George Colligan is a New York-based jazz pianist, organist, drummer, trumpet player, educator, composer and bandleader. He was born in New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, and raised in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. He attended the Peabody Institute

Peabody Institute

The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...

, majoring in classical trumpet and music education. In high school he learned to play the drums and later switched to piano.

An in-demand sideman, Colligan has worked with Phil Woods

Phil Woods

Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...

, Gary Bartz

Gary Bartz

Gary Bartz is an American alto and soprano saxophonist and clarinetist.Bartz graduated from the Baltimore City College high school and The Juilliard School...

, Robin Eubanks

Robin Eubanks

Robin Eubanks is an American jazz and jazz fusion slide trombonist, the brother of guitarist Kevin Eubanks and trumpeter Duane Eubanks.-Biography:...

, Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958...

, Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...

, Nicholas Payton

Nicholas Payton

Nicholas Payton is a jazz trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana.-Biography:The son of bassist and sousaphonist Walter Payton, he took up the trumpet at the age of four and by the time he was nine he was playing in the Young Tuxedo Brass Band alongside his father...

, Steve Wilson

Steve Wilson (jazz musician)

Steve Wilson is an American jazz saxophonist and flautist.-Biography:As a teenager, he played in various rhythm and blues and funk bands. After a year accompanying singer Stephanie Mills, he attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he majored in music. In 1987 he moved to New...

, Richard Bona

Richard Bona

Richard Bona is a jazz bassist and musician. His real African name, as he said live in Montreal in a show with Bobby McFerrin, is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo...

, Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson

Cassandra Wilson is an American jazz musician, vocalist, songwriter, and producer from Jackson, Mississippi. Described by critic Gary Giddins as "a singer blessed with an unmistakable timbre and attack [who has] expanded the playing field" by incorporating country, blues and folk music into her...

, Christian McBride

Christian McBride

Christian McBride is an American jazz bassist. His father, Lee Smith, and his great uncle, Howard Cooper, are well known Philadelphia bassists who served as McBride's early mentors...

, Buster Williams

Buster Williams

Charles Anthony Williams is an American jazz bassist.-Biography:Williams has gained prestige among jazz musicians as a solid supportive player. Since the early 1960s, he has made subtle swing, a precise rhythm and superb technique the landmark of his playing...

, Al Foster

Al Foster

Al Foster is an American jazz drummer. Foster played with Miles Davis's large funk fusion group in the 70s, was one of the few people to have contact with Miles during his retirement, and was also part of his comeback album The Man With the Horn of 1981...

, Don Byron

Don Byron

Don Byron is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist. He primarily plays clarinet, but has also used bass clarinet and saxophones....

, Benny Golson

Benny Golson

Benny Golson is an American bebop/hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger.-Biography:While in high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Golson played with several other promising young musicians, including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Jimmy Heath, Percy Heath, Philly Joe Jones, and...

, Lonnie Plaxico

Lonnie Plaxico

Lonnie Plaxico is an African American jazz bassist.Plaxico was born in Chicago, Illinois into a musical family, and started playing the bass at the age of twelve, turning professional at fourteen...

, Vanessa Rubin

Vanessa Rubin

Vanessa Rubin is an American jazz vocalist and composer.-Biography:Rubin was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, grew up in a musical household to parents from Trinidad and Louisiana. After achieving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Ohio State University...

, and many others. He counts Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

, Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

, Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

, Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

, Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...

, and McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

 as influences. Colligan is a recipient of the Chamber Music America award for composition and a winner of the Jazzconnect.com award. He has released 18 albums as a leader and is featured on over 100 albums as a sideman. Colligan's style is extremely eclectic; it incorporates everything from show tunes to funk, from free improvisation to modern classical music. Colligan has performed at festivals all over the world, including the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival

Vancouver International Jazz Festival

The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is an annual summer event in Vancouver, Canada.The festival grew out of a local jazz scene that centred around Vancouver Co-op Radio , a community radio station, in the early 1980s...

, and the Cancun Jazz Festival. In 2007, for the first time, he played trumpet with the trio Mr. Trumpet at the Festival of New Trumpet Music

Festival of New Trumpet Music

The Festival of New Trumpet Music supports new trumpet music in all forms, and provides a platform for emerging artists and creative pioneers. Its primary goal is to celebrate the excellence of the current music scene by hosting a broad array of new trumpet music performances...

, which is held annually in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. Colligan taught at the Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

.

In September 2009, Colligan moved to Winnipeg, Canada to teach at the University of Manitoba. He taught jazz history, piano, drums, trumpet, and led many different master classes. He was the songwriter-in-residence at Aqua Books

Aqua Books

Aqua Books is a Canadian independent bookstore opened in Winnipeg, Manitoba by Kelly Hughes in 1999. It has been acknowledged for helping revitalize downtown Winnipeg and creating an eclectic mix of programs and events for the Winnipeg arts and culture community.- Overview :Aqua Books consists of a...

 from February to March 2011.

In July 2011, Colligan moved to Portland, Oregon to teach at Portland State University. He is currently an Assistant Professor and Jazz Ensembles Coordinator.

Colligan is married to jazz pianist Kerry Politzer

Kerry Politzer

Kerry Politzer is a jazz pianist and composer with classical and Brazilian influences.She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Charlie Banacos. She also attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, Tanglewood, Interlochen, Yellow Barn and the Banff Jazz...

.

External links

• georgecolligan.com