Core Faculty Full Line-up
These are the folks that you'll be working with all four days at JazzWire Summer Summit. They will be teaching the small combos, electives, masterclasses, and masterclasses. (Core faculty is rotated each day.)
Jeff Antoniuk
Saxophone/Artistic Director
Born in Edmonton Canada, and having lived in Nigeria as a child, saxophonist and educator Jeff Antoniuk has defined his musical life by creating and expanding communities, whether improvising a solo, connecting with a festival audience, or in his numerous workshops and master classes. Heralded for his “considerable chops” (Jazz Times Magazine) and “a creative spark that never lets up,” (Rochester City Paper) Antoniuk is a force to be reckoned with on the horn, and a master educator
renowned around the world. His “Digging Deeper” jazz education videos on Your Tube and Facebook have been watched over 3 million times.
An Eastman Saxophones, Boston Sax Shop and Rovner artist, Jeff is internationally respected as both a master performer, and as an engaging and inspirational educator. He has received numerous awards and commissions, and has produced over 10 critically acclaimed albums over the past several decades. He is currently the Artistic Director of the four international JazzWire Summit workshop and Jazz Band Masterclass in the Washington DC region. Jeff has performed with the likes of Jimmy Haslip, Marcus Miller, Ingrid Jensen and Helen Sung.
A past university professor and guest lecturer, Jeff became clear that good jazz eduction is not about “more information.” Better education is based on more wisdom, more curation, and more community. His subscription web site, www.JazzWire.net is connecting adult musicians from over 25 different countries around the globe, and providing them with a place to support each other, to truly connect and work together, and to get great, actionable input. Jeff has personally worked with thousands of adult musicians to help get jazz back into their lives.
An Eastman Saxophones, Boston Sax Shop and Rovner artist, Jeff is internationally respected as both a master performer, and as an engaging and inspirational educator. He has received numerous awards and commissions, and has produced over 10 critically acclaimed albums over the past several decades. He is currently the Artistic Director of the four international JazzWire Summit workshop and Jazz Band Masterclass in the Washington DC region. Jeff has performed with the likes of Jimmy Haslip, Marcus Miller, Ingrid Jensen and Helen Sung.
A past university professor and guest lecturer, Jeff became clear that good jazz eduction is not about “more information.” Better education is based on more wisdom, more curation, and more community. His subscription web site, www.JazzWire.net is connecting adult musicians from over 25 different countries around the globe, and providing them with a place to support each other, to truly connect and work together, and to get great, actionable input. Jeff has personally worked with thousands of adult musicians to help get jazz back into their lives.
James Moore
Trumpet
Dr. James Moore, Dean of the Faculty and Chief Academic Officer at West Virginia Wesleyan College, served as Director of Jazz Ensembles and instructor of trumpet at Wesleyan from 2006 to 2017. From 2011 to 2017, he served as the chairperson of the Department of Music at Wesleyan and has worked to build one of the most vibrant collegiate jazz programs in the region. Dr. Moore is an active member of the Pittsburgh jazz community where he is a member of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra and has been a member of RH Factor—the Roger Humphries quintet. He has performed with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the Bob Mintzer Big Band, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ahmad Jamal, Sheryl Bailey, Tim Warfield, and the Lars Halle Jazz Orchestra. Moore appeared on Bob Mintzer’s GRAMMY nominated album For the Moment, released on the MCG Jazz label in 2012. In 2015, Moore appeared alongside NEA Jazz Master Phil Woods and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a reprisal of the famous Charlie Parker and Clifford Brown with strings recordings. Moore studied trumpet with Bonnie Miltenberger, Neil Stalnaker, John Swana, and Tim Hagans. He holds an MM in Jazz Studies from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and is the first recipient of the PhD in Jazz Studies from the University of Pittsburgh where his advisor was Dr. Nathan T. Davis—founder of the original Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra.
Steve Herberman
Guitar
Steve Herberman is a graduate of Berklee College Of Music majoring in Jazz guitar performance. He began playing a seven-string guitar in 1993. Steve has recorded numerous CD's as both leader and sideman and is a respected jazz educator. Steve Herberman's original composition "What We Do" won first place in the jazz category of the 2018 USA Songwriting Competition. Steve has about 60 video lessons published on Mike's Masterclasses and has toured across the US and Europe playing and teaching. He is featured in the book The Great Jazz Guitarists by Scott Yanow and placed as a top guitarist in the 2022 All About Jazz reader's poll. Herberman is on the faculty of JazzWire and JazzBand Masterclass. Steve is an endorser of Comins Guitars and GLB Sound amps and is based in the Washington DC area.
Greg Boyer
Trombone
Greg Boyer got his professional musical start on tenor sax at the tender age of fifteen, switching to trombone as a freshman at St Mary's College of Maryland. Soon afterwards, he joined George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic, where he served as horn section arranger, touring the world for 19 years.
Currently with Maceo Parker, his resumé also includes arranger and performer with Prince, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Bootsy Collins, David Sanborn, Kid Rock, and many more.
Amy Shook
Bass
Amy Shook is one of the most in-demand acoustic bassists in the mid-Atlantic, coveted for her huge sound and infectious, driving groove. In addition to being a premier performing and recording artist, and a multi-instrumentalist (acoustic bass, electric bass, violin, viola, and cello), she is an accomplished composer, and her personality truly comes through in her writing.
Amy co-leads the all-women powerhouse trio the 3D Jazz Trio (3Divas), with drummer Sherrie Maricle and pianist Jackie Warren. 3D is the super-swingin’ trio that sparked the fire that ignited the award-winning show Maurice Hines is Tappin’ Thru Life, described by the New York Times as “blistering hot.” In 2017, 3D’s eagerly awaited debut CD, simply titled 3Divas, was met with widespread critical acclaim. Both of 3D’s 2020 recordings, I Love To See You Smile, (released in April 2020), and Christmas in 3D (released October 2020) were recorded at Red Rock Recording Studio in Saylorsburg, PA. Both albums received widespread critical acclaim, with I Love To See You Smile landing a four-star review in Downbeat Magazine and inclusion on Downbeat’s year end “Best of 2020 albums,” and a ranking of #10 overall on RMR’s “Top Jazz Album Chart 2020,” as well as in the top 50 of “Top Albums of 2020” on the NACC year end chart. Christmas in 3D was featured first in line in the New York Times “20 Albums That Put a New Spin on the Holidays,” and Ranked #4 overall with Christmas in 3D on RMR’s Top Holiday Album Chart for the Year of 2020, peaking at #1.
Sherrie Maricle
Drums
From the drum set Sherrie leads The DIVA Jazz Orchestra, her quintet FIVE PLAY and co-leads the 3Divas. From Carnegie Hall, she performs with The New York Pops and from celebrated stages everywhere, she is music director and drummer for Broadway star Maurice Hines. Sherrie is also a busy freelance performer and a published composer/arranger. The DIVA Jazz Orchestra’s 25th Anniversary Project (2018, ArtistShare) is the band’s most recent Cd, featuring original music composed by band members.
With her bands Sherrie has performed at many of the world’s most acclaimed music venues and festivals; from Lincoln Center to the Kennedy Center and the Hollywood Bowl, to Jazz Festivals in Europe, Japan, Israel and beyond. Additionally, DIVA was featured on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, on TCM’s televised broadcast of the 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center and NHK Japan’s New York Jazz.
Sherrie has received several awards and honors, including the New York City Music Educator’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education. As an educator, Sherrie runs a private drum set and percussion studio. She is also a clinician for Yamaha Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Aquarian Drum Heads and Vic Firth Drum Sticks. After earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1985 from Binghamton University Sherrie moved to New York City and attended New York University, where she completed a Masters of Arts in Jazz Performance in 1986 and a Doctorate of Philosophy in Jazz Performance/Composition in 2000.
Jackie Warren
Piano
A native of Colorado, pianist Jackie Warren originally came to Ohio upon the recommendations of her teachers Patricia Warren, Myra Boitos, Charles Day, and Steve Barta to study piano at Oberlin Conservatory with Sedmara Zakarian Rutstein, where she graduated with a B.M. in classical performance. While at Oberlin, she also studied jazz arranging, composition, and theory with Wendell Logan, who became a mentor to her, and encouraged her to study jazz piano with Neal Creque and jazz improvisation with Kenny Davis. Jackie received a M.M. from Cleveland State University in classical piano performance, studying with Andrius Kuprevicius and Daniel Barber, and continued her lessons with Creque.
Jackie performs regularly as a soloist, but has her own jazz trio, which includes bassist Peter Dominguez and drummer Ron Godale. She also arranges and plays salsa and Latin jazz with percussionist Sammy Deleon y su orquesta. Most recently, Jackie began working with Sherrie Maricle and the DIVA Jazz Orchestra, backing up Maurice Hines’ TAPPIN’ THRU LIFE at the Cleveland Playhouse. She has been travelling with the show ever since, continuing on to more critically acclaimed performances in Wilmington at the Delaware Theatre Company, Off-Broadway at New World Stages in New York, and at Penn’s Landing Playhouse in Philadelphia, and a live webcast concert version of the show at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. They also filmed a TV version of the show live at the Katharine Hepburn Performing Arts Center in Old Saybrook, CT, for The Kate TV series’ second season. During the course of these shows, the rhythm section, consisting of Jackie, Sherrie Maricle, and Amy Shook decided to form their own group, and the powerhouse trio 3Divas was born.
Brent Birckhead
Saxophone
Saxophonist Brent Birckhead is an award-winning artist, whose aesthetic is an intersectional amalgam of traditional and popular styles. Unbound by genre, Birckhead’s approach to woodwind artistry is driven by his compulsion for creative risk and deep respect for legacy. His place in the continuum of a storied lineage begins with his surname, Birckhead, and extends to his extensive musical education and work ethic as a visionary approach to life as a rising leader.
Educated at Howard University (BME, MM), Birckhead was named best blues/pop/rock soloist and outstanding instrumental jazz soloist by Downbeat Magazine as part of the annual Student Music Awards. In 2011 Brent was named "Best Alto Saxophonist" by the Washington City Paper.
The Baltimore native's talent earned him the honor of performing and touring with legendary artists including Lauryn Hill, Nas, Wale, Eric Benet, Larry Graham, George Duke and many more.
Birckhead is a professor of saxophone at Morgan State University. On February 22nd Birckhead released his self-titled debut album on Revive Music.
Leo Lucini
Bass
Leonardo Lucini is a bassist, producer, composer and educator residing in New York City. Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Mr. Lucini has performed and/or recorded locally and abroad with a variety of internationally renowned artists and lectured at many universities. Currently, Mr. Lucini is the Orchestra Director and Music instructor at Esperanza Preparatory Academy in Harlem, NY as well as performs with many artists and his band Origem. Leo is a past faculty member at Maryland Summer Jazz and Jazz Band Masterclass. A graduate of Howard University, Mr. Lucini holds a Masters in Music from the University of Maryland.
Frank Russo
Drums
A performer who has literally played around the globe, Frank Russo is one of the east coast's “go to” drummers in many styles. He is retired from the Naval Academy Band, and is past Professor of Drum Set Studies at Towson University in Baltimore, MD. Frank has an active career playing and recording with acts like the Donny McCaslin, John D’earth, Helluva Band, and his own group, the FAB trio.
The Summit reserves the right to change or substitute faculty at any time