Peter Chwazik
Multi-instrumentalist and composer Peter Chwazik has been active in the performing arts in upstate New York for more than 25 years.
As a composer, Peter has been commissioned to score modern dance pieces for Lois Welk and American Dance Asylum (The Lois Welk Show, 1995; Soul-ly For You, 1996; Parking Ramp Dance 1996; Vroom!, 1998), Jill Becker Dance (A Day of Moving Art, 1998–1999), and Jeanne Goddard and CRS Barn Dance (Re: Cycling, 2006). He also has composed improvised scores for David Dorfman Dance and Mark Taylor Dance Alloy (Joint MotionImprovisation, 1998). He has received four Meet the Composer grants.
As a performer, in addition to producing work by the Peter Chwazik Trio, he has had concert appearances in theaters, nightclubs and international jazz festivals in Europe, Canada and the U.S. with a wide variety of artists including vocalist Rhiannon, free jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, and a number of combos and big bands. Through the 1990s he toured and recorded with a trio led by experimental cellist Hank Roberts, documented on the discs “I’ll Always Remember” and “Saturday/Sunday” (LevelGreen). Recently he recorded and toured the U.S. with former Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio, appearing on his album “Shine” (Sony, 2005). His work with the Nana Simopoulos Group can be heard on “The Best of the 1989 Montreaux Jazz Festival, Part II” (BMG, 1990).
Since 2006, he has been a principal member of Alligator Mouth Improv, contributing improvised instrumental and vocal music for all their performances, special projects, and school and college residencies. In 2008, he and Rhonda Morton (founder of AMI) created “Moving Possibilities,” a multi-disciplinary performance piece for which he plays upright bass improvisationally. They have toured the piece regionally and also presented it in the 2008 Philly Fringe Festival.
Peter is active as an educator. He is a lecturer in the Jazz Studies Department at Ithaca College, and a lesson instructor affiliated with Cornell University, both in Ithaca, NY. He plays double bass in “The New Millennium Jazz Quartet,” which offers K–12 public school jazz presentations through Young Audiences of Rochester, NY. From 1993 to 1998, he developed the curriculum for and co-facilitated one-week summer jazz camps at 171 Cedar Arts Center in Corning, NY, and at the Community School of Music and Art in Ithaca, NY. Both programs were for students 12–18 years old, and focused on group and individual instruction in improvisation, jazz theory, combo performance and big band performance. He has provided individual and group private instruction for students of all ages at Tompkins Cortland Community College, several community arts centers, and his private studio since 1981.