Jeff Tyzik
Encyclopedia
Jeff Tyzik is an American
conductor, arranger
, and trumpeter from Rochester, New York
, working primarily with orchestral and jazz
styles.
, started playing cornet
at age 9. He attended college at the Eastman School of Music
in Rochester, earning Bachelor of Music
(1973) and Master of Music
(1977) degrees.
, who was teaching at the school at the time. Tyzik worked with Mangione between 1973 and 1980. During this time, Tyzik also began a long collaboration with Doc Severinsen
, when Severinsen brought Tyzik to London
to work on two albums with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
.
Tyzik recorded six albums as a solo trumpeter between 1981 and 1990, appearing on Capitol Records
, Polydor Records
(PolyGram
), and Amherst Records. He performed in the Rochester area with his own big band
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, Tyzik was also busy with Severinsen, serving as arranger and record producer for Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band. Tyzik won a Grammy Award
in 1987 for producing the 1986 album The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen.
In addition to Severinsen, Tyzik has arranged music and produced records for Maynard Ferguson
, the Woody Herman
Orchestra, and Chuck Mangione.
, a position he still holds. Since then, he has established himself as one of the country's preeminent Pops
conductors and arrangers, acting as Principal Pops Conductor for the RPO, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
, and as guest conductor for numerous other orchestras in the U.S., Canada
, and even Monte Carlo
. He also conducted the Brass Band of Battle Creek for a 1996 independent album.
His arrangements of popular and jazz tunes for full orchestra have been widely performed. Publisher G. Schirmer
commissioned Tyzik to arrange some of Duke Ellington
's jazz suites for orchestra, including Black, Brown and Beige and The Nutcracker Suite
. The Royal Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
, and the Summit Brass have all recorded music arranged or composed by Tyzik.
Tyzik has recently begun branching out into more traditional orchestral styles, conducting a few RPO concerts outside of the Pops series. At one such concert, he premiered his own Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, and later premiered his wind ensemble orchestration of the same piece with the Eastman Wind Ensemble
at Carnegie Hall
.
Most recently, a recording by the RPO, with Tyzik conducting and Jon Nakamatsu
on piano, of George Gershwin
's Piano Concerto in F
, Rhapsody in Blue
, and Cuban Overture
peaked at #3 on the Billboard
classical charts. The album, released 8 May 2007 on the Harmonia Mundi
label, received very positive reviews, with David Hurwitz calling it "unquestionably the best Gershwin disc to come along in years."
As a conductor, Tyzik is well regarded for his innovative yet accessible programming. He's noted for teaching the RPO how to swing, and for his easy rapport with audiences.
Currently, Tyzik lives in Rochester with his wife, Jill. Their daughter is mezzo-soprano
Jami Tyzik.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
conductor, arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
, and trumpeter from Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, working primarily with orchestral and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
styles.
Education
Tyzik, born in Hyde Park, New YorkHyde Park, New York
Hyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the hometown of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
, started playing cornet
Cornet
The cornet is a brass instrument very similar to the trumpet, distinguished by its conical bore, compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B. It is not related to the renaissance and early baroque cornett or cornetto.-History:The cornet was...
at age 9. He attended college at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
in Rochester, earning Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
(1973) and Master of Music
Master of Music
The Master of Music is the first graduate degree in Music awarded by universities and music conservatories. The M.Mus. combines advanced studies in an applied area of specialization with graduate-level academic study in subjects such as music history, music theory, or music pedagogy...
(1977) degrees.
Early career
While at Eastman, Tyzik met Rochesterian Chuck MangioneChuck Mangione
Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione is an American flugelhorn player and composer who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.-Early life and career:...
, who was teaching at the school at the time. Tyzik worked with Mangione between 1973 and 1980. During this time, Tyzik also began a long collaboration with Doc Severinsen
Doc Severinsen
Carl Hilding "Doc" Severinsen is an American pop and jazz trumpeter. He is best known for leading the NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.-Early life:...
, when Severinsen brought Tyzik to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to work on two albums with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
.
Tyzik recorded six albums as a solo trumpeter between 1981 and 1990, appearing on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, Polydor Records
Polydor Records
Polydor is a record label owned by Universal Music Group, headquartered in the United Kingdom.-Beginnings:Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Its name was first used as an export label in 1924, the British and German branches of the Gramophone...
(PolyGram
PolyGram
PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...
), and Amherst Records. He performed in the Rochester area with his own big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During this time, Tyzik was also busy with Severinsen, serving as arranger and record producer for Severinsen and the Tonight Show Band. Tyzik won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1987 for producing the 1986 album The Tonight Show Band with Doc Severinsen.
In addition to Severinsen, Tyzik has arranged music and produced records for Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson
Maynard Ferguson was a Canadian jazz musician and bandleader. He came to prominence playing in Stan Kenton's orchestra, before forming his own band in 1957...
, the Woody Herman
Woody Herman
Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...
Orchestra, and Chuck Mangione.
With the Rochester Philharmonic
In 1994, Tyzik was named Principal Pops Conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic OrchestraRochester Philharmonic Orchestra
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in the city of Rochester, Monroe County, New York. Its primary concert venue is the Eastman Theatre at the Eastman School of Music....
, a position he still holds. Since then, he has established himself as one of the country's preeminent Pops
Pops orchestra
A pops orchestra is an orchestra that plays popular music and show tunes as well as well-known classical works. Pops orchestras are generally organised in large cities and are distinct from the more "highbrow" symphony or philharmonic orchestras which also may exist in the same city...
conductors and arrangers, acting as Principal Pops Conductor for the RPO, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra performing in Vancouver, British Columbia. Over 240,000 people attend its live performances each year. It was founded in 1930 and plays in 12 venues. Its home is the Orpheum theatre. With an annual operating budget of $9.5 million, it is the...
, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Its primary concert venue is the Centennial Concert Hall, and the orchestra also performs throughout the province of Manitoba.-History:...
, and as guest conductor for numerous other orchestras in the U.S., Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and even Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
. He also conducted the Brass Band of Battle Creek for a 1996 independent album.
His arrangements of popular and jazz tunes for full orchestra have been widely performed. Publisher G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer
G. Schirmer Inc. is an American classical music publishing company based in New York City, founded in 1861. It publishes sheet music for sale and rental, and represents some well-known European music publishers in North America, such as the Italian Ricordi, Music Sales Affiliates ChesterNovello,...
commissioned Tyzik to arrange some of Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
's jazz suites for orchestra, including Black, Brown and Beige and The Nutcracker Suite
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
. The Royal Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
Cincinnati Pops Orchestra
The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra is a pops orchestra based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, founded in 1977 out of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Its members are also the members of the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Pops is managed by the same administration...
, and the Summit Brass have all recorded music arranged or composed by Tyzik.
Tyzik has recently begun branching out into more traditional orchestral styles, conducting a few RPO concerts outside of the Pops series. At one such concert, he premiered his own Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra, and later premiered his wind ensemble orchestration of the same piece with the Eastman Wind Ensemble
Eastman Wind Ensemble
The Eastman Wind Ensemble is an American concert band founded by Frederick Fennell at the Eastman School of Music in 1952. It is often credited with helping popularize wind music. Through the group, Fennell redefined wind ensemble to refer to a specific kind of wind band with only one player per...
at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
.
Most recently, a recording by the RPO, with Tyzik conducting and Jon Nakamatsu
Jon Nakamatsu
Jon Yasuhiro Nakamatsu is a Japanese American classical pianist who still resides in San Jose but mostly performs away from home. He is the son of David Y. Nakamatsu and Karen F. Maeda Nakamatsu .In June 1997 Nakamatsu won the Gold Medal at the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition...
on piano, of George Gershwin
George Gershwin
George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
's Piano Concerto in F
Concerto in F (Gershwin)
Concerto in F is a composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and orchestra which is closer in form to a traditional concerto than the earlier jazz-influenced Rhapsody in Blue...
, Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composition by George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band written in 1924, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects....
, and Cuban Overture
Cuban Overture
Cuban Overture is a symphonic overture or tone poem for orchestra composed by American composer George Gershwin. Originally titled Rumba, it was a result of a two-week holiday which Gershwin took in Havana, Cuba in February 1932...
peaked at #3 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
classical charts. The album, released 8 May 2007 on the Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is an independent music record label founded in 1958 by Bernard Coutaz in Arles . The Latin phrase means "world harmony"....
label, received very positive reviews, with David Hurwitz calling it "unquestionably the best Gershwin disc to come along in years."
As a conductor, Tyzik is well regarded for his innovative yet accessible programming. He's noted for teaching the RPO how to swing, and for his easy rapport with audiences.
Currently, Tyzik lives in Rochester with his wife, Jill. Their daughter is mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
Jami Tyzik.
Solo
- Farthest Corner of My Mind (1979, independent; 1981, Capitol; 1986, Amherst)
- Prophecy (1980, independent)
- Radiance (1982, Capitol)
- Jammin' in Manhattan (1984, Polydor)
- Smile (1985, Polydor)
- Distant Dreams (1990, Amherst)
Conductor
- George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F, Rhapsody in Blue, Cuban Overture (2007, Harmonia Mundi) (Jon Nakamatsu, piano; Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra)