Paul Musso is an Associate Professor and Area Head of Music Performance in the Music and Entertainment Industry Studies (MEIS) Department at the University of Colorado Denver, where he has taught for 36 years. He serves as Performance Program Director for MEIS Jazz and Commercial Guitar.Paul has composed music for several Hollywood films, including the short film Shiny, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and won Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, in Australia. He is also the author of six instructional texts in jazz guitar and music theory, published by Mel Bay Publications, the world’s largest publisher of guitar method books...
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Paul Musso is an Associate Professor and Area Head of Music Performance in the Music and Entertainment Industry Studies (MEIS) Department at the University of Colorado Denver, where he has taught for 36 years. He serves as Performance Program Director for MEIS Jazz and Commercial Guitar.Paul has composed music for several Hollywood films, including the short film Shiny, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016 and won Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, in Australia. He is also the author of six instructional texts in jazz guitar and music theory, published by Mel Bay Publications, the world’s largest publisher of guitar method books. His best-selling title, Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar: Teaching Your Guitar to Walk, has been translated into Japanese.In addition to his work as a composer and author, Paul is an accomplished performer who has toured throughout Europe, Mexico, and the United States. Jazz guitar legend Jim Hall praised Paul’s playing as “beautiful, with great tone and melodic surprises.”Paul’s most recent album, Songs From the Pier—described as a “love letter to Southern California”—features nineteen original compositions performed on acoustic guitar.Mark Simon has been a highly respected figure in the Colorado music scene for over 40 years. A versatile bassist, he has recorded, performed, and toured extensively alongside jazz legends such as Carmen McRae and Dizzy Gillespie.As a composer, his work has been featured in some of Denver’s most innovative jazz ensembles, including Convergence and the Jazz W.O.R.M.S.In addition to his performance career, Mark has been a dedicated educator, teaching jazz bass at the University of Colorado Boulder and serving as a mentor and director at the renowned Colorado Conservatory for the Jazz Arts for over 30 years.Clare played her very first gigs with Tony Bennett, the Temptations and the Four Tops. In her 30-plus years as a professional musician, she has performed all different styles and genres of music. On the jazz side, she was a regular with the Joe Henderson Big Band,and performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Nancy Wilson, Mel Torme, Doc Severinsen, and many more. A versatile musician, she also could be heard in the pit orchestras of the Buell, Arvada Center, or Boulder Dinner Theater, as well as in the horn sections of traveling artists such as Tito Puente Jr., Natalie Cole, The Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons, etc. She has been a member of the sax section of the Colorado Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Oakland Symphony, and the Boulder Philharmonic. In addition to maintaining an active schedule as a freelancing jazz drummer, Clare plays regularly at the Muse, a nonprofit music and art space that she co-founded and runs along with her husband, saxophonist Pete Lewis. She has played with all the Denver luminaries, including Ron Miles, Greg Gisbert, Art Lande, Eric Gunnison, Annie Booth, Gabe Mervine, and many more. She has been described as a sensitive, “music-first” drummer, and her many years of experience as a horn player make her drumming unique. She has recently reconnected to her love of singing and songwriting, and released her debut vocal album, “You’re More.”
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