Biography:

Tom Lagana Group

Tom Lagana – guitar, leader: As a jazz guitarist and bandleader, a classical guitarist, an educator, and a composer, Tom Lagana has garnered respect for his creativity, musical integrity, and devotion to his craft. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music, he worked as the guitarist for the Walt Disney Jazz Band in Orlando, Florida, before returning to his home state of Maryland where the Tom Lagana Trio became the house band at The King of France Tavern in Annapolis. Lagana went on to get a Masters in Music at Towson University where he was awarded second prize in the Sidney Lieberman Competition, the first guitarist ever to place in that competition. His analysis of the work of Pat Metheny was published by Just Jazz Guitar magazine and endorsed by Metheny himself. Lagana has participated in master classes with Ralph Towner, Dusan Bogdanovic, The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Roland Dyens, and the Brazilian Guitar Quartet. He was a guest artist at the First World Guitar Congress and was invited to play for guitarist/composer Carlo Domeniconi at the Long Island Guitar Festival. Lagana was featured with the National Symphony Orchestra in David Del Tredici’s work Final Alice and appeared again with the NSO and Eric Idle of the Monty Python troupe. He has also performed with the York Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony, and recently with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in the John Waters’ Hairspray tribute and again as accompanist to singer Jackie Evancho. Lagana has played many festivals, shared the bill with jazz icon Herbie Hancock, and worked with George Garzone, Walt Weiskopf, Red Rodney, Craig Handy, Bob Mintzer, and Marvin Stamm. Lagana’s guitar work can also be heard on the Fox Network show America’s Most Wanted. He has taught at Towson University and is currently on the faculty at University of Maryland, Baltimore County. His recordings include Patuxent, Schematic, and most recently, Vol 1.

George Garzone – tenor and soprano saxophones: A veteran jazzman, George Garzone is a founding member of the Boston-area jazz trio The Fringe and has been featured with Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Danilo Perez, Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette, Rachel Z, and John Patitucci among many others. He has played with countless prominent musicians at key jazz venues, events, and festivals throughout the U.S. and in over 20 foreign countries. Garzone is also well-known as a jazz educator and has pioneered the triadic approach. He is currently teaching at the Berklee College of Music and has previously taught at New England Conservatory, Longy School of Music, New York University, Manhattan School of Music, Northeastern University and the New School University. Students of his have included Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis, Teadross Avery, Luciana Souza, Mark Turner, Donny McCaslin, Doug Yates and Danilo Perez, to name a few. His recordings include Alone, a Stan Getz tribute; Four's and Two's with compatriot Joe Lovano; Moodiology; and Fringe in New York. He is a member of the Grammy-winning Joe Lovano Nonet, and has performed and recorded with this group at the Village Vanguard. He is endorsed by Rico Reeds, JodyJazz mouthpieces and R. S. Berkeley instruments.

Tom Baldwin – bass: After earning a degree in Jazz Studies at Ithaca College, bassist, composer, and educator Tom Baldwin returned to the Baltimore-Washington area and is now among the most in-demand bassists of the region. Baldwin was the second place finalist in the 1995 Thelonious Monk International Bass Competition and has worked with many prominent jazz artists, including instrumentalists Eric Alexander, Gene Bertoncini, Stanley Cowell, George Garzone, Tutti Heath, Fred Hersch, Brian Lynch, Harold Mabern, James Moody, and James Williams, as well as vocalists Michael Feinstein, Eartha Kitt, Bernadette Peters, and Kenny Rankin. He has performed at such venues as Blues Alley, The Kennedy Center, The Meyerhoff, Strathmore, The Library of Congress, and Wolf Trap. An active teacher and clinician, Tom is the jazz bass instructor at the University of Maryland, College Park, and UMBC. He is a regular faculty member at the Maryland Summer Jazz camp, and has been a clinician or adjudicator for various Jazz festivals and workshops at the collegiate and high school level. In addition to his debut CD of original compositions, Glom On To This, Baldwin has appeared as a sideman on over 30 recordings.

Dominic Smith – drums: The hard swinging style, innovative use of dynamics, and rhythmic subtleties of Dominic Smith have been utilized by such jazz notables as Eric Alexander, Harold Mabern, James Williams, Charlie Byrd, Phil Woods, Jim Snidero, Kenny Rankin, Dennis Irwin, Ray Bryant, Keter Betts and Charles McPherson. As a member of The Unified Jazz Ensemble, he performs both locally and nationally. Smith rounds out his playing schedule with the cream of the crop of local musicians several nights a week, as well as backing up many different national artists, performing more than 320 gigs a year, while still finding time to teach in his home studio. He has a degree in Jazz Performance from Towson University where he studied composition with Hank Levy and played in the “A” band there under the tutelage of drummers Steve Ashcraft and Grant Menefee. He has also studied with Kenny Washington, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Ralph Peterson, Frank Malabe, Duduka Da Fonseca, Mike Clark, and Kim Plainfield. His local drum guru was the late, great, genius drummer Mike Smith.