JAZZ@FIRST: THE BIRTH OF THE COOL

A CCJO nonette and CCJO artistic director and trumpeter Eric Lechliter will recreate the classic Miles Davis recording The Birth of the Cool, a 1950s album that changed the course of jazz. Also hear some of the other early Miles pieces that defined his career and made him one of jazz’s most influential and acclaimed figures.

Jazz@First Series Sponsor: Al Harris

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About the Artist: Eric Lechliter, trumpet

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Eric Lechliter is a professional musician, arranger and educator based in the Cincinnati area. An active trumpet player, he plays frequently with several local bands including The Cincy Brass, The Flying Circus Big Band, Craig Bailey’s Ohio Jazz Players, The Blue Wisp Big Band, The Society Jazz Orchestra, Pat Kelly’s PsychoAcoustic Orchestra and the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. He has shared the stage with international recordings artists including John Fedchock, Chris Vadala, Greg Gisbert, Terell Stafford, Byron Stripling, Bobby Broom, Barry
Ries, Alex Norris and many more.

As an arranger/composer, his music has been performed by the Dayton Jazz Orchestra, The CCM Jazz Lab band, The Cincinnati Youth Jazz Orchestra, the CCJO and The Original Farm League Big Band (which he founded in 2016). Since graduating from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, he has maintained a busy schedule as a jazz clinician and private teacher. He has also served as a faculty member for Miami Valley Jazz Camp starting in 2013, and currently directs the Xavier University Jazz Orchestra as an adjunct professor of music.

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About the Artist: Phil DeGreg

Phil DeGreg began playing the piano in his childhood and now performs as a jazz pianist internationally. His earliest jazz influences were Bud Powell and Bill Evans, but he is accomplished and comfortable in a wide range of jazz styles, ranging from mainstream to bebop to Brazilian jazz. A graduate of Yale and the University of North Texas, he toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra in the 1980’s, and has 10 CD’s to his credit as a leader. For 13 years he accompanied many national and international jazz artists in the house trio in Cincinnati’s famous Blue Wisp Jazz Club. He has been on staff with the renowned Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops since 1983, and has performed and taught in Europe and South America.

Phil DeGreg is the retired Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts study grants. In 2008 he was awarded a 4 month Fulbright Fellowship as a lecturer in Brazil.

His text “Jazz Keyboard Harmony” is a practical text for teaching jazz harmony for all musicians, and is used all over the world in universities and for private study.

Learn more about Phil DeGreg on his website http://phildegreg.com.