Jim Donica – bass, Mark Dziuba – guitar, Bob Meyer – drums
Original music and a few standards by some of the best players in the area. What might be described as guitar driven Americana jazz.
Mark Dziuba has been a guitarist, improviser and composer for most of his life. He has performed with a who’s who of Jazz, Blues, Rock and Bluegrass musicians and has performed and taught at workshops and festivals internationally for over 40 years.
Mark is a tenured professor of music at the State University of New York at New Paltz where he directs the Jazz Studies program. He was a part of the internationally acclaimed National Guitar Workshop for 25 years and has been a part of the Crown of the Continent International Guitar Festival since its birth.
Mark is a published author and a featured soloist and composer on numerous recordings. He continues to explore the world of improvised live and virtual music and can be found performing often in the area and abroad. (dziubam@newpaltz.edu)
Jim Donica is a bassist, composer, teacher, sideman, and bandleader who has performed and recorded with some of the finest artists in the world.
Donica can be heard on landmark recordings such as Maynard Ferguson’s, “Big Bop Nouveau”, the soundtrack recording of “Permanent Record” and “Trash City”, with Punk Rocker Joe Strummer and with MCA recording artists The David Becker Tribune, on “Long Peter Madsen” and “Siberian Express”. His long standing and ongoing gig as bassist for the legendary, Chita Rivera has taken him around the world playing for audiences who just can’t get enough of Broadway royalty.
Donica completed a Jazz Studies degree and received the coveted Performance Certificate from the Jacobs School of Music at IU, Bloomington in 1995. While there, he played in the 20th Century Be Bop Band for Jazz Legend, David Baker. Afterwards, Donica set out for New York where he continued his professional pursuit of Jazz and improvisation creating his own groups and collaborations such as, Urban Survival that produced two recordings and toured nationally as well as the Jim Donica Group (Apria Records), featuring, Peter Erskine, Randy Brecker, Bruce Barth, Frank Kimbrough, and Tim Armacost and the group, Quantum Mechanics.
Drummer Bob Meyer has performed on Joe Lovano’s Blue Note release and group, Viva Caruso. Also, his Symbiosis, Sinatra and More, trios and quartets. Currently leading The Bob Meyer Project, with Steven Frieder, Luke Franco and Peter Brendler. Recently released our CD Scabiosa; available on iTunes and CD Baby.
Among other people he has played or is currently playing with are; Joe Lovano, John Abercrombie, Ed Schuller, Ken Werner, Nina Sheldon, Judi Silvano, Perry Robinson, Glenn Moore, Cameron Brown, Andy Statman, Sheila Jordan, Ray Nance, Art Davis, Jaki Byard, Paul McCanless, Julian Priester, Gary Peacock, Peggy Stern, Bert Wilson, Diane Schurr, Stanley Cowell, Mal Waldron, David Friesen, Jim Pepper, Red Rodney, Itzhak Perlman, Arnie Lawrence, James Moody, Kirk Leitsey, Avishai Cohen, Wayne Horvitz, Drew Gress, Rob Scheps, Mike Bisio, Don Friedman, James Emery, Tony Malaby, Essiet Essiet, Santi Debriano, Vic Juris, Harvey Wainapel, Peter Barshay and Mel Martin, Eric Person, Travis Sullivan among many others.
