Conversations

quot;Conversationsquot; is Dave Anderson and Mike Wingo's first recording project for their new duo, featuring acoustic piano and mixed percussion. For this CD, they chose a selection of their favorite jazz standards, rearranged for the duo, and several of Dave's original compositions. For a number of years, Dave had been interested in exploring the possibilities of a piano and percussion duo. This combination is rarely found in jazz and Dave felt it had unique potential for rhythmic interplay and improvisational freedom. After working with a number of percussionists in the Washington DC area, Dave was drawn to the work of Mike Wingo, who was skilled on a wide array of percussion instruments and fluent in a broad range of musical styles, from jazz to Indonesian Gamelan music. Over several years of performing together, Dave and Mike recreated their music for the duo. Mike restructured his percussion set-up, adding new hand drums and cymbals. Dave found that he could explore the entire range of the keyboard with a new freedom and created new arrangements and compositions. This beautifully recorded project documents the first stage of this duo on it's creative journey. As you will hear, quot;Conversationsquot; has an exciting combination of rhythmic drive, dynamics, and intimacy that will be a valued addition to any jazz lover's music collection. ************************************************** Dave Anderson has been playing the piano professionally since his teenage years. After 15 years of classical and jazz piano studies, Dave played full-time in Philadelphia area jazz clubs from 1974 to 1981. After moving to the DC area in 1981, Dave played in a variety of performance settings, from solo piano to jazz big band. In the late 90's, he formed a new trio and began performing regularly in area clubs, including a five year engagement at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Arlington, VA. In 2000, he released his first trio CD, quot;Out of Nowherequot; and also began a long term collaboration with vocalist, Barry Neal. In 2006, interested in exploring the piano-percussion duo format, Dave started performing with Mike Wingo and evolving the duo repertoire. Dave has graduate degrees from the University of Maryland and George Mason University. He also has an undergraduate degree from Syracuse University, where he was pianist for the Syracuse University Jazz Ensemble. Mike Wingo grew up in a musical family and began performing professionally and teaching at the age of 14. His musical travels have crossed several genres including orchestral, jazz, ethnic, and free-improvisation. Mike has degrees in percussion from the University of California at Santa Barbara and SUNY Stony Brook and studied with the legendary Murray Spivack in Los Angeles. In addition to extensive experience as a jazz drummer, he was a founding member of Gamelan Mitra Kusuma, One Earth Percussion Theatre (a trio of composer/percussionists), and Slurrr, an electo-acoustic improvisational ensemble. Besides his current work with Dave Anderson, Mike teaches percussion privately out of his home in Vienna, VA.