Jeff Baumeister
Professor, Music
M.M. University of the Arts, B.M. William Paterson University
Bio:
Jeff studied music at Bucks County Community College and later earned degrees from William Paterson University and the University of the Arts. His classical piano teachers include Ruth Luty Campbell, Samuel Bellardo and Gary Kirkpatrick. He also studied jazz piano with Uri Caine, Harold Mabern, Pete Malinverni, Don Glanden, Tom Lawton, and Al Stauffer. Jeff studied jazz composition and arranging with Jim McNeely and Manny Albam at the BMI Jazz Composer's Workshop. He is a recipient of the Eubie Blake Scholarship and the Bernard Peiffer Jazz Piano Award for Excellence, Creativity, and Dedication to Jazz Piano. His recordings, 'Useful Music' and 'Pretty Melodies, for people who dig that sort of thing' have garnered praise from the Philadelphia Inquirer and various jazz websites and magazines. Jeff was commissioned to compose a jazz suite for ten musicians commemorating BCCC's 50th anniversary. The piece titled; 'Portraits from the Pub' premiered on
October 11th, 2014. His composition, ‘OK, Now What?’ was included in the Philadelphia Real Book published by Temple University Press. Jeff has several jazz transcriptions and analysis essays published in DownBeat magazine. Among these include solos by Dave Douglas, Uri Caine, Tomasz Stanko, Dave Holland, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and John Zorn. He joined BCCC’s School of Music faculty in 2003 and performs regularly throughout the Philadelphia area in various settings.