Tom Dempsey (musician)

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Tom Dempsey (* around 1970) is an American modern jazz musician ( guitar , composition ) and music teacher. According to Allmusic , he is considered a solid guitarist and composer of mainstream jazz , whose style incorporates influences from Wes Montgomery and Grant Green as well as more modern players such as John Abercrombie and John Scofield .

Live and act

Dempsey studied first at Rutgers University (Bachelor in 1991), then at the Manhattan School of Music , where he graduated with a Master in 1996. Since then he has worked in the New York jazz scene with musicians such as Wynton Marsalis , Paquito D'Rivera , Jim Hall , Tal Farlow , Buddy Montgomery , George Coleman , Kenny Barron , Roy Haynes , Jack McDuff , Bobby McFerrin , Gerald Wilson , Mel Tormé , Richard Wyands , Muhal Richard Abrams, and Dave Brubeck . So far, he has released six albums under his own name; He also worked as an accompanist on numerous recordings. Kris Jensen , Luis Perdomo , Tim Ferguson (kb) and drummers John Wilson and Scott Latzky participated in his 1998 album Blues in the Slope . In the field of jazz, Tom Lord counted eight recording sessions between 1998 and 2015 in which Dempsey was involved. He is currently co-leader of the Tom Dempsey / Tim Ferguson Quartet , which includes Chris Byars and Eliot Zigmund .

Dempsey has also been heard at jazz festivals such as the JVC Jazz Festival and the San Francisco Jazz Festival and in venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center , the Blue Note , Yoshi’s , Smalls and Smoke . He also appeared on the HBO series Sex and the City , for which he also wrote music. Dempsey taught a. a. at Jazz at Lincoln Center, LaGuardia Community College, SUNY New Paltz, Rutgers University, and the New York Jazz Academy; he was also the artistic director of the Jazz Summit at the National Guitar Workshop. He is currently (2019) an Assistant Professor of Music at LaGuardia Community College and a faculty member at Jazz at Lincoln Center. He wrote the textbooks Jazz Eras for Guitar, Easy Soloing for Jazz Guitar, Sight-Reading for the Contemporary Guitarist, Theory for the Contemporary Guitarist and Classic Jazz Styles for Guitar , published by Alfred Music and Workshop Arts and other textbooks such as the Jazz Scales Handbook .

Discographic notes

  • If Only We Knew (self-published)
  • Blues in the Slope (Igmod Records, 1998)
  • Tom Dempsey / Tim Ferguson: Perspectives (Imaginary Records 2003), with David Bixler, Jeff Brillinger
  • Tom Dempsey / Tim Ferguson: What's Going On (City Tone Records, 2007)
  • Saucy (Planet Arts Records, 2010), with Ron Oswanski , Alvin Atkinson
  • Tom Dempsey & Tim Ferguson Quartet: Beautiful Friendship (Planet Arts Records, 2010), with Joel Frahm , Eliot Zigmund
  • Tom Dempsey / Tim Ferguson: Waltz New (OA2, 2015), with Joel Frahm, Eliot Zigmund

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Tom Dempsey, Guitar. Smalls, August 11, 2019, accessed August 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed August 15, 2019)
  3. ↑ a b Discography as Leader (until 2003)
  4. ↑ Meeting (AllAboutJazz)
personal data
SURNAME Dempsey, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician (guitar, composition)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1970