As a junior in high school Garry took the Summer
Jazz Workshop at Berklee College Of Music. This is where he realized
that music and jazz would be his calling. After high school graduation
he returned to Berklee where he met his current teacher of 34
years, Charlie Banacos. After one year at Berklee fellow musician
Kenny Werner recommended Garry for a gig in Bermuda as the pianist
at The Princess Hotel. He lived on the island with his lady for
three years while playing 6 nights a week for various shows and
singers.
In 1976 Garry returned to NY and started gigging
around the city. He played with Charli Persip's big band. There
he was discovered by bebop trumpet legend Red Rodney who asked
him to form a band. During this time Garry played with various
small groups and singers. Through the club Jilly's, Frank Sinatra
heard of Garry and asked him to play at his apartment at the Waldorf
Astoria. Although he never performed with Mr Sinatra in concert,
Garry was asked on numerous occasions to play for Frank at his
private parties.
During these years Garry joined The Gerry Mulligan
Big Band, The Mel Lewis Quartet and the Joe Morello Quintet performing
at the Blue Note In NY City.
Initially, Dial's talent as a pianist earned him
a coveted and unique place in jazz history. Ruth Ellington, sister
of the great Duke Ellington, enlisted him to perform and record
for the Ellington family's personal library the entire Duke Ellington
catalog. Many of these compositions would have been lost as they
were unperformed and unrecorded.
In the late 1970's Dial spent 10 years with the
Red Rodney-Ira Sullivan Quintet, winning widespread acclaim as
the primary composer and arranger for these legendary talents.
The album "Red Rodney, Live at the Village Vanguard" was nominated
for a Grammy for Best Jazz group in 1980. "Ira Does It All" (1981),
featuring Ira Sullivan, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumentalist.
"Sprint" was chosen as one of the 10 best productions for 1983
by the News & Observer, North Carolina. Rounding out these 10
years Dial's artistic visions are found on all of the releases
of the Quintet.
In 1987 Garry Dial's debut release "Never Is Now"
(Continuum Records), performed in a trio format, featuring Joey
Baron and Jay Anderson "...showcases his exceptional compositional
chops on 12 originals. Dial displays an effortless supreme melodicism
on tunes both coherent and open-ended enough to allow for significant
participation from his associates." (New Music Report)
In a 1989 trip "Downunder", Dial combined his talents
as producer, composer and pianist with James Morrison and artist
Ken Done. "Post Cards from Down Under" (Warner Bros. Records)
won national praise for the pictorial and musical portrayal of
many places in Australia.
Upon his return, Dial's partnership with saxophonist
Dick Oatts offered "Dial & Oatts", co-produced by Tom Jung and
recorded on DMP. Together with the talents of Jay Anderson (bass)
and Joey Baron (drums) this project eloquently combined original
compositions and arrangements with a 30 piece string orchestra.
The following year the Dial/Oatts combination released
"Brassworks" on DMP. Incorporating the original compositions and
arrangements of Dial & Oatts and the orchestration and conducting
expertise of Rich DeRosa, "Brassworks" unites the Jazz Quartet
and the brass choir. This recording won "Disc of the Month" in
March of 1991 (CD Review) and was picked by Wayne Thomas of the
Orgonian as one of the 10 best recordings of 1990.
In 1992 Dial and Oatts teamed up again to record
"Dial & Oatts Verses Cole Porter". Together with Jay Anderson
and Jeff Hirschfield they deliver an interesting project of Cole
Porter's songs while focusing primarily on the verses. Dials drastic
reimaging of "At Long Last Love" won the top award for the Most
Innovative Arrangement of a Standard in the South Bend Tribune
at the Elkhart Indiana Jazz Festival in 1992.
In addition to his work in jazz Dial has also worked
with the folk music group The Roches, playing on three of their
recordings and appearing with them in a video performance. In
1992 he began collaborating with Terre Roche (of the Roches) on
a project of National Anthems from many countries. He performed
two of the anthems live with the Roches: the Czech anthem at the
Bottom Line in NYC and the Tibetan anthem at Philip Glass's annual
Carnegie Hall benefit concert for Tibet House. He also collaborated
with Terre Roche on arrangements for her band Terre & Her Moodswings,
which performed at New York's Bottom Line and were the headliners
at the Princeton Council of the Arts First Night Celebration in
1997.
In 1990, after fifteen years on the road, Dial
joined the faculty of both The New School and Manhattan School
of Music, where he teaches piano, theory and improvisation.
In 1992 Dial played on Jerry Bergonzi's playalong
record, "Melodic Structures for Advanced Music".
In 1995 Dial's playing and compositions were featured
along with saxophonist Chris Potter on "The Brighter Side" by
the Joel Spencer and Kelly Sill Quartet, on Alliance Records.
Jazz critic Neil Tesser (Playboy Magazine) said "Dial's experience
and compositional abilities make him the artistic gatekeeper in
this quartet."
In 1995 Dial & Oatts presented Brassworks in Finland
with the Radio Orchestra of Helsinki. On that trip he also played
quartet with Jerry Bergonzi.
In 1997 Dial worked as a consultant with Joey Baron
on his CD "Down Home", featuring Ron Carter, Arthur Blythe and
Bill Frisell. Also in 1997, Dial's compositions were featured
in a trio format on the K-Jazz Allstars' "Straight Ahead"ls with
Charles Fambrough on bass and Ralph Peterson on drums.
In the late 1990's the Dial & Oatts band incorporated
virtuoso guitarist Vic Juris in a band called Loose Change which
played in New York City at The Blue Note and Visiones. He continued
during this period to do some live engagements with saxophonists
Dick Oatts, Jerry Bergonzi and Rick Margitza.
Finding a balance between performing and teaching
, he wrote the two-year theory and performance curriculum for
The New School. In the year 2000 Manhattan School of Music took
a new course of direction. With a new chairman, Justin DiCioccio,
Dial was appointed head of the improvisation department where
his six-year course of study has been implemented in the curriculum.
In New York Dial has a private teaching practice
where he has acted as producer for some of his students. An impressive
group has studied with him, which includes Stefan Harris (Blue
Note Records) and Jacob Sacks, a finalist in the Monk Competition.
Not limiting himself to jazz, Dial has taught people from other
musical genres including the Queen of R&B, Mary J. Blige.
For four years Dial has contributed to the Euro-Meet
Jazz Workshop in Italy. In addition to doing master classes at
the workshop Dial performed with his trio in Northern Italy and
also in Salzburg and Vienna, Austria.
In the 1990's Dial went deeper into composition
studies. These compositions can be heard on his trio recording
"Tea For Three" with drummer Jeff Hirshfield and bassist John
Hebert.
In 2001, Bette Midler came to study music with
Garry. She remains among the growing number of his students. On
Sept 11,2001, Dial saw the fall of the World Trade Center in clear
view from his terrace. A few days later he had the honor of co-writing
with pianist Bette Sussman a New York Medley for Miss Devine's
tribute to the WTC and Mayor Rudolph Guiliani.
In the fall of 2001 Dial performed with the Gerry
Bergonzi Group at The Hopewell in Connecticut.
In January 2002 Dial teamed up with Dick Oatts
and taught master classes at The Dutch Conservatory in Amsterdam
Holland. Part of an exchange program with The Manhattan School
Of Music, Dial and Oatts performed at the school and at the local
jazz club in Amsterdam.
From 2003 till the present Garry continued teaching
and performing. Two new projects began to consume his time. One
is a cd and video "US AND THEM", a collection of arrangements
of national anthems in collaboration with folksinger Terre Roche,
and featuring musicians from many countries. The project took
on a new life when Bob Justich became executive producer and started
to make a movie about the project. For a few years a film team
followed Garry and Terre around NY as they interviewed and preformed
with various world musicans for the video. After 17 years of work
on this project has been released in the Fall of 2008. It is available
for purchase on cdbaby.com and you can read all about it at Dialroche.com.
The second project was the construction of a house
on a Caribbean island. From his early years living in Bermuda
Garry always had a love of the islands and the water. He bought
a piece of land on the top of a mountain facing the ocean on the
island of St. John and began building a villa. After 4 years Moonswept
Villa was completed and he has been spending time there practicing
and writing. A dream came true of having a busy NY life while
being able to retreat to paradise to compose and reflect.
In January 2008 a series of lessons with Garry
was filmed and can be viewed on the internet at Mucony.com.
In May 2008 Garry performed with Dick Oatts the
music from their Cole Porter cd At the L.A. Jazz Festival in Los
Angeles. In July of 2008 Dial and Oatts again teamed up in Amderdam
for the Summer jazz Workshop.
On Sept 15th
2008 Garry performed with flutist Anne Drummond At Dizzy's Coca
Cola at Lincoln Center. They played a duo piece which Anne wrote
for him entitled "Garry's Place". Garry And Ms. Drummond have
performed in duo and quartet throughout The United States and
Europe.
In 2009 Garry performed In Ny at the jazz clubs
The Knickerbocker and Smalls.
On Dec 8th 2009 Garry's teacher Charlie Banacos
died of cancer. Garry studied with Mr Banacos for 37 years through
the mail. His death was a huge blow to the jazz world. A week
before his death Mr Banacos through his family asked Garry to
help continue his teachings. Garry is now teaching private jazz
lessons online through the Banacos family and on his own. Garry’s
lessons are for all instruments and vocalists as well.
In 2010 Performed with vocalist Hilary Kole at Birdland
in NY. Garry toured with her quartet to Montreal Canada. In the
summer the quartet played 11 nights at the Umbria Jazz festival
in Perugia Italy.
In the fall of 2010 Garry and Ms Kole played in
London, Paris and Istanbul.
In November Garry was hired by movie star Ben Stiller
to teach Ben to play the piano for the Broadway Show " House
Of Blue Leaves". Mr Stiller is currently starring in this
production.
On Jan 5 ,2011 Garry was featured in an article
about himself called “The Pleasure of his Accompaniment”
in Vocal Ease in Backstage Magazine.
In Feb 2011 Dick Oatts and Garry received a grant from Temple
University to write original music to the poems of "Walt
Whitman" This will feature a large choir and the Dial and
Oatts jazz quartet.
In March Garry returned with Ms Kole to Istanbul
Turkey to perform at the Jazz Center for a two week engagement.
During the summer Garry will be working on the Walt Whitman project
which will be recorded in the Fall of 2011.
In April Garry was the featured artist in residence
for a three day jazz festival at The Chesire High School in Chesire
Connecticut.
PERFORMANCES
Dial & Oatts, Red Rodney & Ira Sullivan, Dizzy Gillespie, James
Moody, Gerry Mulligan, Mel Lewis, Sheila Jordan, Joe Lovano, Jerry
Bergonzi, Village Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Joe Morello, Roy Haynes,
Charlie Persip, Nat Adderly, Gunther Schuller, Toots Thielemans
ACADEMICS
B.A. Manhattan School of Music
M.A. Manhattan School of Music Berklee College of Music Alumnus
Manhattan School of Music Faculty since 1990
New School of Social Research Faculty since 1990
Private Studies: Charlie Banacos, Mary Lou Williams & Jacki
Byard
To view a complete bio please visit Garry's website at GarryDial.com
To view the article “The Pleasure of his Accompaniment”
in Back Stage magazine go to http://www.backstage.com/bso/content_display/advice/e3ie3497c95d03a28cf3acdbc6e2914f903
