[tyler Bullock Trio] at Five Spot Jazz

Tyler Bullock
Tyler Bullock II is a dynamic pianist and composer located in New York City. Since moving from Nashville to attend the Juilliard School in 2021, Tyler has already established himself as one of the most promising pianists of his generation, having worked with Sean Jones, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bruce Williams, Herlin Riley, Willie Jones III, Sherman Irby, Ulysses Owens Jr., Curtis Lundy, and The Roy Hargrove Big Band - where he has been the regular pianist since 2022. In 2023, Tyler recorded an album with Ulysses Owens Jr.’s Gen Y Band at Rudy Van Gelder studio that spent 8 weeks at #1 on the Jazz Radio Charts. He has toured internationally and played at top festivals and venues like Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, The Vancouver Jazz Festival, and The Cotton Club in Tokyo....

read more

Tyler Bullock
Tyler Bullock II is a dynamic pianist and composer located in New York City. Since moving from Nashville to attend the Juilliard School in 2021, Tyler has already established himself as one of the most promising pianists of his generation, having worked with Sean Jones, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Bruce Williams, Herlin Riley, Willie Jones III, Sherman Irby, Ulysses Owens Jr., Curtis Lundy, and The Roy Hargrove Big Band - where he has been the regular pianist since 2022. In 2023, Tyler recorded an album with Ulysses Owens Jr.’s Gen Y Band at Rudy Van Gelder studio that spent 8 weeks at #1 on the Jazz Radio Charts. He has toured internationally and played at top festivals and venues like Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Newport Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, The Vancouver Jazz Festival, and The Cotton Club in Tokyo.
Tyler regularly leads his own band in venues around New York City such as The Jazz Gallery, Mezzrow, Ornithology, and Bar Bayeux. While his trio serves as the foundation for most of Tyler’s performances, he frequently collaborates with horn players and vocalists to bring into fruition the full range of color that he hears while writing his original compositions. Intending to combine the lineage of jazz with his own fresh perspective, Tyler weaves powerful musical narratives in his compositions that serve as a framework for his group to unleash their creativity.

Ryoma Tekenaga
Bassist Ryoma Takenaga of New Providence is the recipient of the 2022 James Moody Jazz Scholarship for New Jersey. He will be presented with the award by Linda Moody, the late James Moody’s wife, on September 10 at the Jazz House Kids Montclair Jazz Festival Jamboree.
Takenaga, who will pursue a Musical Performance in Jazz Studies degree at New York University in the fall, has been featured twice in the pages of Jersey Jazz and was a member of the Baker Street Trio that performed at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Virtual Social in October 2021.
In February 2020, Takenaga was one of three New Jersey Youth Symphony Jazz Orchestra members who won Outstanding Soloist awards at the 12th annual Charles Mingus Festival & High School Competition held at The New School of Jazz and the Jazz Standard in New York City. In the May/June 2020 issue of Jersey Jazz, Takenaga, then a sophomore at the Academy for Information Technology in Scotch Plains, said he started focusing on jazz and playing the upright bass when he was around nine years old. “Some of my most important teachers,” he said, “were Jose Rodriguez, who taught me the rudiments of upright bass and Ed Palermo, who introduced me to the endless creativity that jazz has to offer.” His jazz hero is Christian McBride. “The way he plays the bass,” Takenaga said, “and the groove he sets for the band continues to fascinate me.”
Takenaga was featured again in the May 2021 issue of Jersey Jazz when he was one of three New Jersey high school students to be accepted into the Carnegie Hall NYO Jazz Orchestra. Playing with NYO, he said, was “a dream come true. All musicians have some kind of big goal they want to reach,” he said, “and, for me, it was participating in NYO Jazz because it’s a rare opportunity to be in residence with and play jazz music with the best young musicians in the country, while, at the same time, receiving music instruction from excellent jazz musicians and educators.”
The James Moody Jazz Scholarship for New Jersey is a $5,000 prize, presented annually to an outstanding high school senior who embodies the qualities expressed by the NEA Jazz Master through his life and works – musicianship, creativity, leadership, and community involvement. In 2018, the Moody Scholarship was awarded to pianist Caelan Cardello, Jersey Jazz’s ‘Rising Star’ in January 2022.

Koleby Royston - Drums
Originally from Denver, Colorado, Koleby Royston is a New-York based drummer and composer who keeps creativity and spirituality on the forefront of his musicianship. Royston has always been surrounded by this art form for his entire life, coming from a family of musicians including his mother, Shamie Royston, a respected pianist and composer, and his father, Rudy Royston, an illustrious drummer. Royston began honing his craft at the age of fourteen, and has since had the opportunities to perform alongside notable musicians such as Sean Jones, Joel Ross, Pete Rodriguez, Tia Fuller, Brandon Woody, Warren Wolf, Amina Figurova, Orrin Evans, and others. Royston feels blessed to perform at many nationally and internationally recognized festivals and venues. He considers himself a creative vessel, and strives to explore the connections between artistry, spirituality, and potentiality.

show less