Guitar and Bass
Ken McGloin has been a working musician since the age of 14. His music education includes master classes with jazz greats Dave Holland, Larry Coryell and John Abercrombie, and he studied classical guitar for five years. Ken is an accomplished and virtuosic player, able to play many styles with an authentic feel and appreciation of what makes each valid in its own way. He has led bands ranging from swing to hip-hop, folk to funk, and his “hard-core alternative” band, Lunchmeat, played the main stage at the 1994 25th Anniversary Woodstock Festival. He also writes music for TV and film. His music has been featured on two of MTV’s most popular shows, “The Real World” and “Road Rules”, as well as The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the ESPN network.
Brass
Bill Fiore taught general music in grades prek-8 at Poughkeepsie Day School from 1993-2020. Within his lower school music classroom, he created ensemble experiences on Orff instruments, African drums, recorders and handchimes. While instructing in middle school, he offered courses on jazz, rock & roll and world music. As a private instructor, he has taught lessons on trumpet, guitar and ukulele for over twenty years. He is a current member of Handbell Musicians of America (HMA), New York City Chapter of the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (NYCCAOSA) and Dutchess County Music Educators Association (DCMEA). Bill has toured the northeast playing lead trumpet in various musical productions such as: Ain’t Misbehaving, This Was Burlesque and Pirates of Penzance.
Drums and Percussion
Paul Beretta commits his professional life to the art of drumming. Coursing through recording sessions and live performances with “Leslie West and Mountain,” an HBO appearance on “The Sopranos,” an Indie-hit-movie appearance in “Theresa Is a Mother,” and recently released CD “Strato G,” featuring Ira Coleman on bass, and led by Guitarist Tony DePaolo, Paul conducts and flows with all currents of musical life in the Hudson Valley’s highly-charged music-community. Paul’s teaching career at Poughkeepsie Day School is here described in his own words: “Teaching an African Drum Ensemble (now known as WADE: West African Drum Ensemble) at this wonderful school provides me the perfect environment and conditions to put all my study and all my professional experience into practice. My students, the pre-k’ers to the upper-school seniors, continue to inspire me.”
Woodwinds
Eric Person has been committed to composing, recording and performing contemporary American music for over twenty years. He plays the alto and soprano saxophones and flute and is featured as a leader and sideman on more than 30 recordings. Eric studied at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music and has been active in the New York and international jazz scene for decades. His broad range of experience with Dave Holland, McCoy Tyner, Chico Hamilton, Ronald Shannon Jackson, the World Saxophone Quartet, and John Hicks, have all contributed greatly to his mature alto and soprano sound and his skills as an arranger and composer. His latest recording, The Grand Illusion, captures Person with his electronic ensemble, Metamorphosis.
*This is a list of various guest artists that have visited the PDS Jazz Camp since its inception.
Ira Coleman is a French-American jazz bassist. Educated at the Berklee College of Music, he appears on four albums by Paris-based pianist Laurent de Wilde and has worked with artists such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Milt Jackson, Ulf Wakeneius, John Esposito, Joanne Brackeen, Herbie Hancock, Sting, Tony Williams, Ayq and Antonio Farao.
Dennis Mackrel is an American jazz drummer, composer, and arranger. He is also known for his work as a bandleader and music educator. He is most notable for his associations with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and the Count Basie Orchestra. Mackrel was the drummer for many other big bands and small groups including the Hank Jones Trio, the American Jazz Orchestra, the Carla Bley Big Band, Buck Clayton’s Swing Band, the George Shearing Quintet and the Dizzy Gillespie All Star Big Band.
In the 1960s, Roswell Rudd participated in free jazz recordings such as the New York Art Quartet; the soundtrack for the 1964 movie New York Eye and Ear Control; the album Communications by the Jazz Composer’s OrchestraJ; and in collaborations with Don Cherry, Larry Coryell, Pharoah Sanders, and Gato Barbieri. Rudd has had lifelong friendships with saxophonists Archie Shepp and Steve Lacy and has performed and recorded the music of Theolonius Monk with Lacy.
Gerry Gibbs is a Grammy nominated Drummer, Producer, Band Leader, Composer & Arranger. As a Solo Artist, Gibbs has released 9 Jazz Recordings. His first, back in 1996, ‘Gerry Gibbs Sextet – The Thrasher’ features Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane with Quincy Jones as Executive Producer, while his last two recordings: ‘Gerry Gibbs & The Thrasher Dream Trio’,’We’re Back’ and “Live In Studio” feature Jazz luminaries Ron Carter & Kenny Barron.
Jack Wilkins is a master guitarist has been on the International jazz scene since the early 1970’s. His flawless technique and imaginative chordal approach have inspired collaborations with Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Bob Brookmeyer, and Buddy Rich among many others. A native of Brooklyn, Jack began playing guitar at age thirteen. His mentors included Johnny Smith, Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Bill Evans, Clifford Brown and Freddie Hubbard.
Chuck Lamb has performed with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet at the Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Detroit Jazz Festival, and the Hollywood Bowl. His music travels have brought Chuck and The Quartet to Russia, performing with the Russian National Orchestra in Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as concerts in Spain, Japan, Croatia, Belgrade, France, Switzerland, Guatemala, and Canada. “Chuck Lamb is an extremely creative, harmonically interesting, rhythmically exciting pianist and one of the best improvisers I’ve heard in recent times!” – Dave Brubeck, 2011
Sharel Cassity is a saxophonist, multi-reedist, composer, bandleader, recording artist and educator. She is a distinguished musician on the New York jazz scene where she resided for 16 years. Listed as “Rising Star Alto Saxophone” in Downbeat Magazine for the past 9 consecutive years & having earned her Masters from The Juilliard School on full scholarship, Sharel has won the 2007 ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award & was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2010.
Dave Douglas is a prolific trumpeter, composer, educator and entrepreneur from New York City known for the stylistic breadth of his work and for keeping a diverse set of ensembles and projects active simultaneously. Douglas' career spans more than 50 unique original recordings as a leader and more than 500 published works. His current ensembles include his Quintet, Sound Prints, Present Joys, High Risk, and ENGAGE. His unique contributions to improvised music have garnered distinguished recognition, including a Doris Duke Artist Award and two GRAMMY® nominations.
In a career that spans five decades and includes collaborations with some of the most iconic figures in modern jazz, NEA and Grammy winner Jack DeJohnette has established an unchallenged reputation as one of the greatest drummers in the history of the genre. The list of creative associations throughout his career is lengthy and diverse: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Keith Jarrett, Chet Baker, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Hancock, Dave Holland, Joe Henderson, Freddy Hubbard, Betty Carter and so many more. Along the way, he has developed a versatility that allows room for hard bop, R&B, world music, avant-garde, and just about every other style to emerge in the past half-century.