Park Hill Brass
(303) 321-0987 | Official Website
Contact: Jacqueline Victor
Listed under Jazz, Brass Ensembles, Classical.
A quintet of professional musicians from the Denver area, the PHB has toured in France for the past 7 summers animating town squares, doing concerts in cathedrals, participating in various festivals, and teaching jazz workshops Perhaps the only brass quintet in the world to do improvisational jazz, the PHB also specializes in contemporary brass compostions as well as performing the traditional classical repertoire.
Park Hill Brass BiographiesHugh Ragin, originally from Houston, TX is a founding member of the Park Hill Brass. With a BA from the University of Houston, in music education and an MA from Colorado State University in classical trumpet performance, Ragin has taught extensively, including a stint at Oberlin College in Ohio. An inspiring teacher, creative composer and trumpet virtuoso, Hugh Ragin has been named “a trumpeter with very few peers in terms of imagination or technical command” by jazz biographer, Francis Davis, in his notes for the “Live At The Knitting Factory” recording with Roscoe Mitchell. Ragin has also collaborated with musicians such as David Murray, Anthony Braxton, Dizzy Gillespie, Spencer Barefield, Fred Wesley, Leo Smith, Sun Ra, Maynard Ferguson, D.D. Jackson, Andrew Cyrille and poet Amiri Baraka, on both recorded and live jazz performances that range from bebop and freebop to the most “out” of avant-garde improvisation. His compositions have been recorded by David Murray, Roscoe Mitchell, D.D. Jackson and Fred Wesley, and yet despite his success as a performer and composer, Ragin insists on “being an educator first.” His life has formed as a compassionate gesture “to share the knowledge, and bring more people into music.” (Edited from Justin Time.)
John Davis (trumpet) Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Music School, is an active clinician, performer and guest conductor throughout the United States and Canada. He joined the University of Colorado faculty in 1999, where he has taught courses in jazz history, jazz administration and pedagogy, big band, combo, vocal jazz, and jazz techniques. The program has been awarded 13 Down Beat magazine Student Music Awards in the past five years.” Under Davis’ direction, Jazz Ensemble I performed at the 2004 International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE) conference in New York City and was recognized as one of the nation’s outstanding big bands by Down Beat Magazine in 2003 and 2005. Prior to his appointment at CU, he served as Assistant Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Northern Colorado, where he was also Festival Coordinator for the UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival.
Dan Leavitt is a Denver native. With a Masters in Trumpet Performance from the University of Denver, Leavitt is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Colorado. He has performed with numerous recording artists such as Natalie Cole, Ray Charles, the Moody Blues, Barry Manilow, The Canadian Brass, the Mannheim Steam Roller, John Denver, Lyle Lovett, Amy Grant Phil Woods, Dave Brubeck, Kenny Rogers, Leslie Uggams, Bob Hope, Dinah Shore, Rosemary Clooney , Diane Reeves, Pearl Bailey Doc Severinson, Melissa Manchester, Bernadette Peters, Ron Miles, and others. Leavitt has appeared with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, played with and conducted the Colorado Ballet Orchestra, and played principal trumpet for the Central City Opera. Dan Leavitt currently directs the music program at Bear Creek Church in Lakewood, Colorado, and teaches music at the Colorado Christian University.
Eric Staffeldt is from Indiana. He received a Bachelor of Music degree from Butler University in Indianapolis and a Masters from the University of Denver in Music Composition. An active freelance trombonist, Staffeldt has written and arranged commissions for the Colorado Wind Ensemble, the Mostly Strauss Orchestra, and the Park Hill Brass Quintet. Eric also plays trombone with the Queen City Jazz which performs all over the USA.
Michael Dunn hails from Tennessee where he began playing the Tuba at age 15. With music degrees from Tennessee Technological Unversity, and Arizona State University, he has studied with R.Wintson Morris and Daniel Perantoni. Michael has played with the President‘s Marine Band, the Alabama Symphony, Mr. Jack Daniel‘s Original Silver Cornet Band, the Colorado Symphony, the St. Louis Brass Quintet and the Dallas Brass. He currently teaches tuba at the University of Colorado.
Jacqueline Victor grew up in Nebraska. Her early training was in classical piano. As a teenager she participated in regional piano competitions. Her professional horn career began when as a foreign exchange student in Finland, she was a guest soloist with the Finnish Army Band. She has played principal horn with the Joensuu Symphony Orchestra and in various community orchestras. Primarily interested ensemble playing, Victor has performed with various small ensembles here and in Europe. She and Hornists, Cyril Divin and Silvain Koelsch of France currently perform together featuring the duet repertoire for French Horn. Victor is a founding member of the Park Hill Brass.
Audio Samples
| Title | Composer | |
|---|---|---|
| Ain't Misbehavin' | mp3 | |
| Amazing Grace | mp3 | |
| Canzona Bergamasca | mp3 | |
| Let It Snow | mp3 |
