Jon Metzger (born July 30, 1959) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, author, and educator.
Jon Metzger (born July 30, 1959) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, author, and educator.
Metzger was raised in McLean, Virginia, and received early musical influence from his mother, Evelyn Metzger, who was a violinist and pianist. His early music training included piano lessons, participation in the Washington, D.C. Youth Orchestra Program (where he played the mallet percussion instruments for the first time), and private percussion study with Al Merz of the National Symphony. He attended the Potomac School and at age 15 was permitted to keep the school's vibraphone at home over the summer. His older sister took him to a concert by vibraphonist Milt Jackson at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. [1]
Metzger attended Langley High School where he played in the jazz ensemble under the direction of trumpeter George Horan. In 1981 he completed a Bachelor of Music degree at the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem [2] where he studied primarily with J. Massie Johnson. He attended master classes with marimbists Gordon Stout and Leigh Howard Stevens and vibraphonists Milt Jackson, Gary Burton, and Dave Samuels. As a college student, he began working in Piedmont, North Carolina, forming his quartet and developing original repertoire.
He recorded Jon Metzger/Vibes, his first album as a leader, in 1984 in New York City with pianist Phil Markowitz, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer Ted Moore. Out of the Dark [3] with pianist Fred Hersch, bassist Marc Johnson, and drummer Joey Baron was funded by a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and released by VSOP Records in 1986. [4] He has recorded as a leader and as a sideman for the Summit, Soul Note, Jazz Karma, and Elon Improvibes labels with John Brown, Ron Elliston, Cyrus Chestnut, Neena Freelon, Vincent Gardner, Danny Gottlieb, Allison Miller, Herlin Riley, Claire Ritter, Ronnie Wells, and Jack Wilkins. [5]
Metzger has toured extensively to jazz clubs and festivals in the US and abroad, including as a jazz ambassador for the Department of State under the auspices of the United States Information Agency's Arts America Program, [6] which from 1985–1995 included tours to Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Columbia, Syria, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco, [7] Tunisia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emerites. In 2010 he was a Cultural Envoy to Haceteppe State University in Ankara, Turkey, where he worked with the faculty on the formation of their Jazz Studies program. [8] [9]
Metzger has been a professor of music at Elon University since 1989. [10] He was honored with Elon's Distinguished Scholar Award in 2005. [11]
With Ronnie Wells
With others
Milton "Bags" Jackson was an American jazz vibraphonist, usually thought of as a bebop player, although he performed in several jazz idioms. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with hard bop and post-bop players.
The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. For most of its history the Quartet consisted of John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphone), Percy Heath, and Connie Kay (drums). The group grew out of the rhythm section of Dizzy Gillespie's big band from 1946 to 1948, which consisted of Lewis and Jackson along with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke. They recorded as the Milt Jackson Quartet in 1951 and Brown left the group, being replaced on bass by Heath. During the early-to-mid-1950s they became the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lewis became the group's musical director, and they made several recordings with Prestige Records, including the original versions of their two best-known compositions, Lewis's "Django" and Jackson's "Bags' Groove". Clarke left the group in 1955 and was replaced as drummer by Connie Kay, and in 1956 they moved to Atlantic Records and made their first tour to Europe.
Kenneth Clarke Spearman, nicknamed Klook, was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. A major innovator of the bebop style of drumming, he pioneered the use of the ride cymbal to keep time rather than the hi-hat, along with the use of the bass drum for irregular accents.
Percy Heath was an American jazz bassist, brother of saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Albert Heath, with whom he formed the Heath Brothers in 1975. Heath played with the Modern Jazz Quartet throughout their long history and also worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Wes Montgomery, and Thelonious Monk.
Robert Hutcherson was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note album Components, is one of his best-known compositions. Hutcherson influenced younger vibraphonists including Steve Nelson, Joe Locke, and Stefon Harris.
Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be heralded as an innovator, and his sound and technique are widely imitated. He is also known for pioneering fusion jazz and popularizing the duet format in jazz, as well as being a major figure in music education from his 30 years at the Berklee College of Music.
Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is a seven-time Grammy Award winner.
Harold Mabern Jr. was an American jazz pianist and composer, principally in the hard bop, post-bop, and soul jazz fields. He is described in The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings as "one of the great post-bop pianists".
Django is an album by the Modern Jazz Quartet, first released on 12-inch LP in 1956.
Irene Louise Rosnes, known professionally as Renee Rosnes, is a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Michael Scott Smith was an American jazz drummer and percussionist. Based in the Washington D.C. - Baltimore area for most of his 40-year career, Smith played with many jazz greats including Dave Liebman, Herbie Hancock, John Abercrombie, Randy Brecker, Tommy Flanagan, Billy Eckstein, Astrud Gilberto, Freddie Hubbard, Herb Ellis, and Milt Jackson.
Steve Shapiro is an American music producer, session musician, and jazz vibraphonist.
Charles "Buddy" Montgomery was an American jazz vibraphonist and pianist. He was the younger brother of Wes and Monk Montgomery, a guitarist and bassist respectively.
Wizard of the Vibes is a Blue Note Records compilation of performances by jazz vibraphonist Milt Jackson. The sessions were the work of The Thelonious Monk Quintet and The Modern Jazz Quartet plus Lou Donaldson. The album has been recompiled and expanded three additional times, with various tracks from these sessions added and deleted.
Hank Mobley and His All Stars is an album by jazz saxophonist Hank Mobley, released on the Blue Note label in 1957 as BLP 1544. It was recorded on January 13, 1957, and features Mobley along with the other members of the first lineup of the Jazz Messengers: pianist Horace Silver, bassist Doug Watkins, and drummer Art Blakey, with vibraphonist Milt Jackson of Modern Jazz Quartet.
"Bags' Groove" is a jazz composition by Milt Jackson. It was first recorded by the Milt Jackson Quintet on April 7, 1952 for Blue Note Records, later released on Wizard of the Vibes. Lou Donaldson, John Lewis, Percy Heath and Kenny Clarke were on that date. Next was the Mat Mathews quintet with Herbie Mann, Bud Powell, Mat Mathews again, a bootleg version by the MJQ, the Lighthouse All-Stars, bassist Buddy Banks' quartet and then Jay Jay Johnson and Kai Winding. Other important recordings include those by Ray Bryant, Oscar Peterson, Al Haig, George Russell, Mal Waldron.
This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1999.
This is a timeline documenting events of Jazz in the year 1926.
Claire Ritter is an American composer and pianist working in a style that fuses jazz with classical, new music, and occasionally other world music cultures.
Christos Rafalides is an acclaimed jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator based in New York City.
