Steven Feifke, Bijon Watson & Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra
Biographie Steven Feifke, Bijon Watson & Generation Gap Jazz Orchestra
Steven Feifke
Recognized as one of the leading composers for Big Band by the Recording Academy, producer of the Grammy's and heralded a "masterful pianist" by JAZZIZ Magazine, Steven Feifke is an award winning bandleader, composer, and arranger who has appeared on over thirty records before turning thirty years old. A Yamaha Performing Artist and a two-time semi-finalist in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition, DownBeat Magazine says Feifke's music is "an air of infectious joy."
An internationally recognized composer, arranger and orchestrator, Feifke is the recipient of the 2020 David Baker Prize from the Ravinia Festival, and has written for orchestras around the world including Orchestra Senzapine in Florence, Italy and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra..
His compositions and orchestrations have also been prominently featured on such hit TV shows as The Masked Singer [FOX], Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee [Netflix], Impractical Jokers [TruTV], Animaniacs [Hulu], and the 2016 award-winning animated short Solo.
A respected educator, Feifke sits on faculty at Berklee College of Music and The New School of Jazz and Contemporary Music. In addition to frequent guest lecturer and guest artist visits at educational institutions around the US including New York University, Yale University, Northern Illinois University, and more, Feifke maintains a small private Zoom studio of inspired composition and jazz piano students.
Bijon Watson
Watson’s career as a musician and educator spans more than 25 years and has taken him around the globe to perform for audiences worldwide. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Bijon began playing the trumpet at the age of 8. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music Preparatory School, and the University of Southern California, and was a member of the 1994 Disney All-American College Band and 1995 Disney/Grammy All-American College Jazz Band.
Bijon’s recording and/or live performance and touring credits are vast and the short list includes iconic artists such as Natalie Cole, Michael Bublé, Justin Timberlake, Harry Connick, Jr., Diana Krall, Michael Jackson, Arturo Sandoval, Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey, Joe Williams, Queen Latifah, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Nicholas Payton, Rosemary Clooney, Steve Tyrell, Eric Benét, Jamiroquai, Prince, Barbara Morrison, Dianne Reeves, Nancy Wilson, Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan, Luis Miguel, The Temptations, and Gladys Knight.
Bijon’s love for big band and latin jazz inspired him to become a student of the great bands of the past and present and he has become a sought after and in-demand lead trumpet player. Bijon is the lead trumpet for the Grammy-nominated Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra, the Grammy-nominated John Daversa Progressive Big Band, the Grammy-nominated John Beasley’s Monkestra, José Rizo’s Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars, the late Gerald Wilson Jazz Orchestra, and many other jazz, salsa, and pop bands throughout the United States. Internationally, Bijon has recorded and performed live as lead trumpet with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band.
On television, Bijon has performed on episodes of “American Idol”, as well as “The Tonight Show”, Grammy Awards shows, The BET Music Awards, and “Dancing With The Stars”. Bijon’s film appearances include appearing in the award-winning film “La La Land” and recording on several soundtracks with studios such as Paramount, Fox, and Disney, including most recently “Despicable Me 2”, and “The Secret Life of Pets”.
As a classically trained musician, Bijon has had the opportunity to perform as a guest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Opera, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the San Diego Symphony, and the San Francisco Symphony.
A dedicated educator, Bijon is an in-demand clinician that has given master classes and clinics to colleges, conservatories, secondary schools, high schools, and middle schools throughout the United States, and Europe, as well as maintaining a private lesson studio.
Bijon is an Stomvi USA/Spain performing artist and uses the Stomvi line of horns exclusively. He performs on the VRII Custom Big Bell Bb Trumpet, as well as the Stomvi Master Bb, Flugelhorn, and C trumpet, and the Stomvi Elite Piccolo. Bijon also uses the Stomvi Flex Mouthpiece System.
