Red Hot Strings - Faculty

Centrum Faculty

This skilled creative collective could wrap their arms around the globe. Much respect, big hugs.

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Photo of Dave Biller

Dave Biller

Faculty

Dave Biller has toured and recorded with Wayne Hancock, Dale Watson, and Deke Dickerson and is mostly known as a professional pedal steel player, but his record, Hot Guitars of Biller & Wakefield, captured the ears of music lovers everywhere.

Photo of Grant Gordy

Grant Gordy

Guitar

For many guitarists, landing a gig with bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman’s groundbreaking bluegrass/jazz quintet would be the culmination of a career in music. But for Grant Gordy, it was more of a beginning, an apprenticeship in combining bluegrass and jazz that served as a launchpad for his own music. How far he has traveled since then can be heard on Peripheral Visions, his stunning new quartet recording and welcome successor to his eponymous 2010 debut.…

Photo of David Grisman

David Grisman

Special Guest Instructor

In the course of a career that has spanned more than six decades, David Grisman has had an immeasurable impact on American acoustic music. A trail-blazing instrumentalist, composer, bandleader, and creator of a living musical genre, David has influenced contemporary string players from Bluegrass to Pop and Jazz. We are delighted that he will be joining us on Saturday May 17th to present a workshop on arranging, and to participate in a moderated conversation about his music and his vital work as a conservator of string traditions.…

Photo of Zoe Guigueno

Zoe Guigueno

Upright Bass

Zoe Guigueno (GIG-an-oh) is a bassist and songwriter headquartered in New York City. While jazz trained, she can also often be found playing klezmer, Americana, or indie-rock. She has performed with Steve Martin, busked in a pink gorilla costume, and played upright bass while whitewater rafting. Her most recent solo album, We Were Radar Stations, came out on Fiddlehead Records in October 2022.

Photo of Jen Hodge

Jen Hodge

Bass

Jen Hodge is a Grammy-nominated bass player, currently living in New York City and originally hailing from British Columbia, Canada. A versatile and passionate musician, Jen is in high demand for her rock-solid bass playing, her consummate professionalism, and for the warm, infectious spirit she brings to the bandstand. Jen is a fixture of NYC’s hot jazz community, frequently featuring in the house band for the long-running Mona’s Tuesday Night Hot Jazz jam session hosted by multi-instrumentalist Dennis Lichtman, and performing with such artists as Bria Skonberg, The Hot Sardines, Jon-Erik Kellso & The EarRegulars, Cynthia Sayer, and Danny Jonokuchi & The Revisionists.…

Photo of Tyler Jackson

Tyler Jackson

Tenor Banjo

Tyler Jackson is a world renown tenor banjoist and upright bassist. Under the tutelage of Buddy Griffin, Tyler quickly learned the ukulele, tenor banjo, and electric bass. Tyler went on to study the double bass at the University of North Texas under Lynn Seaton and began to fine-tune his skills as a professional bassist.

Photo of Dennis Lichtman

Dennis Lichtman

Mandolin

Dennis Lichtman is a multi-instrumentalist (clarinet, mandolin, fiddle, and more) who has been living, performing, composing, and teaching in New York City since 2002. He is a Selmer Paris Artist as an endorser of their Signature Clarinet. His music was recently used in director David Simon’s The Plot Against America (HBO) and he has appeared this year as a clarinetist on Succession (HBO) and The Blacklist (NBC).…

Photo of Mikiya Matsuda

Mikiya Matsuda

Steel Guitar

Mikiya Matsuda is a steel guitarist and sometimes string bassist living in San Francisco, CA. He is the leader of the Alcatraz Islanders, a swing-era Hawaiian group, and a regular sideman with various traditional jazz and western swing dance bands in the Bay Area.

Photo of Dale Morris Jr.

Dale Morris, Jr.

Violin

Dale Morris, Jr. began playing violin at age three. By the time he was ten years old, he began his professional career performing with the Bar-D Wranglers at the Bar-D Chuck Wagon Supper and Western Show in Durango Colorado. He performed there for the next three summers alongside his father, Dale Morris, Sr.…

Photo of Matt Munisteri

Matt Munisteri

Artistic Director, Red Hot Strings

Guitarist, singer, songwriter, and Brooklyn native Matt Munisteri grew up with early interest in American folk music that led him from finger-style Country and Ragtime guitar, through Blues, to Tin Pan Alley and Jazz. His own compositions, and lauded guitar playing, accurately reflect this life-long immersion in the history of American Popular Song; linking rural and urban, long-gone with contemporary.

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