The ROE BICKLEY KRAMER TRIO
Nothing Goofy: Disney Classics through the looking glass of jazz
Saturday, April 10TH@ 7:30 PM EST
This concert is generously sponsored by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.
Influenced by Miles Davis’ and Bill Evans’ famous recordings of “Someday My Prince Will Come” and “Alice in Wonderland,” the Roe Bickley Kramer Trio celebrates the music of famous Disney composers such as Alan Menken, Matthew Wilder, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez. Playing original arrangements of much-loved songs from Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, Pocahontas, Mulan, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Tangled (found on their Heliosphere 2018 & 2019 recordings), the Trio takes these songs to exciting, beautiful and unexpected places.
Rick Roe won first place in the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in 1994, was twice a semifinalist in Thelonius Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, in 1993 and 1999, and has been a featured performer in the Jacksonville (Florida) Jazz, Savannah (Georgia) Onstage International Arts, Montreaux/Detroit Jazz, Birmingham Jazz, Lansing Jazz, Flint Jazz, and Hawaii Jazz (with Frank Morgan) Festivals.
Mr. Roe has served as an educator/clinician at the University of Arizona, North Texas University, Michigan State University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the University of Michigan, and the Montreaux/ Detroit Jazz Festival. He has given performances with Marcus Belgrave, Donald Walden, Rodney Whitaker, Frank Foster, Andrew Speight, Wycliffe Gordon, Gerald Cleaver, Victor Goines, Louis Smith, Randy Gelispie, Vincent York, Wendall Harrison, Dwight Adams, and many others. His recordings include “The Changeover” (1997), “Monk’s Modern Music” (1995), and “Sphere” (2005).
Ann Arbor native Rob Bickley received a B.M. from Michigan State University and M.M. from The Juilliard School. While living in New York, Rob served as a teaching artist for Jazz @ Lincoln Center. Rob has performed at such venues as The Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, Small Jazz Club and Alice Tully Hall. Since returning to Ann Arbor, Rob can be seen performing with musicians Sean Dobbins, Rick Roe, Jesse Kramer, and Mike Malis. Rob has served on faculty for the Ann Arbor Public Schools summer music programs and is a regular clinician at schools across the district. Rob maintains an active private studio offering private lessons and small group classes.
Based in Ann Arbor, Jesse Kramer is one of the most in demand drummers in Metro Detroit. Kramer began learning drum set at the age of five, and grew up studying and working with local jazz masters such as Sean Dobbins, Paul Keller, Vincent York, and Claude Black. Kramer graduated from the University of Michigan School of Music in 2011, where he studied with Ellen Rowe, Andrew Bishop, Michael Gould, Marion Hayden, and Geri Allen. While attending U of M, Kramer was awarded a DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award, and represented the University at the 2011 International Association of Schools of Jazz meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil, directed by Dave Liebman.
Kramer has performed with countless local and national artists, and is himself a respected band leader. He has recorded with artists such as Paul Keller, Demetrius Nabors, Miles Brown, and Vincent Chandler. Kramer performed and recorded in Bangkok with vocalist Natasha Patamapongs and her acclaimed group Mellow Motif for ThaiPBS “BossaNona All-Star Brazilian Concert” in 2011, and for the live DVD recording “Ao Vivo!” released in 2015.
Kramer co-leads the Roe Bickley Kramer trio, along with pianist Rick Roe and bassist Rob Bickley. The trio has released two albums: “Heliosphere” in 2018 and “Dark Virtue” in 2019. Kramer released his first solo record, “Acacia”, in 2014. Released in June of 2019, Kramer’s latest project “Antinous as Osiris” was inspired by two of the most important 20th century literary figures, Marguerite Yourcenar and Langston Hughes. Kramer translates Yourcenar’s exquisite language from her historical novel “Memoirs of Hadrian” and Hughes’ cadence from “Montage of a Dream Deferred” into timeless melodies with lush harmonies and sophisticated rhythmic structures.
