John Serry Junior

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John Serry junior (born January 19, 1954 in New York City as John Serrapica junior ) is an American jazz musician (piano, keyboards, percussion) and composer.

Live and act

Serry comes from a musical family; his father was the Italian musician John Serry senior . Serry first learned the accordion from his father from the age of four to eleven. He studied piano, percussion and composition at the Eastman School of Music with Bill Dobbins , Ray Wright, Chuck Mangione and John Beck (Bachelor and Master degrees). In 1976 he went to Los Angeles to work as a studio musician and became a member of the fusion band Auracle , with whom he toured internationally and released albums.

In 1979 he released his debut album under his own name, Exhibition, on Chrysalis Records . He was nominated for a Grammy in 1980 for the arrangement of the piece Sabotage contained there (with Bob Sheppard , Barry Finnerty , Jimmy Johnson , Gordon Johnson , Gordon Gottlieb , Carlos Vega). His second album Jazziz (1980 Chrysalis Records) received excellent reviews (the magazine of the same name later named itself after the album). In the following years he was mainly active in the studios and increasingly composed, but also performed in Californian jazz clubs and toured with Doc Severinsen .

Between 1988 and 1991 Serry was a professor responsible for the jazz program at the University of South Carolina . In 1991 he returned to New York, where he worked as a composer and pianist on Broadway shows . He founded a new quartet with whom he performed in the relevant clubs; this included a saxophonist Gerry Niewood , Ralph Bowen and Ted Nash , bassist Anthony Jackson and Tom Brigandi and John Riley , Marvin Smith or Gordon Gottlieb. His third album followed in 1996, which was also particularly appreciated by the critics. He also performed Stravinsky's Les Noces as a percussionist at Lincoln Center (under the direction of Robert Craft ). In 2002 and 2003 Serry was the deputy musical director of various musicals on a European tour.

In 2004 he moved to London, where he re-cast his quartet with Dave O'Higgins , Mark Mondesir , Mike Mondesir and Sam Burgess and played numerous concerts. The resulting 2006 album The Shift wasn't released until 2013. He has also performed with Patti Austin , the BBC Big Band , Kyle Eastwood and the 606 Big Band and taught at the Royal Academy of Music . After stays in Spain and the Czech Republic, he settled in Italy in 2009, where he founded a trio, worked as a visiting professor and as a composer.

His compositions include Conversations for Timpani Duo , Duet for Percussion and Keyboards , Rhapsody for Marimba and Therapy (for multiple percussion soloist).

Prizes and awards

Serry won the 1995 Grand Prize in the JAZZIZ magazine Keyboards on Fire pianist / composer competition.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Enzyclopadia of Jazz Musicians - John Serry Jr. ( Memento from August 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (archived / English)
  2. ↑ Interview with John Serry: Can jazz be a creative progressive art form? July 2, 2018 on jazzbluesnews.space (English)
  3. ↑ published on Stravinsky, the Composer , Vol. I, Musicmaster
personal data
SURNAME Serry, John Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Serrapica, John junior
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (piano, keyboards, composition)
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City