RICH SHEMARIA

RICH SHEMARIA 

Big Band

Dance All Night”

A composer, arranger, and pianist, and Jazz Composer in Residence at New York University, where I teach composition and arranging.  

Has written music for Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Tom Scott, Joe Lovano, Chris Potter, Michael and Randy Brecker, Lenny Pickett, Teo Macero, and a host of others. In the 1990s, Was director of the UMO Jazz Orchestra,  the national radio big band of Finland based in Helsinki, where I recorded two albums: "The Prescription: The Music Of Lenny Pickett" and "Michael Brecker: Live In Helsinki 1995,” both on Random Act Records. He also toured with Natalie Cole and conducted performances with Paquito de Rivera, Mercer Ellington, Steve Turre, and Dee Dee Bridgewater. In New York,

Runs the jazz orchestra and teaches composition. Through our faculty concert series with the NYU Jazz Orchestra at the Blue Note Jazz Club,

With Combo Nuvo, a group I formed with Dave Schroeder, who runs NYU’s Jazz Studies program, I play piano and synth. Dave and I pen most of the music and in 2006 we added a string orchestra. We’ve performed with the Sinfonica Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica; Peru National Symphony, United Arab Emirates Philharmonic, the i Solisti dell Orchestra del Teatro Verdi (Florence, Italy) and Morin Khuur Ensemble—the National Symphony of Mongolia. So far, we’ve released two CDs: "Nouveau Skteches" and "Far From Home,” which features a string quartet, big band and orchestra.

Saxes: David Pietro, David Mann, Rich Perry, Billy Drewes, Frank Vacin, Marc Phaneuf

Trumpets: Alex Sipiagin, Bob Millikan, Tim Hagans, Andy Gravish, Jim O' Connor

Trombones: Dave Bargeron, Dan Levine, Nick Grinder, David Taylor

Guitar: Brad Shepik

Piano: Rich Shemaria

Bass: Mike Richmond, Jerry Devore

Drums: Steve Johns