2020 Skidmore Jazz Institute faculty member wins Grammy
A 2020 Skidmore Jazz Institute faculty member recently took home a trophy at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards.
Trumpeter Brian Lynch, who will be a first-time faculty member of the Institute this June, is the leader of Brian Lynch Big Band, whose album “The Omni-American Book Club” earned the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.
The album also features saxophonist Jim Snidero, who will be returning as a Skidmore Jazz Institute faculty member for the second time this summer.
Jim Snidero, one of Brian Lynch's bandmates, will teach at the Skidmore Jazz Institute this summer as well.
The Brian Lynch Big Band was also nominated in the Best Instrumental Composition category for the track “Crucible for Crisis.”
Lynch is perhaps best known for his tenures with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet. He has also had long tenures with jazz legends Eddie Palmieri and Phil Woods and collaborated with many other renowned jazz artists, Latin music icons and pop luminaries such as Prince. As a bandleader and recording artist he has released over 20 critically acclaimed CDs and toured the world. He was also nominated for Grammys in 2005 and 2007.
Snidero has been called a “master musician” and “alto saxophone virtuoso” by Downbeat Magazine and is a veteran recording artist with 20 solo recordings to his credit, including “Blue Afternoon (Criss-Cross),” listed in “The Penguin Jazz Guide: The History of the Music In the 1001 Best Albums.” As a sideman he has played with the Mingus Big Band, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Palmieri and Brother Jack McDuff, among others.
The Jazz Institute, now in its 33rd year and directed by Mark Beaubriand, is accepting applications for this summer. Previous students have successfully pursued jazz-related careers in the areas of performance, teaching and business and include Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, Richie Barshay, Jonathan Batiste, Ryan Cohan, Sullivan Fortner, James Francies, Brandon Lee, Noah Preminger, Christian Scott, Kendrick Scott, Walter Smith, Burniss Earl Travis and Myron Walden, among others.
The Skidmore Jazz Institute is sponsored by the Arthur Zimtbaum Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Howard Bayne Fund.
