Kathy Salem, Managing Director
330.328.7337 kathy@nightisalive.com
Jeff Rupert Group
Night Is Alive manages some of the most intriguing and inventive musicians of our time.
They are internationally known, respected and honored.
Marty Morell, Drums
Marty Morell (drums, percussion, vibes, piano, producer) was a member of the Bill Evans Trio for seven years–longer than any other drummer. A highly inventive player, capable of both great subtlety and fiery dynamics, Morell attended the Manhattan School of Music and studied mallets with Morris Goldberg, and tympani with Saul Goodman at the Julliard School of Music. Prior to joining Bill Evans, Morell worked and/or recorded with the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet, Henry "Red" Allen, Gary McFarland, Steve Kuhn and Gabor Szabo.
Morell currently teaches jazz drumset and percussion at the University of Central Florida (UCF) and has been recording with The Jazz Professors a combo of the UCF faculty including saxophonist Jeff Rupert, bassist Richard Drexler, pianist Per Danielsson, trombonist Michael Wilkinson, and guitarist Bobby Koelble that has had two JazzWeek Jazz top-charting hit albums in 2011 and 2013.
Veronica Swift, Jazz Singer
Veronica Swift, age 22, is now being recognized around the country as one of the top young jazz singers on the scene. In the fall of 2015, she won second place at the prestigious Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition. Following that she was asked to do a concert of her own at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City in March of 2016.
In April of 2016, she was a guest artist with Michael Feinstein at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York with the Tedd Firth Big Band and Marilyn Maye and Freda Payne. Veronica’s first appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center was at age 11 for “Women in Jazz” series at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. In the summer of 2016 she headlined at the Telluride Jazz Festival in Colorado – her 10th appearance there – but first as a headliner.
Listen:
Richard Drexler, Piano
Richard Drexler is a pianist, bassist, vocalist and composer/arranger from Bloomington-Normal Illinois, and has resided in central Florida since 1985. He has performed on 200 recordings. Richard regularly performs in eleven orchestras on seven instruments, and in diverse settings as a featured soloist with Cheap Trick, and Saigon Kick.
His playing has been favorably reviewed in Down Beat and in dozens of online publications. Richard is a faculty member at the University of Central Florida’s acclaimed jazz studies program, along with Marty Morell and Jeff Rupert.
Jeff Rupert, Tenor Saxophone
Saxophonist Jeff Rupert is a YAMAHA performing artist. Performing and recording credits include associations with Diane Schuur, Mel Tormé, Kevin Mahogany and Benny Carter’s Grammy winning Harlem Renaissance. Jeff Rupert toured for fifteen years with Sam Rivers; four albums ensued, and from 1997- 2002 he toured and recorded with Maynard Ferguson.
Jeff Rupert’s six recordings as a leader all charted on Jazz Week. His latest release Imagination is a collaboration with pianist Richard Drexler.
Jeff Rupert is Pegasus Distinguished Professor, Trustee Endowed Chair, and Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Central Florida (UCF), and founder of Flying Horse Records.
Listen:
Ben Kramer, Bass
Ben Kramer has played the bass for more than 17 years and holds a bachelors in music from The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.
He serves as the Program Director, Music Production Online at the Los Angeles Film School, a creative media arts college, offering accredited Bachelor of Science degrees in Animation & VFX, Entertainment Business and Graphic Design, and Associate of Science degrees in Recording Engineering, Music Production and film.