Brian Q. Torff
Encyclopedia
Brian Q. Torff is a US jazz
double-bassist and composer
. He is currently a music program director at Fairfield University
in Connecticut
. The Fairfield Arts Council named Torff its 2008 Artist of the Year.
. He makes frequent appearances at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
leading the Fairfield University Jazz Ensemble along with guest jazz artists including Randy Brecker
, Bob Mintzer
, Bernard Purdie
, Milt Hinton
, Dave Samuels
and Paul Wertico
.
New York Festival, which has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Birdland
in New York City
. Torff has performed at Carnegie Hall
for Fiddle Fest where he appeared with Mark O'Connor
, Dave Grusin
, Regina Carter
, Yo-Yo Ma
, Itzhak Perlman
, and Pinchas Zukerman
. He performs in jazz festivals around the U.S., has founded the Fairfield University Summer Jazz Workshop and has served as co-chair person for the music advisory board for the National Endowment for the Arts
.
Brian Torff’s professional career began in 1974 when bassist Milt Hinton
offered him the opportunity of touring with Cleo Laine
. During the late 70’s, Torff recorded and performed with pianists Mary Lou Williams
and Marian McPartland
, and toured Australia
, New Zealand
, and Hong Kong
with the jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli
. He played in pianist Erroll Garner
’s last group and worked in the big bands of Oliver Nelson
, and The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra.
In 1979, Brian Torff joined in a duo with pianist George Shearing
. In the course of their 3½ year collaboration, they toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Brazil
, and South Africa
and were featured on The Tonight Show
, The Merv Griffin Show
, and their own PBS special from the Cafe Carlyle in New York City. They received worldwide acclaim, and were invited to perform at the White House
in 1982 for President Ronald Reagan
. Their third album won a Grammy for vocalist Mel Tormé
.
, and his own recordings "Life in East Bumblepuck," "Hitchhiker of Karoo," "Manhattan Hoe-Down," and "Workin' On a Bassline." He has composed scores that have been performed by the Boston Pops, Los Angeles Philharmonic
, and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and has appeared as conductor, composer, and clinician for numerous high school and college jazz festivals.
Brian Torff is the author of the book In Love With Voices: A Jazz Memoir, which chronicles Torff’s early musical roots and portraits of musicians he has worked with, including Frank Sinatra
, Mel Tormé, Erroll Garner
, Benny Goodman
, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland, Stephane Grappelli, and George Shearing.
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...
double-bassist and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. He is currently a music program director at Fairfield University
Fairfield University
Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the...
in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. The Fairfield Arts Council named Torff its 2008 Artist of the Year.
Teacher
Torff is a professor of music and the director of the music program at Fairfield University in Fairfield, ConnecticutFairfield, Connecticut
Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...
. He makes frequent appearances at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
There is also a Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, New York.The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is the major center of theatre and the arts at Fairfield University located in Fairfield, Connecticut. The Center includes events such as popular...
leading the Fairfield University Jazz Ensemble along with guest jazz artists including Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
, Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer
Bob Mintzer is a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader based in Los Angeles, California. Mintzer is a member of the jazz rock band the Yellowjackets.-With The Yellowjackets:*Greenhouse, 1991;*Live Wires, 1992;...
, Bernard Purdie
Bernard Purdie
Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk...
, Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton
Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:...
, Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels
Dave Samuels is an American vibraphone player who has worked with various jazz and fusion artists, such as Spyro Gyra. Currently, he plays in an ensemble called The Caribbean Jazz Project, a Grammy-winning jazz-Latin music group...
and Paul Wertico
Paul Wertico
Paul Wertico is an American drummer. He gained recognition as a member of the Pat Metheny Group from 1983 until 2001, leaving the group to spend more time with his family and to pursue other musical interests. Metheny heard the Simon Bard Group with Wertico and bassist Steve Rodby, and invited...
.
Performer
Brian Q. Torff is a bassist and composer. He is a featured bass soloist leading his own trio, and is the musical director for the Django ReinhardtDjango Reinhardt
Django Reinhardt was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture...
New York Festival, which has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and Birdland
Birdland (jazz club)
Birdland is a jazz club started in New York City on December 15, 1949. The original Birdland, which was located at 1678 Broadway, just north of West 52nd Street in Manhattan, was closed in 1965 due to increased rents, but it re-opened for one night in 1979...
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...
. Torff has performed 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....
for Fiddle Fest where he appeared with Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
, Dave Grusin
Dave Grusin
David Grusin is an American composer, arranger and pianist. Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, and has won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work, including an Academy award and 12 Grammys...
, Regina Carter
Regina Carter
Regina Carter is an American jazz violinist. She is the cousin of famous jazz saxophonist James Carter.-Early life:...
, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
, and Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...
. He performs in jazz festivals around the U.S., has founded the Fairfield University Summer Jazz Workshop and has served as co-chair person for the music advisory board for the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
.
Brian Torff’s professional career began in 1974 when bassist Milt Hinton
Milt Hinton
Milton John "Milt" Hinton , "the dean of jazz bass players," was an American jazz double bassist and photographer. He was nicknamed "The Judge".-Biography:...
offered him the opportunity of touring with Cleo Laine
Cleo Laine
Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
. During the late 70’s, Torff recorded and performed with pianists Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams
Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Williams wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements, and recorded more than one hundred records...
and Marian McPartland
Marian McPartland
Margaret Marian McPartland, OBE is an English-born jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio, NPR.-Early life:...
, and toured Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
with the jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
. He played in pianist Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard...
’s last group and worked in the big bands of Oliver Nelson
Oliver Nelson
Oliver Edward Nelson was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger and composer.-Early life and career:...
, and The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra.
In 1979, Brian Torff joined in a duo with pianist George Shearing
George Shearing
Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...
. In the course of their 3½ year collaboration, they toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, and South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and were featured on The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is an American late-night talk show that has aired on NBC since 1954. It is the longest currently running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States, and the third longest-running show on NBC, after Meet the Press and Today.The Tonight Show has been hosted by...
, The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to September 26, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in...
, and their own PBS special from the Cafe Carlyle in New York City. They received worldwide acclaim, and were invited to perform at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in 1982 for President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Their third album won a Grammy for vocalist Mel Tormé
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé , nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was an American musician, known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, a drummer, an actor in radio, film, and television, and the author of five books...
.
Composer & author
Torff has composed works for records with George Shearing and Larry CoryellLarry Coryell
Larry Coryell is an American jazz fusion guitarist.-Biography:Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. He graduated from Richland High School, in Richland, Washington, where he played in local bands The Jailers, The Rumblers, The Royals, and The Flames. He also played with The Checkers from nearby...
, and his own recordings "Life in East Bumblepuck," "Hitchhiker of Karoo," "Manhattan Hoe-Down," and "Workin' On a Bassline." He has composed scores that have been performed by the Boston Pops, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, and the Pittsburgh Symphony, and has appeared as conductor, composer, and clinician for numerous high school and college jazz festivals.
Brian Torff is the author of the book In Love With Voices: A Jazz Memoir, which chronicles Torff’s early musical roots and portraits of musicians he has worked with, including Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, Mel Tormé, Erroll Garner
Erroll Garner
Erroll Louis Garner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His best-known composition, the ballad "Misty", has become a jazz standard...
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Mary Lou Williams, Marian McPartland, Stephane Grappelli, and George Shearing.
External links
- Brian Torff Website
- In Love With Voices Site for Torff's memoir
- New York Times Feature
- Fairfield University Music Program