 Buddy
Thomas
My
father, musician, industrial line mechanic and trouble
shooter; taught me that in learning and doing things,
nothing is impossible…. |
 Glenn
Thomas
(on left)
Precocious
and prodigious, my brother and most tenacious friend,
my first student who became my teacher also…. |
 Marshall
Taylor
The
quintessential performer, with exhaustive knowledge and
musicianship…. |
|
 Roland
Hanna.
Ron
was Roland's private student in NYC from 1968 until
1971 or '72 while finishing his masters degree in composition
from Long Island University.
|
 Will
Parsons
Percussionist and
Musical Inventor, an American heartland pioneer…. |
 Pat
Martino
As
close as family and more than the world’s greatest
jazz guitarist, a profound musical thinker and composer… |
 Karlheinz
Stockhausen
A
major historical force in European music, I was among
several fortunate American students whose friendship he
enjoyed in the mid sixties… |
 Bill
Evans
Whose
music and methods completely redirected my life. |
 Miles
Davis
Whose
music and methods completely redirected my life. |
 Ludmila
Ulehla
(left)
Composition teachers at the Manhattan School of Music,
they represent the best of the original ideals of “The
Music Conservatory”…. |
 Nicolas
Flagello
Composition
teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, they represent
the best of the original ideals of “The Music Conservatory”….
|
 Vittorio
Giannini
Composition
teachers at the Manhattan School of Music, they represent
the best of the original ideals of “The Music Conservatory”…. |
 Raoul
Pleskow
Hidden
treasure… ”Mozart” to Wolpe’s Beethoven
…. |
 John
Cage
Once
a year, endless cups of Chinese tea and long talks from
1965 until his death in 1992… |
 Hellmut
Gottschild
His
importance as a revolutionary thinker will not remain
hidden forever….More than a Modern Dance Master,
a renaissance thinker, the source of “physicality”
in my music…. |
 Ron
Dewar
Anyone
lucky enough to have heard him play or (better yet) to
have played with him, knows that words are hopelessly
inadequate to describe his musical gifts …. |
 Steve
Heimel
Lifelong
discussion partner; art and culture, broadly speaking
…. |
 Hobbson
Pittman
(American
painter and instructor) A guided tour through the minds
of the great painters
... |
 Michael
Steinberg
Creating
a taste for Mahler and introducing us in 1959 to the music
of Elliot Carter, Milton Babbit, and other forbidden fruits…. |
 Igor
Stravinsky
Inventing
and inhabiting his own special world with it’s
own peculiar dazzling gravity and light
|
 Maryanne
Amacher
Took
Stockhausen seriously (as I did) in 1964 and applied his
innovations to her own innovative soundscapes…. |
 Jon
English
Composer,
trombonist, bassist, and lifelong best friend…. |
 Stefan
Wolpe
A
“Beethoven” for the 20th Century, living in
America…. |
 Sergei
Rachmininov
Haunting
beauty made in secret places…. |
 Herbie
Hancock
Unofficially my greatest Jazz
Professor; he is The Boss. |
 Sal
Martirano
The
generous, gentle, wildman of American music…. |
 Dennis
Sandole
Thanks
to Pat Martino's recommendation, Dennis' teaching brought
conflict-resolution to my Jazz /Classical quandry |
Maryanne
Amacher