[email protected] MICHAEL SMOLENS (510)684-4852(c)/649-7993(stud.) __________________________________________________________________________________________________ TEACHING Privately, group classes & workshops since 1974/ZOOM workshops since March 2020 Coaching freelance music teachers in pedagogy & marketing since 2000 Piano/Key. - technique, improv, repertoire, theory, ear-training, comp/arranging, practicing principles Voice - Western/N.Indian technique, scatting, song interpretation, vocal percussion, real-time looping Percussion - universal pulse & polyrhythmic principles, West-African & Egyptian percussion, drum set 12-Week Full Ensemble Jazz Class - unique blend of skill building, practice partnerships & tune- specific improvising in a state-of-the-art facility (recording level grand piano, drum set, PA, studio acoustics) Sonoma State Univ. (2002-present adjunct), JFK Univ(on-going), East Bay Center for Performing Arts (1989) Vocal Improvisation Clinician - SoVoSo, A Cappella Summit, S.F. & Marin City College PERFORMED OR RECORDED WITH: Stefon Harris (vibes), Paul McCandless, Paul Hanson & Sheldon Brown (reeds), David Balakrishnan & Evan Price (jazz violin), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Rhiannon, Claudia Schmidt & members of Voicestra (voice) OTHER ORIGINAL ENSEMBLES "KRIYA Jazz Octet" - mini-big band featuring modal, ECM, swung, & 20th century inspired works "Project Vox" - 8-person vocal ensemble (primarily a cappella with percussion, synth, piano) "New American Songbook Project" - sextet featuring reconstructions of iconic jazz, pop, & folk songs "Brisas do Brasil" - trio of keyboard/alto flute/voice + percussion + voice/percussion "Bal du Kor" - West-African acoustic fusion trio combining indigenous & Western instruments RECORDINGS AS LEADER/COMPOSER 2008 Essentions with KRIYA Jazz Octet 2008 Rasa and Her Moods with earPlay Jazzquintet 2007 Piano & Vocal Instructional Series Vol. 1 & 2 2003 Live At Yoshi’s KRIYA Jazz Septet 2002 Live Duo Series with Michael Smolens/Sheldon Brown Duo (free improvisations/18 instruments) Vol. 1/2/3 and Train to Tourmaline (1997) 1992 The Last Rendezvous (chamber works) COMMISSIONS Meet the Composer (2006/1995), Bernard Osher Foundation (2002), See's Sunday Night Series (1995), and dozens of private commissions from vocalists, composers, churches, & local arts organizations BOOKS IN PRODUCTION "The Art of Practicing", "Diatonic Transposition in Jazz", & "Beginners Guide to Improvising at the Piano" EDUCATION UCSC - B.A. Jazz Comp. & Performance (1979)/B.A. Classical Music (1979)/Orff-Schulwerk Lev.1 (1996) Jazz Piano/Composition/Arranging - Art Lande (ECM Records), Kenny Werner (BMG Records), Allaudin Mathieu (Mills College), Randy Masters (Inner City Records), & Bevan Manson (UC Berkeley) Classical Piano - Marc Steiner (Taubman Institute), & Marilyn Thompson (S.F. Trio) Early Music Performance Practice - Kathleen Kraft (baroque flute),Bruce Wetmore (stud. of G. Leonhardt) Jazz Voice - Mark Murphy (Inner City Records) Western Classical Voice - Freyda Epstein (Hyperion Records), Jane Boothroyd (Harmonia Mundi Records), Maeve Udell (Seth Riggs Method), Rocio Guitard & Jane Sharp North Indian Classical Raga - Pandit Pran Nath (Grammavision Records) & Terry Riley (Columbia Records) Percussion - Abdoulaye Diakite & Mamudu Kouyate (West-African), Vince del Gado & Mark Helm (Egyptian), Kim Atkinson (Brazilian), Balinese Gamelan (Sekar Jaya), & Reinhard Flatischler (Ta Ke Ti Na).