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Tom Hart Tom Hart, tenor saxophone. Born and raised in San Francisco as the only child to a pharmacist and his wife, I attended school there through college. Polytechnic High School was wehre I met Paul Britenfeld, (aka Paul Desmond) of the Dave Brubeck Quartet. At San Francisco State College, I on occasion joined Paul, Allen Smith, Cal Tjader, Rudy Salvini and other San Francisco luminaries in performance while earning a teaching credential and Masters Degree in Music. I taught instrumental music in the San Francisco elementary schools, band and chorus at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley and San Leandro High School, chorus at Arroyo High School in San Lorenzo, and jazz studies and theory at De Anza College, where I became assistant Dean of Creative Arts. All told, I served 36 years in the teaching profession. My choral and instrumental groups consistently won superior ratings in the California Music Educators Festivals, and one year won the First Place trophy in the West Coast Collegiate Jazz Festival with the De Anza Jazz Ensemble. I have adjudicated jazz ensembles for the Bay Section CMEA, (where I was President for one year) and was clinician/;ecturer at several conferences. I was a part of the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Clinics, where I taught jazz improvisation for three years, and twice traveled to Australia and New Zealand. I have two choral compositions published, and have written about 25 vocal charts for Jamie Davis, the current singer with the Count Basie Band, as well as for Jackie Ryan with the Rudy Salvini Band. Three of my charts were included on Jamie’s recent CD. All the while, I have worked in the Bay Area music business since high school, playing casual engagements, including accompanying such celebrities as Rita Moreno, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horn, Tex Beneke, Steve Allen, the Mills Brothers, Helen O’Connell, Frankie Layne, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Sammy Davis, Jr., and many others. I played on a couple of occasions the Pink Panther solo with Henry Mancini and the San Francisco Symphony. Another highlight was performing as featured soloist with Tony Bennett for one and two-week engagements for eight years. I played with the Full Faith and Credit Band for about six years, the Don Piestrup band off and on for about 30 years, and the Rudy Salvini Band off and on for about 40 years. I substituted in the Brubeck Octet in the early days, and once played with the Stan Kenton Band. I played in the Oakland Park Band for about five years, and conducted two of their concerts. I am an Honorary Member of the San Francisco Bohemian Club, having been since 1986, where I have arranged, composed, and conducted for various shows and concerts. I will be 80 years old in July, 2006, reside in the same San Francisco house in which I lived while going to high school, have been married to Gloria for 58 years and have two children, four grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Ten members of my family are (or were) in public education as teachers or administrators. O1C Performances: The Rudy Salvini Octet Rudy Salvini Octet |
