The B-Line Jazz Percussion Trio came together in the summer of 2014, the result of collaboration on a residency at the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. Brian Mueller, Andy Smith and Brian McNulty quickly realized that as a group they make a “heat-and-serve” percussion performance and education team. Their combined creative talents and passion for pedagogy make them ideally suited to residencies - presenting jazz chamber music clinics, break-out clinics and master classes on vibraphone and jazz improvisation, solo marimba, drum-set, and more, teaching private instruction lessons, and performing concerts. All versatile percussionists and multi-instrumentalists, the B-Line trio maintains their marimba, vibraphone and drum-kit format, performing stylistically diverse improvisational music, setting them well apart from contemporary chamber percussion groups as well as from typical jazz collaborations.
Biographies
Brian McNulty recently completed his DM in Percussion Performance at Indiana University and currently works at the Jacobs School of Music as Coordinator for the Instrumental Ensembles Division and the JSoM Office of Musical Attractions. While at IU, he served as interim Adjunct Lecturer in Percussion, Associate Instructor in Music Theory, and as an accompanist for the IU Children’s Choir. He is currently Principal Percussionist of the Columbus (Indiana) Philharmonic and Section Percussionist in the Terre Haute Symphony. He won the IU percussion concerto competition in 2009, and performed at two Percussive Arts Society International Conventions (2010, 2011). He has been active playing percussion and timpani with early music groups such as the Bach CollegiumFort Wayne and the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra. He also devoted much research to jazz vibraphone pedagogy, and completed his doctoral final project on this topic. His percussion teachers include Kevin Bobo, Steve Houghton, Susan Powell, Dan Armstrong, and Giff Howarth.
Brian grew up in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, holds an MM in Percussion from The Ohio State University, and undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and Percussion from Penn State. He has also studied organ with Colin Andrews and serves as principal organist at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Bloomington, IN. |
Musician, Educator, and Composer, Andy
Smith is recognized internationally, having enjoyed a diverse career for
over two decades. His most recent projects include CD recordings,
Finally Here with Angel Roman and Mambo Blue, and Transparency featuring
Latin Jazz group Batuquê Trio (batuquetrio.com).
Andy’s recent compositions include: Vento no Ritmo (Wind in Rhythm) for
flute trio with leg rattles commissioned by Deanna Hahn-Little; Fora da
Caixa, an experimental graphic score for percussion trio; Two Maracatu
for Drum-set Duo (a popular youtube video features Andy with drummer
Marcus Finnie); and Brazilian Suite for Tambourines, premiered at
Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center. 2015 will include new works
for 10-Can Percussion and Caixa Trio.
Andy currently lives in Bloomington, IN with his wife Amy Smith (Caixa Trio) and their children. Andy earned a Doctor of Music there at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and continues to serve as assistant director to Michael Spiro’s Indiana University Bateria, performing at carnaval (carnival) festivals in Bloomington and Indianapolis. Andy taught as Adjunct Percussion Instructor at Middle Tennessee State University from 1999-2008 and serves as the Percussion Instructor for the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, a state sponsored program for elite college-bound musicians. His career has taken him from the recording studios of Nashville, TN to Tanglewood, Ravinia and the Hollywood Bowl. He has traveled to Ghana West Africa and the Caribbean to be immersed in African diasporic rhythm. In 2012, Andy was awarded a Tinker Foundation grant to study contemporary Brazilian Jazz drumming in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Other recent performances include numerous percussion festivals residencies and “Day of Percussion” events, the Jazz Education Network Convention, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Lotus Music Festival, and grant sponsored workshops with Bernard Woma, Musical Ambassador to Ghana. Andy is published by Row-Loff Publications. Additionally, Andy self-publishes his works for solo percussion with electronics, percussion and other chamber ensembles and Latin-Jazz combo (asmithdrum.com). He is endorsed by Pearl/Adams, Evans drumheads and Innovative Percussion. |
A native of Wichita, Kansas, Brian Mueller is currently adjunct instructor of percussion
at Middle Tennessee State University, while completing a Doctor of Music degree in Percussion at Indiana University.
His prior academic background includes a Bachelor of Music degree from Wichita State
University (2007) and a Master of Music degree from The University of North Texas
(2009). Mueller has worked as a freelance drummer, percussionist, and instructor for
many years, and is also a published composer. He has traveled and performed nationally
and internationally, including as a guest soloist and clinician at the Paris Conservatory
in December of 2014, and has performed twice at PASIC. Mueller has played drum set with the Wichita-based avant-garde jazz ensemble, The Bodo Ensembe, and has been an active
steel pan performer with the Bloomington-based steel pan group, Steel Panache, in addition to numerous other chamber and jazz collaborations. He is also
an active clinician, presenting workshops and performances throughout the Midwest.
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