill Evans, They Might Be Giants, SpyroGyra, Chet Atkins, and Michael McDonald. Their collaborative sound is an original mix of retro and modern, infused with the lush voice of rising-star jazz vocalist Annie Sellick. Their repertoire is influenced by jazz standards, swingsters like George Barnes and Victor Feldman, and songwriters like Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. On their latest CD, BACKWARD COMPATIBLE, the musicians include bassists Marc Johnson, Doug Weiss, Tim Ferguson, drummers Clint deGanon, Jochen Rueckert, accordionist Will Barrow, saxophonist Scott Kreitzer, and Sting’s backup singers, Jan ice Pendarvis and Vaneese Thomas. Their previous release, LOW STANDARDS, received praise from many critics. Steve & Pat have been playing together since the late ‘80’s, when they were regulars at New York clubs such as Mikell’s, Visiones, The Bitter End, and the 55-Bar. In 1992, Pat joined the group of guitar legend Chet Atkins, and moved to Nashville, where he met Annie. Then, after her stunning 2003 recording, “No Greater Thrill” (with Pat and organist Joey DeFrancesco), Steve suggested that Pat & Annie come to New York to collaborate. They have been doing so ever since. In the meantime, Annie has followed her own celebrated career. The LA Times said, “She’s a comer.” And The Village Voice raved, “Annie Sellick has the most pleasing standards voice I’ve heard in a long time.”
-- “Bergeson and vibist Steve Shapiro lead their low-key band through Latinized classics and lush, leisurely originals with lucid grace.... When they back Sellick on shorter alternating tracks, they ease into overdrive for her insinu- ating smears and hints of Diana Krall and savvy Carmen McRae snap.” -Downbeat
-- “From the moment you hear Annie Sellick sing the opening lines from Joni Mitchells song Free Man In Paris, you feel like she is speaking directly to you. As the song progresses, it becomes impossible to escape Sellicks powers of seduction, and vibraphonist Steve Shapiro and guitarist/harmonica player Pat Bergeson are perfect accomplices during the takeover. Their blend of jazz, country-folk, and a wee bit of swing makes their latest release Backward Compatible an album that you will want to pass onto your children.” (jazzreview.com)
--“Warm and tasteful...fi lled with the kind of retro-cool in-the-pocket grooves that will have listeners poised for more of Shapiro’s triple- threat musicality... This CD is definitely saying something.” -All Music Guide
--FIVE STARS ***** (FonoForum, Germany)
--“Puts you right in th’ mood... It’s not just the great recording/production on the album that will make it a (real) KEEPER, it’s also the fact that all the players understand how important it is to have “the groove” together!... A really GREAT jazz album that gets a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED from us.” - Improvijazzation Nation
Xylophobia - Curious/Sons of Sound w/Pat Bergeson, Marc Johnson, Danny Gottlieb, Kevin Hays, Tim Ries, Mike Davis, Jim Hynes, (2002)
Low Standards - Sons of Sound, with Pat Bergeson, Doug Weiss, Scott Kreitzer, Jeff Williams, Annie Sellick, (2005)
Backward Compatible - with Pat Bergeson, Annie Sellick, Marc Johnson, various artists (2008)
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