INTRODUCING OUR NEW WOODSHED JAZZ BAND EXPERIENCE
We are so excited to announce a new program designed for aspiring jazz musicians. This is a mentorship experience where a very select number of musicians will have the opportunity to shadow 3 highly regarded and renowned jazz musicians from Dallas, Texas. Bassist Jonathon Fisher, Pianist Peter Rioux, and Drummer Andrew Griffith have been the RIFF Dallas Jazz Band for the past 6 years and are known by working jazz tap artists as some of the best in the business!
Jonathon Fisher
Jonathan Fisher is a graduate of the prestigious and internationally renowned University of North Texas (UNT) Jazz Studies Program in Denton, Texas, ranked No. 1 by U.S. News and World Report since 1994. Jonathan is an active player in the Dallas music scene and, long prior to graduating UNT, has been playing predominantly jazz, but also latin, blues, salsa, calypso, rock and acoustic singer-songwriter. Jonathan performs live music nightly and teaches bass students both in person and online. Jonathan was recently given the opportunity to join the adjunct jazz bass faculty at the esteemed UNT Jazz Studies Program for a year, an opportunity that allowed him to work under jazz bass aficionado and UNT head bass instructor, Lynn Seaton.
Jonathan’s pursuit of a high level of playing led him to travel to Paris for studies with modern bass virtuoso and pedagogue François Rabbath. Noting influences of Edgar Meyer, François Rabbath, Ray Brown, John Coltrane, Oscar Pettifford and Paul Chambers, Jonathan strives to fully explore the acoustic bass and the tonal possibilities of his instrument and encourages the same of his students. He has also studied privately with Lynn Seaton, Paul Ellison, and Jeff Bradetich and continues to pursue his continuing education and disciplined practice regime in order to maintain a level of playing that continues to improve and grow.
Jonathan has had the opportunity to play with revered members of the international and national jazz scene, including: Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Bernard Wright, Dave Zoller, Shelley Carroll, Stefan Karlsson, Marchel Ivery, Brad Leali, Steve Lippia, and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and has also performed with Bernadette Peters and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He has experience as a session musician and has a diverse list of recordings in addition to his own original project, FM Acoustic. Jonathan has a love of live performance and teaching and is excited about his expanding careers in both.
Andrew Griffith
Born in Dallas, TX, Andrew Griffith developed an early interest in music and listened to jazz, classical, and other records from his parents’ collection. Especially drawn to the drums, he joined his sixth grade school band and started learning the basics of percussion, with an emphasis on Timpani. Andrew began playing the drum set and eventually joined the Jazz Combo under director, Bart Marantz at Booker T. Washington High School of the Performing and Visual Arts. Andrew attended the world renowned University of North Texas where he studied with the great teacher Ed Soph, and played with the UNT Jazz Repertory Ensemble and the 3 ‘O Clock Lab Band among others and was chosen to play with visiting artists/clinicians such as Wynton Marsalis, Red Rodney, Doc Cheatham, Houston Person, Bucky Pizzarelli, and numerous others.
Andrew became a professional gigging musician immediately after high school when he began playing that summer with recent Booker T. Graduates such as trumpeter Whitney Russell, saxophonist Keith Loftis, and pianist Fred Sanders. Becoming ensconsed in the jazz scene, Andrew went on to play and learn from many great local musicians such as pianists Claude Johnson, Thomas Reese, and Roger Boykin; bassists Charles Scott and James Gilyard; and vocalists Sandra Kaye and Simone Jackson-Rodgers. Andrew started playing with the great saxophonist Marchel Ivery around 1993-1994 and played with him regularly until his untimely passing in October of 2007. Mr. Ivery’s mentorship and friendship contributed hugely to Andrew’s growth as a musician and person.
Andrew has played with pianists Cedar Walton, Monty Alexander, and Cyrus Chestnut; saxophonists David “Fathead” Newman, Red Holloway, Houston Person and Javon Jackson, trumpeters Dwayne Clemons, Tex Allen, and Mike Vax, trombonists Wycliffe Gordon and Frank Lacy, flutist Holly Hofmann, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, organists Joey DeFrancesco and Jack McDuff, vocalists Melba Joyce, Jazzmeia Horn, Rosanna Vitro, Kimberly Gordon and Cheryl Bentyne, composer/arranger Johnny Pate, and The Duke Ellington Orchestra under the direction of Barrie Lee Hall. He has recorded with Marchel Ivery, Joey DeFrancesco, James Gilyard, Sandra Kaye, Simone Jackson-Rodgers, Roger Boykin, Curt Bradshaw, Gregory Slavin, Jim Shannon, The Texas Gypsies, and many others. He currently stays busy playing on the local DFW music scene with such artists as Shelley Carrol, Brad Leali, James Gilyard, Roger Boykin, TRIO SOUTH (which includes pianist Alan Jay Palmer and bassist Buddy Mohmed), the Mark Goodwin Trio, and many others. He is a recipient of the Sammons jazz Artist of the Year award.
Peter Rioux
From Canada’s east coast, Peter Rioux’s traditional piano style is heavily rooted in the blues idiom. As a teenager, Rioux developed an interest in improvisational music which he expanded through jazz studies at St. Francis Xavier University and the University of North Texas. Throughout his career, Rioux has had the pleasure of touring with blues legend, Lazy Lester, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, D.J. Fontana. Rioux’s career is also comprised of multiple cross Canada tours and performances at some of the country’s top music festivals. In recent years he has maintained a busy schedule performing around the DFW metroplex as a leader and a sideman. Under the leadership of saxophonist Shelley Carrol, he has opened for Ravi Coltrane and has performed in tribute shows in honor of Don Wilkerson and Arnett Cobb. Rioux has coordinated Bud Powell tributes shows and is dedicated to paying respect to jazz tradition through teaching and performing.