Roger Glenn

Born: June 11, 1945

Roger Glenn is ingredient X. The secret sauce. The cat behind the cat. Now, after decades of elevating the music of bona fide legends in jazz, Latin jazz, blues, and funk, the most versatile, singular multi-instrumental master is stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight with his first new album in four decades. With credits on more than 40 albums he hasn’t been hiding, but his new release My Latin Heart features a program of his enthralling original compositions, offering the most revealing glimpse yet of a jazz giant hiding in plain sight. 

Known among his peers as a supremely talented improviser, Glenn has played flute with vibraphonist Cal Tjader, vibes with flautist Herbie Mann, and both flute and vibes with Dizzy Gillespie. He made his recording debut with legendary pianist/composer Mary Lou Williams and contributed to classic albums with Cuban percussion maestro Mongo Santamaria (Mongo´70, Atlantic Records), pioneering funk/jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd (Black Byrd, Blue Note Records), and Latin jazz star Cal Tjader (Grammy Award-winning La Onda Va Bien, Concord Picante Label). 

Lloyd Haber

Born: May 29, 1961

Lloyd Haber- Multiple percussion, composer, producer & educator: Music teacher at Francis Lewis high school. Masters in music and education from Queens College. Founder of Freedom Art Records, Lloyd has two Cd’s out under his own groups “Freedom Art Quartet” and “Bones & Tones.” Leader of group “Eurasiaka.”

A student of the late great Ed Blackwell, Lloyd Has played or recorded with Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Karl Berger, Bob Stewart, Craig Harris, Louis Hayes, Kalaparusha McIntyre, Charli Persip, Warren Smith, Donald Smith, Bob Stewart, Howard Johnson, Carlos Ward and Ron Burton among others. Lloyd has played all over the world, including performances at the Heineken Jazz Festival, Symphony Space, John Birks Gillespie auditorium and Aaron Davis Hall. Percussion Ensemble clinics at Sam Ash Music and the Long Island Drum Center.

Polymorphic Orkestra

Active since: 2012

Polymorphic Orkestra is an electro acoustic art music ensemble that produces improvised music using a mix of traditional instruments, media technology, audio FX and pre-recorded audio stem data. Although our music is free in form, we are not overtly atonal. Our music is rhythmic and melodic and constructed during performance requiring a great deal of inter-ensemble focus and musical awareness. Each performance is a journey with no set pieces or tunes as such. Generally, our performances are one long set with no breaks.

The ensemble members are:

• Ed Goyer - Vibraphone, Mallet Kat, Percussion
• Ed Rodrigues - Drums Drum triggers, iPad, Percussion
• Lee McIver - Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Laptop, FX, Audio data.

Rob Waring

Rob Waring (1956) grew up in Yonkers and White Plains, New York and lived in Manhattan from 1974 until he moved to Oslo, Norway in 1981. While still in high school, Rob studied with Roland Kohloff, who had just become timpanist of the New York Philharmonic. He then studied percussion at the Juilliard School with Saul Goodman and Elden "Buster" Bailey (1974-79) and received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees. During that period, he also took elective courses in composition with Stanley Wolfe. Rob studied jazz vibraphone in 1975 with Dave Samuels. As a freelance musician in New York, Rob worked in symphony orchestras, jazz groups, ensembles for new music, and an experimental ensemble for homemade instruments. He was also a much sought-after accompanist for modern dance.

Richard Lincoln

Born: August 28, 1936

Dick Lincoln has played vibes and keyboards in the Delaware Valley for over 50 years.  In the 1950’s he recorded on Columbia Records as a member of the John Eaton Quartet.  He played vibes and malletKAT in New York for 10 years as a member of the Princeton Jazz Quintet.

Dylan K. Smith

Born: November 25, 2002

Dylan K. Smith, a musician driven by a passionate love for jazz, vibraphone, composition, production, and hip-hop, gracefully explores a broad spectrum of musical genres. From Augusta, Georgia, he unapologetically and authentically embraces his multifaceted talents. He is currently in his senior year at New York University pursuing a Jazz Performance degree. Dylan endeavors to use his education to contribute to the art of music, aiming to encapsulate the rich essence of black music and the profound beauty of the black experience in America. Dylan has been blessed with numerous sacred moments within the music community

Lionel Hampton, Terry Gibbs, Bobby Hutcherson & Warren Wolf

by Joe Dimino
January 5, 2025

On this special Christmas Day episode of Neon Jazz, we're unwrapping an hour dedicated to the true masters of the vibraphone--those incredible artists who made this instrument sing like no other. This celebration was sparked by an unforgettable performance by the brilliant Warren Wolf at The Blue Room, nestled in the historic 18th and Vine district ...

The Neighborhood Quartet

The Neighborhood Quartet’s music is as varied as its members’ résumés—as improvisers, they’re adept at navigating jazz harmony; as writers they understand the shape of folklike melodies—but, if they had to be classified, you could say they pursue a distinctly midwestern take on the tradition of R&B and pop instrumental groups. Such groups were thicker on the ground in the sixties and seventies: Booker T. & the MG’s, Young-Holt Unlimited, the Meters, and broadly kindred bands such as the more jazz-aligned Crusaders. On its self-titled debut album, the Neighborhood Quartet doesn’t explicitly sound like any of that—they aren’t retrogressive or imitative—but they tap into the tradition’s sensibility: sticky melodies laid on top of supple funk; clever, economical arrangements; tasty and succinct solos. For the group’s guitarist and lap-steel ace, Dan Schwartz, the NHQT has two principal modes, both evocative of motion: their groovy side, likened to cruising through the streets of the quartet’s native Twin Cities; and their ethereal side, likened to floating above the nearby prairie. Indeed, the album’s bright, hooky opener, “Hey Fellas,” written by the band’s vibraphonist, Steve Roehm, would sound great coming from a car stereo on one of the long commercial streets of Minneapolis (or Detroit, for that matter). Meanwhile, Schwartz’s plaintive “End of October” could soundtrack a country drive where with each second the windshield frames a new classic of landscape art. 

Thomas Reilly

Born: December, 1998

Thomas Reilly is an award winning multi-instrumentalist and composer from Bernardsville, New Jersey. Playing in rock bands since the age of twelve, Thomas’ passion for music has taken him through many styles. In 2021, he received his Bachelor’s of Music in Composition from Rowan University, during which he studied classical and jazz performance on drumset, vibraphone and piano, as well as classical and jazz composition. Thomas received the 2019 New Jersey Jazz Society Young Artist scholarship for his endeavors in jazz performance. Continuing his studies, Thomas received his Master’s of Music in Jazz Composition and Arranging from the University of North Texas in 2023. While at the University of North Texas, he played and recorded with the GRAMMY- nominated One o’Clock Lab Band.

Vitantonio Gasparro

Born in 1998, he approached the study of the drums at 6 years with the M° Piero Notarnicola. He obtained with the highest marks and honors the academic diplomas in "Percussion Instruments" and "Drums and Percussion Jazz", respectively at the conservatory "N. Piccinni" of Bari under the guidance of the M° Luigi Morleo and in Matera at the conservatory "E. R. Duni" with M° Bruno Astesana. He currently devotes himself to the study of jazz music with the M° Attilio Troiano.

He won numerous national and international competitions, including the "Premio Rosa Ponselle" Matera 2015, the "XIII Edition Italy Percussion Competition" 2015, the review "Musica Giovani" 2016 of the Camerata Musicale Barese, The Critics and Audience Award in the International Competition Massimo Urbani 2023, The First Prize at the Dexter Jazz Contest 2023