Season 2018 - 2019
Tom Collier and Dan Dean
Tom Collier and Dan Dean grew up across the street from one another in West Seattle and have have played music together professionally for over 50 years. As a duo, Tom and Dan have recorded and performed in concert with artists such as Ernie Watts, Don Grusin, Howard Roberts, Bobby Shew, Alex Acuna, Emil Richards, Shelly Manne, Bud Shank, William O. “Bill” Smith, Fred Radke, Mike Vax and Gary Herbig, just to name a few. Two of Collier and Dean’s own albums have received much international critical acclaim including Whistling Midgetsand Duets,nominated by Earshot Magazine in 2005 for jazz album of the year. Collier & Dean released their third album in 2014, Sleek Buick(Origin Records), featuring several outstanding musicians including Alex Acuña, Don Grusin, Ernie Watts, Gary Herbig and Allen Vizzutti. The album received widespread jazz and contemporary music radio airplay throughout the United States, Canada and Europe and was placed on the 2015 GRAMMY ballot for Best Jazz Instrumental album.
TOM COLLIER, vibes, marimba, percussion
Retired Director of the Percussion and Jazz Programs at the University of Washington School of Music Professor Emeritus Tom Collier has performed and recorded with many important classical, jazz, and popular artists, in addition to recording and performing with his own jazz group. He is a veteran of more than 60 years in music--his first public appearance was at age five, on xylophone, and his first professional performances were made as a nine-year-old marimba virtuoso.
Collier has appeared in concert with many important jazz and popular artists, including Eddie Daniels, Roger Kellaway, Frank Zappa, Ry Cooder, Emil Richards, Larry Coryell, Bill Frisell, Laurendo Almeida, Buddy DeFranco, Diane Schurr, Peggy Lee, Herb Ellis, Ernestine Anderson, Natalie Cole, Mannheim Steamroller, The Beach Boys, Gina Funes, Della Reese, Walt Wagner, and many more. Although his primary focus in recent years has been jazz, Collier has also performed occasionally as a featured mallet soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Denver Symphony.
Before his retirement, Tom was awarded a Royalty Research Grant by the University of Washington in 2014 to produce three new recordings in three different settings. The first project, a solo vibraphone album entitled Alone In The Studio, was released on Origin Records in March 2015. A second recording, Across The Bridge, was released by Origin in November, 2015 and featured nine original compositions for jazz quartet. World-renowned guitarists Bill Frisell and Larry Coryell joined Collier on this recording along with drummers Ted Poor and John Bishop as well as electric bassist/guitarist Dan Dean who also produced the album. The third project, an experimental free improvisation trio album entitled Impulsive Illuminationswas released on Origin Records in November 2016. Guitarist Bill Frisell joined Tom once again on this session along with pianist Richard Karpen, trumpeter Cuong Vu, legendary free-form trombonist Stuart Dempster and avant-garde clarinetist William O. Smith. All three albums were placed on GRAMMY ballots in various jazz categories respectively for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
DAN DEAN, electric bass, vocalist, recording engineer, producer
Achieving international recognition through his fifty-plus-year career as an electric bassist, vocalist, award-winning producer, composer, and recording engineer, Dan Dean is a truly multi-faceted artist constantly seeking new challenges and outlets for expressing the music he hears.
As an electric bassist, Dean has performed with the some of the finest musicians and musical organizations of our time, including: Shelly Manne, Howard Roberts, The Great Guitars (Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessell), Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, B.B. King, Eddie Harris, Blue Mitchell, Harold Land, Buddy DeFranco, Donny Hathaway, Tom Scott, Dave Grusin, Don Grusin, Ernestine Anderson, Peggy Lee, Ernie Watts, the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Walt Wagner, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Mays, Della Reese, Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro and many others.
In 2017, Dan released his first album as a vocalist, Songs Without Wordson the Origin Classical label. The album came about in a very unusual way. In preparation for a recording of solo electric bass with string orchestra, Dean arranged works by JS Bach, Vivaldi, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff and Albinoni. With the budget and organizational constraints of recording large ensembles, he decided to try adapting the arrangements to his voice. What began as a "what if" experiment turned into a musically ambitious, technically challenging effort. Often angelic, or haunting, or exuberant, Songs Without Wordsemerged as a culmination of his musical experiences over a lifetime, captured by a single microphone.
Dan has received numerous broadcast and film awards including the Cannes Golden Lion, Addy Awards, Telly Awards, Best of the West Awards, Clio Awards, IBA Awards, IBA "Spike" Award. The Dan Dean Sample Librarieshave received three Keyboard Magazine’s “Key Buy” awards, Electronic Musicianmagazine’s “Best Buy” endorsement, as well as earning a total of 35 stars in Sound On Soundmagazine. In 1980, Dan received a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Award in Jazz Composition in recognition for his innovative pieces for electric bass and bass/guitar synthesizers.
Dean also has been a major contributor to music education. He is the author of the widely successful Hal Leonard Series for Electric Bass Method Books 1, 2 and 3, Hal Leonard Electric Bass Studio Series Books 1, 2 and 3, Bass Trax and other related projects. He has been a member of the teaching faculties in Jazz studies and electric bass, at Western Washington University, Olympic College and Shoreline College.
TOM COLLIER, vibes, marimba, percussion
Retired Director of the Percussion and Jazz Programs at the University of Washington School of Music Professor Emeritus Tom Collier has performed and recorded with many important classical, jazz, and popular artists, in addition to recording and performing with his own jazz group. He is a veteran of more than 60 years in music--his first public appearance was at age five, on xylophone, and his first professional performances were made as a nine-year-old marimba virtuoso.
Collier has appeared in concert with many important jazz and popular artists, including Eddie Daniels, Roger Kellaway, Frank Zappa, Ry Cooder, Emil Richards, Larry Coryell, Bill Frisell, Laurendo Almeida, Buddy DeFranco, Diane Schurr, Peggy Lee, Herb Ellis, Ernestine Anderson, Natalie Cole, Mannheim Steamroller, The Beach Boys, Gina Funes, Della Reese, Walt Wagner, and many more. Although his primary focus in recent years has been jazz, Collier has also performed occasionally as a featured mallet soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Spokane Symphony, Bellevue Philharmonic, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and the Denver Symphony.
Before his retirement, Tom was awarded a Royalty Research Grant by the University of Washington in 2014 to produce three new recordings in three different settings. The first project, a solo vibraphone album entitled Alone In The Studio, was released on Origin Records in March 2015. A second recording, Across The Bridge, was released by Origin in November, 2015 and featured nine original compositions for jazz quartet. World-renowned guitarists Bill Frisell and Larry Coryell joined Collier on this recording along with drummers Ted Poor and John Bishop as well as electric bassist/guitarist Dan Dean who also produced the album. The third project, an experimental free improvisation trio album entitled Impulsive Illuminationswas released on Origin Records in November 2016. Guitarist Bill Frisell joined Tom once again on this session along with pianist Richard Karpen, trumpeter Cuong Vu, legendary free-form trombonist Stuart Dempster and avant-garde clarinetist William O. Smith. All three albums were placed on GRAMMY ballots in various jazz categories respectively for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
DAN DEAN, electric bass, vocalist, recording engineer, producer
Achieving international recognition through his fifty-plus-year career as an electric bassist, vocalist, award-winning producer, composer, and recording engineer, Dan Dean is a truly multi-faceted artist constantly seeking new challenges and outlets for expressing the music he hears.
As an electric bassist, Dean has performed with the some of the finest musicians and musical organizations of our time, including: Shelly Manne, Howard Roberts, The Great Guitars (Herb Ellis, Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessell), Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, B.B. King, Eddie Harris, Blue Mitchell, Harold Land, Buddy DeFranco, Donny Hathaway, Tom Scott, Dave Grusin, Don Grusin, Ernestine Anderson, Peggy Lee, Ernie Watts, the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Walt Wagner, Freddie Hubbard, Bill Mays, Della Reese, Emil Richards, Joe Porcaro and many others.
In 2017, Dan released his first album as a vocalist, Songs Without Wordson the Origin Classical label. The album came about in a very unusual way. In preparation for a recording of solo electric bass with string orchestra, Dean arranged works by JS Bach, Vivaldi, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakoff and Albinoni. With the budget and organizational constraints of recording large ensembles, he decided to try adapting the arrangements to his voice. What began as a "what if" experiment turned into a musically ambitious, technically challenging effort. Often angelic, or haunting, or exuberant, Songs Without Wordsemerged as a culmination of his musical experiences over a lifetime, captured by a single microphone.
Dan has received numerous broadcast and film awards including the Cannes Golden Lion, Addy Awards, Telly Awards, Best of the West Awards, Clio Awards, IBA Awards, IBA "Spike" Award. The Dan Dean Sample Librarieshave received three Keyboard Magazine’s “Key Buy” awards, Electronic Musicianmagazine’s “Best Buy” endorsement, as well as earning a total of 35 stars in Sound On Soundmagazine. In 1980, Dan received a National Endowment for the Arts Composition Award in Jazz Composition in recognition for his innovative pieces for electric bass and bass/guitar synthesizers.
Dean also has been a major contributor to music education. He is the author of the widely successful Hal Leonard Series for Electric Bass Method Books 1, 2 and 3, Hal Leonard Electric Bass Studio Series Books 1, 2 and 3, Bass Trax and other related projects. He has been a member of the teaching faculties in Jazz studies and electric bass, at Western Washington University, Olympic College and Shoreline College.