Sunday, April 6, 2025 | 2pm
First Unitarian Church (536 Linton St, Cincinnati, OH 45219)
JAZZ@FIRST | MAIDEN VOYAGE: HERBIE HANCOCK IN THE EARLY YEARS
The CCJO jazz quintet performs the classic acoustic piano-based compositions of one of the most influential modern jazz pianists, Herbie Hancock. Hancock became famous with Miles Davis and was part of Davis’s crossover to electronic jazz fusion. He also penned some of the most memorable jazz standard compositions for the Blue Note record label, including Hancock’s personal favorite, “Maiden Voyage,” which became the opening track of his 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame Award album of the same name.
Complimentary wine and cheese at intermission are included with your ticket.
Jazz@First Series Sponsor: Al Harris
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About the Artist: Eric Lechliter, trumpet
Eric Lechliter is an in-demand professional musician, arranger and educator based in Cincinnati, OH. As an active trumpet player, he plays frequently around the greater Cincinnati area. He has shared the stage with international recording artists including Jeff Hamilton, Conrad Herwig, John Fedchock, Chris Vadala, Greg Gisbert, Terell Stafford, Byron Stripling, Bobby Broom, Barry Ries, Alex Norris, The Four Tops and the Temptations to name a few.
As an arranger/composer, his music has been performed by several Tri-State groups of varying genres, including the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and Schoolhouse Symphony. His big band music has been performed by many local ensembles in addition to international performances in Brazil, England and Norway. In 2016, he founded The Original Farm League Big Band, an ensemble dedicated to performing original music by living Cincinnati-based composers. In 2019, he began work as the Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. In 2022, CCJO released its first album We Are the CCJO, which is comprised entirely of Eric’s original compositions and arrangements.
In addition to his playing and writing career he has maintained a busy schedule as a Jazz clinician, professor and private teacher. From 2017-2022 he led the Xavier Jazz Orchestra as an adjunct professor at Xavier University in Norwood, OH. Currently, Eric teaches as an adjunct instructor in the Jazz, Commercial Music Production and Preparatory departments at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).
Eric received a Bachelor’s degree in music education with a Jazz specialization in 2015, and a Master’s degree in Jazz Studies in 2024, both from CCM.
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About the Artist: Dan Drees, tenor saxophone
A native of Fort Thomas, Kentucky, Dan Drees is an alumnus of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. A second-generation CCM graduate, he considers his late mother Margie Drees his most important music teacher. While at UC he studied with Rick Van Matre, Phil DeGreg and Pat Harbison. His important musical associations include Marcus Ware’s Pavilion Music Company, Flying Circus Big Band, Blue Wisp Big Band and the Ron Enyard Quartet. Dan aspires to play in the swinging, big-toned tender-hearted tradition of local tenor masters Jimmy McGary and Morgy Craig.
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About the Artist: Phil DeGreg, piano
Phil DeGreg began playing the piano in his childhood and now performs as a jazz pianist internationally. His earliest jazz influences were Bud Powell and Bill Evans, but he is accomplished and comfortable in a wide range of jazz styles, ranging from mainstream to bebop to Brazilian jazz. A graduate of Yale and the University of North Texas, he toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra in the 1980s and has 10 CDs to his credit as a leader. For 13 years he accompanied many national and international jazz artists in the house trio in Cincinnati’s famous Blue Wisp Jazz Club. He has been on staff with the renowned Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops since 1983, and has performed and taught in Europe and South America.
Phil DeGreg is the retired Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts study grants. In 2008 he was awarded a 4-month Fulbright Fellowship as a lecturer in Brazil.
His text “Jazz Keyboard Harmony” is a practical text for teaching jazz harmony for all musicians, and is used all over the world in universities and for private study.
Learn more about Phil DeGreg on his website http://phildegreg.com.
