Poster by Maria Darron
Bob Sneider has earned his nickname of “Jazz Ambassador to Rochester” dozens and dozens of times over. Whether he’s on the road with jazz heavy hitters, schooling the youth at Eastman Community Music School, hosting jam sessions, or playing with any and everyone around town, Bob always brings his signature sound, melodic accompaniment, taste, and the occasional shred to any musical performance.
Bill Dobbins is revered internationally for his piano playing, but particularly for his compositions and arrangements. Dobbins has been teaching at Eastman since 1937 - with a stop overseas with the WDR Big Band - and his CDs and teaching materials have captivated listeners for decades.
Together, they will blend their skills for an incredible concert of intimate music.
HOW TO WATCH
Tune in on Friday, August 28, 8:00 PM EDT at:
bopshop.com/live
Also streaming at our Facebook and YouTube pages
VIRTUAL TIPS
If you wish to tip the musicians before, during, or after the show:
Venmo: @Robert-Sneider-1
Tips from this evening’s performance will be donated to the Jazz Foundation of America COVID-19 relief fund
More on the artists:
Bob Sneider
Before joining the Eastman faculty in late 1997, Sneider toured for several years with two-time Grammy Award winner Chuck Mangione. Other notable performers with whom Sneider has performed, toured or recorded include: Nat Adderley, Joe Locke, Don Menza, Lou Donaldson, Joey Defrancesco, Pat Bianchi, Gary Versace, Pat Labarbara, Grant Stewart, Ken Peplowski, Gerry Niewood, Chris Potter, Roy McCurdy, Eric Alexander, David Hazeltine, Frank Strazzerri, Jon Faddis, Keeter Betts and frequent appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Pops(guitar/banjo). Sneider has performed in major festivals, concert halls and jazz clubs throughout South America, Central America, North America and Europe. Sneider is a graduate of the University of Rochester where he studied with Bill Dobbins and Ramon Ricker. Growing up in Brockton, MA, Sneiders mentor and teacher was Chet Kruley - a veteran of the Fletcher Henderson, and Nat Pierce bands.
Sneider has several solo and co-led cd projects that have received rave reviews and international airplay: Introducing Bob Sneider(self produced), Out of the Darkness(Sonsofsound), duo projects with pianist Paul Hofmann - Interconnection(Sonsofsound) and Escapade(Sonsofsound) and Serve & Volley(Origin), The Bob Sneider/Joe Locke Film Noir Project - Fallen Angel(Sonsofsound) and Nocturne for Ava(Origin), All Through The Night (RIJF). Several of his students have won major jazz competitions and attended renowned institutes: YoungArts, DownBeat, Grammy National Band, The Brubeck Institute, Kennedy Center / Jazz Ahead. Bob's newest CD is co-led with his brother John: The Sneider Brothers "The Brockton Beat" - featuring Gary Versace (hammond organ), Mike Melito (drums) and Curtis Stigers (guest vocalist). Bob enjoys making music with his son Ben (trombone) and daughter Emily (French horn).
Bill Dobbins
Bill Dobbins is professor of jazz studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he teaches the jazz composing and arranging courses and directs the award winning Eastman Jazz Ensemble and Eastman Studio Orchestra. As a pianist, he has performed with orchestra and chamber ensembles under the direction of Louis Lane, Pierre Boulez, Lukas Foss and Frederick Fennell, and he has performed and recorded with such jazz artists as Clark Terry, Al Cohn, Red Mitchell, Phil Woods, Bill Goodwin, Gary Foster, Dave Liebman, John Goldsby and Peter Erskine. He joined the Eastman faculty in 1973, and was instrumental in designing both the graduate and undergraduate curricula for Eastman’s Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media program. Many of his students have been heard in the big bands of Count Basie, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Chuck Mangione, Maria Schneider, and Bob Brookmeyer’s New Art Orchestra.
From 1994 through 2002 Mr. Dobbins was principal director of the WDR Big Band in Cologne, Germany, and he headed the jazz studies department at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne from 1998 to 2002. Concert, radio, television and tour projects under his direction with the WDR Big Band included internationally acclaimed soloists Clark Terry, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Gary Bartz, Eddie Henderson, Kevin Mahogany, Art Farmer, Steve Lacy, Paquito D’Rivera, Mark Feldman, Gary Foster, Clare Fischer, Peter Erskine, Nicolas Simion and the Kings Singers. As guest director, he continues to write and direct programs for the WDR Big Band, the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.
Advance Music publishes Mr. Dobbins’ compositions and arrangements for big band, chamber music combinations and solo piano. Jazz education programs worldwide have adopted his volumes of transcriptions of classic jazz piano solos and jazz textbooks for use in their courses.These include Chick Corea: Now He Sings, Now He Sobs, Herbie Hancock: Classic Jazz Compositions and Piano Solos, Clare Fischer: Alone Together/Just Me, Jazz Arranging and Composing: a Linear Approach, A Creative Approach to Jazz Piano Harmony, How to Play Piano in a Big Band, Composing and Arranging for the Contemporary Big Band,Conversations with Bill Holman: Thoughts and Recollections of a Jazz Master, and a DVD, The Evolution of Solo Jazz Piano. Recent CDs include J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio, with the Kings Singers and the WDR Big Band, arranged and conducted by Bill Dobbins (Signum Classics), Balkan Jazz, with Nicolas Simion and the WDR Big Band, arranged and directed by Bill Dobbins (Big Band records) and Composers Series (solo piano): Volume 1 – music of Clare Fischer and George Gershwin, and Volume 2 – music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn (Sons of Sound).