Miles Brown Trio

Saturday, October 4 @ 8PM

Admission: $12 (free with a 2008 Passport)

Ithaca's multicultural live concert radio broadcast series, Crossing Borders, is pleased to welcome home one of Ithaca's own with a debut of The Miles Brown Trio on Saturday, October 4th at 8pm, at the Lost Dog Lounge, 106 S. Cayuga Street. The Miles Brown Trio features native son Miles Brown and includes two other artists of note, Rochester based Rich Thompson and Chris Ziemba. The two-hour broadcast airs simultaneously on WVBR 93.5 fm and also online at www.wvbr.com or www.crossingborderslive.org. Admission to the live audience is $12.00 or free to Passport subscribers.

Born in Ithaca, Miles Brown comes from a musical family (father and guitarist Steve Brown retired last year as Jazz Department head at Ithaca College) and began playing the bass at the age of ten. In high school, Miles won several awards for music, and was nominated to be the bassist for the All-State Jazz Ensemble. During his undergraduate years at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, he was given the opportunity to play with Joe Lovano, Peter Erskine, Bill Holman, and John Clayton, Jr. Miles has also performed with several upstate New York ensembles such as the Central New York Jazz Orchestra, the Danny D'Imperio Big Band, as well as singers such as Nancy Kelly and Tish Oney. He is the regular bass player for the Steve Brown quartet, and performs with several New York City based ensembles including the new music ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, and the David Berger Sultans of Swing. Miles has performed with Barbara Morrison, Ralph LaLama, John Mosca, Bill Goodwin, Ben Monder, Joe Magnarelli, Walt Weiskopf, and Harold Danko. In 2003, he received a Master's Degree in String Bass Performance from Mannes College of Music, and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Jazz Performance at Eastman. Miles is also teaching this year at Cornell University, and directing the jazz ensemble..

Drummer Rich Thompson is Associate Professor of Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media at the Eastman School of Music. An accomplished musician, his resume includes performances and recordings with the Count Basie Orchestra, Tito Puente, Benny Carter, Frank Foster, James Williams, Marian McPartland, Rich Perry, Gene Bertoncini, the Eastman Jazz Trio with pianist Harold Danko. He has also made numerous appearrances with major symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Canada. His current CD projects with Trio East are titled "Stop-Start"and "Best Bets." Featuring Thompson, bassist Jeff Campbell and trumpeter Clay Jenkins, these two CD's have received worldwide acclaim. Author of Jazz Solos for Drumset, Vol. 1 (Kendor), Modern Jazz Solos for Drum Set (Kendor)and co-author of Billy Hartís Jazz Drumming (Advance Music), Rich is also the drum set chairman for the New York State School Music Association. Thompson has given various clinics and performances in Europe, Japan, Newfoundland, Thailand, Denmark, and the United States.

Christopher (Chris) Ziemba is a senior at the Eastman School of Music, where he is majoring in Jazz Performance and Music Education and is already a highly acclaimed classical and jazz pianist, conductor, composer and arranger. Chris made his debut on the concert stage at the age of 7, appearing with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Rochester Philharmonic, and Amherst Symphony Orchestras. In 2000, Chris conducted the Buffalo Choral Arts Society in the world premiere of his composition, "Soft and Silent.", and in 2002, as composer-pianist and story subject, he was honored as part of the production team for WGRZ-TV2 that received an EMMY Award in the category of Religious Programming. In the fall of 2000, the Niagara University Theatre Department commissioned Chris to compose original incidental music for the North American premiere of a stage adaptation of Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations." Chris was featured on "CBS This Morning" and "American Journal" and appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman." A finalist in Marvin Hamlisch's 2002 "Star Search" competition, The Buffalo News stated: "His hands flew like hammers.Ziemba played with warmth and grace.very self-possessed."

Chris is the recipient of the Eastman School of Music's prestigious Howard Hanson Scholarship, the Rochester International Jazz Festival Scholarship, and the Dean L. Harrington Scholarship for Outstanding Performance at the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA). His jazz composition, "Ambienz," was the only student work selected for performance by the school's faculty in concert at the Skidmore Jazz Institute, featuring jazz notables Ed Shaughnessy, Vince DiMartino, Curtis Fuller, Todd Coolman, and the late Frank Mantooth. Since arriving at Eastman, Chris has been the pianist of choice for outstanding jazz musicians, such as Dave Rivello, Mike Kaupa, Rich Thompson, Clay Jenkins, and Jeff Campbell. He has performed regularly at the Rochester International Jazz Festival, Strathallan Hotel, Bobby McGee's, Little Theatre, and Lodge at Woodcliff.

Chris has studied jazz piano with Bobby Jones; Paul Hofmann; Bill Dobbins; Harold Danko; and Fred Hersch. Jazz guitarist, Bob Sneider, has recorded one of Chris's arrangements. He was accepted as one of four pianists into the Professional Training Workshop at Carnegie Hall, led by Fred Hersch, where he performed and studied with Hersch as well as Jason Moran, Kenny Barron, Ralph Alessi, and Jane Ira Bloom. In May, he and two fellow jazz pianists at Eastman performed side by side at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He was invited to appear as a guest artist on Marian McPartland's famed Piano Jazz, which will be broadcast on National Public Radio after its recording in October.