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Dion Tucker

Dion Tucker is an accomplished trombonist, composer, and music educator with an oeuvre that defies genre. Boston-born and Miami-bred, Dion moved to New York in 1998 to study at The New School under the tutelage of pioneering trombonists Benny Powell and Steve Turre, among others.

In 2001, he had the privilege of touring with the rock band Matchbox 20, and was lead trombonist in The Duke Ellington Orchestra from 2003 until 2013. Since 2007, Dion has been a member of The Harry Connick, Jr. Big Band and has had the unique opportunity to perform with Harry for President Barack Obama at the 2012 Governors Ball, at the Papal Mass for Pope Benedict at Yankee Stadium in 2008, as lead trombonist in the 2011 Broadway revival of “On A Clear Day,” and as trombonist in the 2018 stage adaptation of the Academy Award winning film, “The Sting,” performed at the historic Paper Mill Playhouse.

As an educator, Dion has taught in over 20 New York City public schools through the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz For Young People program and was a faculty member at Jazz House Kids, a music education program in New Jersey fronted by Christian McBride. He also served as a clinician at the Snipes Academy of Arts and Design for hundreds of elementary school students, focusing on musical styles such as New Orleans jazz and Bebop, as well as jazz legends Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington.

Throughout his career, Dion has shared the stage with many jazz and soul greats including Ray Charles, The Count Basie Band, The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, The Maria Schneider Orchestra, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, John Hendricks, The Lionel Hampton Band, Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Big Band, Clark Terry & the Young Titans of Jazz, The Mos Def Big Band at Carnegie Hall with Gil Scott-Heron, Joey DeFrancesco, Catherine Russell, Christian McBride, Mike Longo, David Berger and The Sultans of Swing, and The Charles Tolliver Big Band.

Dion’s many television appearances comprise of ceremonies such as the 2013 Kennedy Center Honor Awards honoring blues great Buddy Guy and rock legends Led Zepplin, and the 2009 Mark Twain Prize honoring Bill Cosby; day-time television programs The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The View, LIVE with Kelly and Michael, The Today Show and Good Morning America; late-night programs such as The David Letterman Show, The Tonight Show, and The Jimmy Fallon Show; music programs American Idol, BET’s106 & Park and Australian Idol; and the 2008 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans, where he had the pleasure of playing with piano legends Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Art and Ivan Neville, Ellis Marsalis, and Davell Crawford. From 2016 to 2018, Dion was a band member on the Daytime Emmy Award winning talk show, HARRY, performing with Michael McDonald, Oprah Winfrey, Gladys Knight, Gloria Estefan, Sheila E., and many others.

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23
Album Review

Andy Farber and His Orchestra: Early Blue Evening

Read "Early Blue Evening" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Saxophonist Andy Farber's New York-based orchestra came together and cut its teeth as the onstage band for three hundred performances of After Midnight, a Broadway revue that paid tribute to Jazz Age nightclub luminaries from Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford and Count Basie to Harold Arlen, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. As one might presume from the orchestra's provenance, echoes of Ellington and Basie can readily be discerned on its first recording since After Midnight closed in 2014--but Farber, who wrote ...

20
Album Review

Mike LeDonne: It's All Your Fault

Read "It's All Your Fault" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Even though listed on only four tracks, organist Mike LeDonne's superlative Groover Quartet performs on every one of the nine selections on LeDonne's admirable new recording, It's All Your Fault--and that's a good thing, as each member of the quartet (LeDonne, tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein, drummer Joe Farnsworth) is an accomplished soloist and ardent team player. On the album's remaining tracks, the quartet is assimilated into LeDonne's seventeen- member big band, a taut and high-powered unit that ...

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