John Lee,
Co-Founder.
Bassist, composer, educator and producer, John Lee was born June
28th, 1952 in Boston, Massachusetts. The son of an A.M.E. minister,
John's earliest musical impressions were formed in church and from
listening to his father's extensive jazz collection. In 1070, after
graduating from high school in Philadelphia, he enrolled at the
Philadelphia Musical Academy (now the University of the Arts).
During this period he began performing in New York City, and touring
the United States with the bands of Carlos Garnett, Joe Henderson
and Pharoah Sanders.
In 1972, John was hired as bassist for
the Max Roach Quartet. Later that year he moved to Europe and stayed
for two years. During this time abroad, he worked and recorded with
Gary Bartz, Philip Catherine, Joe Henderson, Chris Hinze, Jasper
Van'T Hof, Joachim Kuhn, Charlie Mariano and Toots Thielemans. With
drummer Gerry Brown he recorded his first solo effort entitled
"Infinite Jones" for the Keytone label, which has been re-released
as “Bamboo Madness” on the Limetree label.
After returning to
the United States in 1974, John worked with the bands of Norman
Connors, Gil Evans, Joe Henderson and Lonnie Liston Smith. In
1975, he joined Larry Coryell's Eleventh House while also forming
his own band with drummer Gerry Brown. Together they recorded two
albums for Blue Note Records, “Mango Sunrise” & “ Still Can’t Say
Enough”; two for Columbia Records, “Medusa” & “Chaser”; and one for
Mood Records called “Brothers”. During this period, John worked
with the bands of Gary Bartz, Rodney Franklin, and Alphonse Mouzon,
while producing albums for the Atlantic, Capitol, Mercury and Muse
labels.
In 1977, John left the Eleventh House to concentrate
on the John Lee/Gerry Brown Band and to work with a trio he and
Brown had formed with European guitar sensation, Philip Catherine.
In 1982, he joined the McCoy Tyner Quintet, where he worked until
joining the Dizzy Gillespie Group in 1984.
The long personal
and professional association that ensued was to be a turning point
in Lee’s career. From 1984 until Dizzy died in 1993, John was the
bassist in the trumpet master’s various bands including the Dizzy
Gillespie Quintet, the 70th Anniversary Big Band and the United
Nation Orchestra. After Dizzy’s passing, the family asked John to
create an ongoing tribute to the legendary man and his music—and the
concept for the Dizzy Gillespie™Alumni All-Stars was born.
During this period, John also worked in the bands of Jon Faddis,
Slide Hampton, Roy Hargrove, Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Claudio Roditi,
and Sonny Rollins. Along with Chuck Loeb, Marion Meadows, and
Dave Samuels, he formed the Fantasy Band. They released three CDs
and toured extensively.
At present, John is executive
director of the Dizzy Gillespie™All-Stars and All-Stars Big Band. He
performs with them regularly and leads his own bands, the John Lee
Quartet and Quintet. In addition, his interest in recording and
producing led him to found Alleycat Studio, a division of Alleycat
Productions.
He personally engineers many of the projects
produced by his company and has worked with a select group of
clients including Nat Adderley Jr., Don Braden, Cecil Brooks III,
Roberta Gambarini, Roy Hargrove, Hank Jones, Bill Kirchner, Mack
Avenue Records, Benny Powell, and CD101.9. His production credits
include CDs for the Fantasy Band, the Heath Brothers, Cyrus
Chestnut, Larry Coryell, Steve Davis, Carlos Garnett, Slide Hampton,
Jon Lucien, One for All, Claudio Roditi, Saundra Santiago, Art Webb,
the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Stars, and the Dizzy Gillespie
All-Star Big Band.
In 2008, with partner Lisa Broderick,
John formed the record label JLP, Jazz Legacy Productions
(jazzlegacyproductions.com). JLP will officially release its first
two CDs in August 2009.
Lisa
Broderick, Co-Founder, Executive Producer. An
experienced turn-around executive for more than 20 years, Lisa is
also Managing Partner of Conversus Group, a management consulting
firm she founded in 2001. With her extensive experience as a
Parachute CEO for troubled portfolio companies, Lisa has served in
officer-level positions for such corporate investors as GE Capital
and News Corporation. She has extensive experience in change
management, business development, finance and capital raising.
Lisa has a BA degree in Economics from Stanford University and an
MBA in global finance and marketing from Duke University
Daniel A.
Mancini, Director, Marketing and Business Development. A natural
entrepreneur, Daniel has pioneered numerous, successful consumer
goods businesses, specifically in the apparel and manufactured foods
industries. Most recently, Daniel developed the Mama Mancini line of
Italian foods, which, within a short time, became widely available
in upscale gourmet markets, as well as Home Shopping Network and
specialty catalogs such as Neiman Marcus and Stone Wall Kitchen.
From 1986 to 1998 as President of Ultra Pink, Daniel grew the
business into a successful apparel company in the junior clothing
market with annual sales in excess of $100 million. In 1989, he
opened his own apparel company called Sweet Lily. In the fall of
2007, he sold this business to fulfill other passions --
specifically his passion for jazz music.
In the Fall of 2007, Daniel joined an effort to increase business
and bring world class jazz to a local venue. What resulted is
considered among the most successful jazz venues in New Jersey,
Papillion Restaurant located in South Orange, which increased its
sales four fold.
Frank Moten, Director of Operations. Frank is the
Founder/CEO of OURGIG.COM – a
website design, marketing, consulting and hosting company that has
been providing affordable website and marketing solutions to the
entertainment industry since early 2000.
His career includes a vast technical leadership of
startup/expansion/turnaround efforts for advertising, cosmetics,
report distribution, internet, media and telecommunications
companies and firms located throughout North
America and Europe.
Moten’s areas of expertise includes: technical
analysis, customer service, quality assurance, cost analysis,
operations planning and assessment, equipment acquisition, quality
assurance of application design and implementation, vendor selection
& negotiations, outsourcing and full lifecycle project management.
Throughout Moten’s
life, his relationships in music have always been his most valued.
Whether as a musician and producer himself, or through the vast relationships
developed from his father’s ownership of a world famous Harlem
Nightclub, to the extremely close relationships that he forged with
all stars such as John Birks, ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie and his devoted wife
Loraine Gillespie; better known as Frank’s 2nd set of parents.
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