Peter Mazza Trio New York City guitar virtuoso brings his creative interpretations of jazz standards and passionate & thoughtful compositions to BLU Jazz+, featuring Theron Brown & Dan Pappalardo!

Peter Mazza is a jazz guitarist/composer/educator and jazz venue Musical Director, born and raised in New York City, who holds degrees from The Manhattan School and Music and The Julliard School. His career began over 20 years ago at Augie’s Jazz Bar (now called Smoke) where he led a house-band that hosted 4-night-a-week jam session. In these groups were then-new comers like Chris Potter, Joel Frahm, Roy Hargrove, Brad Mehldau, Donny McCaslin, Christian McBride, Dwayne Burno, Greg Hutchinson and many others.
 
After being a semi-finalist in 1996 Thelonius Monk Competition, Peter led groups at Dizzy’s Club, The Knitting Factory and at Cornelia Street Café and as part of special events held at The United Nations, The Rialto Room, The Rainbow Room, The Yacht Club, The Cooper-Hewitt Museum among others.
 
He has performed duos with guitarists spanning an array of musical generations- John Pisano, Gene Bertoncini, Mundell Lowe, Jack Wilkins, Barry Greene, Pete Bernstein, Freddie Bryant, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Jonathan Kreisberg, Mike Moreno, Yotam Silberstein and many more.
 
He successfully retains a long-standing well reviewed Sunday Night trio residency at The Bar Next Door at La Lanterna in NYC, now in its 12th year. Over the course of these steady nights, he has collaborated with Hendrik Meurkens, John Ellis, Will Vinson, Donny McCaslin, Jon Irabagon, Itai Kriss, Etienne Charles, Hans Glawischnig, Matt Penman, Joe Martin, Ari Hoenig and many more, although his current trio features Misha Tsiganov on piano and Thomson Kneeland on Bass.
 
Peter’s first CD called Through My Eyes (2007/on Tokyo’s Late Set Records) featured 8 originals and 2 standards played by a quartet. He celebrated the release with 2 tours throughout Japan in 2007-8.
 
His newest CD called Circles and Lines (2014 Urban Flower Records) features his guitar/piano/bass trio playing his fresh arrangements of standards by the Jazz and American Songbook Composers.
 
Peter serves as the Musical Director for the Bar Next Door at La Lanterna and helped to implement and grow the full 7-night-a-week schedule of jazz there for the last 10 years. The room presents the Night Artist Series – the city’s finest guitar or saxophone led trios, then the Emerging Artist Series- the city’s most talented next-generation college-aged jazz players performing introduction sets.
 
Peter has taught at the American Institute of Guitar, The National Guitar Workshop, The New School, LaGuardia High School for Music and The Arts, in addition to retaining a busy private studio, live and online. His original solo guitar arrangements have attracted the attention of guitarists around the world and bear over 200, 000 views on You Tube.
 
Peter is becoming an in-demand traveling guest artist and clinician who has been invited to appear at NYU, MSM, Peabody Institute, University of Colorado-Denver, University of Northern Colorado, University of Southern California, University of North Florida, Georgia State University and Kennesaw University in addition to venues including The Jazz Corner (Savannah), The Velvet Note , Churchill Grounds (Atlanta) and the Blue Whale (Los Angeles).
 
In 2015, Peter is scheduled to release a much-anticipated CD of solo guitar arrangements along with transcriptions for guitarists to read and enjoy.
 
Just Jazz Guitar magazine said about a recent Peter Mazza performance: “It’s one thing to perform compositions that go through time modulations, meter changes, and reharmonizations; but, to do those things and make it seem effortless and of the highest musicality is a rarity…”
 
Jazz Inside Magazine said about another recent Peter Mazza performance: “A guitarist with an instantly recognizable voice, his original compositions are joyous whirlwinds of thematic expression, rich with emotion and personality. Both vulnerable and commanding, he puts it all on the line and goes for it, the experience is thrilling.”
 
Join us at BLU Jazz+ as we welcome this outstanding guitarist as he is paired up with some of the finest musicians in the Northeast Ohio jazz scene: Theron Brown (piano) and Dan Pappalardo (bass). Don’t miss your chance to hear Peter on a rare trip through Ohio – get tickets today!

$12