Jazz as Democracy
Thursday, April 24, 2025 | 7 pm
Performer Bios
Tom Manuel
Jazz historian, music educator and cornet player Dr. Thomas Manuel holds the endowed
Artist in Residence Fellow chair within the Jazz department at Stony Brook University.
In addition to this he is the Artistic Director of the Loft School of Jazz, is a
member of the Huntington Arts Council Decentralization Advisory Committee, is the
founder and President of The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, N.Y., an innovative and creative
space which joins jazz performance, jazz preservation and jazz education in celebration
of the past, present, and future, and also serves as the President for The Institute
For New Music.
Manuel has been cited for his accomplishments by The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine, Newsday, Jazz Inside Magazine, Hot House Jazz Magazine, The New York City Jazz Record, Jazz Ed Magazine and has been actively involved with global educational outreach to Havana, Cuba, Monrovia, Liberia and Port Au Prince, Haiti. Manuel dedicates his professional efforts to both the preservation of Long Island’s jazz history as well as presenting it to future generations and has received several honors for his dedication to the American born art form of Jazz including: Stony Brook Universities 40 Under 40 Award, several Suffolk County Proclamations, the East End Arts & Humanities Council 2020 Music Masters residency, the 2019 Applied Improvisation Network International Conference artist presenter, the 2016 Person of the Year in Brookhaven award from the Times Beacon Record, and has also served as a trustee to the Frank Melville Memorial Foundation.
Most recently, Manuel was a guest speaker at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day event at the New York State Capital Convention Center in Albany, New York. Dr. Manuel spoke along with SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. and New York State Secretary of State Walter T. Mosley. Manuel also presented a short performance with his graduate students including an original composition Disruptors For Good written in honor of Dr. King and other Civil Rights activists.
Joey Devassy
Joey Devassy teaches instrumental music in the Oyster Bay-East Norwich CSD on Long
Island, New York. Along with his educational duties, he also co- leads, composes for, and performs with
the Interplay Jazz Orchestra. They have recorded five albums, with the most recent
album due out later this year. The IJO performs throughout Long Island and New York
City, and has a monthly residency at The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, NY.
Joey Devassy studied trombone with Dr. Hal Reynolds and Michael Dease, and has studied composition and arranging from Dana Wilson, Steve Brown, and Michael Philip Mossman. He has also shared the stage or recorded with such notable musicians as Randy Brecker, Glenn Drewes, Ralph and Dave Lalama, Michael Mossman, Dave Pietro, Wycliffe Gordon, Antonio Hart, Gary Smulyan, Carl Fontana, and John Mosca.
Dean Johnson
Since arriving in New York from Seattle, Washington in 1980, Dean Johnson has been
busy freelancing with a wide variety of artists, including his 10-year association
with Gerry Mulligan.
Some of the eclectic array of artists Dean has been and continues to be involved with include Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Art Lande, Dave Douglas, Lee Konitz, Nguyen Le, Steve Kuhn, Bill Mays, Bill Charlap, Wynton Marsalis, The New York Voices, Jackie and Roy, Roseanna Vitro, Paul Jost, Kendra Shank, and many others. Dean has also appeared on over 80 recordings with a variety of artists.
John Marshall
John Marshall, Saxophone, is an active performer, educator and clinician in the New
York area, appearing in concerts and festivals throughout the United States and Canada,
including numerous radio and television broadcasts. He has taken part in the World
Premier performances of several works, including pieces by composers Meyer Kupferman
and Vaclav Nelhybel. As a member of the original jazz group Braile House, John appears
on the group’s debut recording, Pledge, with guest guitarist Ben Monder. He is also
a member of the Interplay Jazz Orchestra, appearing on the group’s five releases.
Additionally, his saxophone can be heard in the soundtracks for television programs
that have aired on The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel.
In his academic and professional career, John is fortunate to have played and/or recorded with many of his musical heroes and inspirations, including Ben Monder, Rick Margitza, poet laureate and Miles Davis Biographer Quincy Troupe, Ralph Lalama, “Blue” Lou Marini, Gerry Niewood, Matt Wilson, and The Temptations. Venues in which he has performed include Nassau Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, Brookhaven Amphitheater, and storied Manhattan clubs such as Birdland, Smalls, B.B. Kings, The Village Gate, 55 Bar, Visione’s, and The Angry Squire. As an educator, John has served on the faculty of Hofstra University and Hunter College as Instructor of Saxophone, and teaches public school in East Meadow, NY.
He has taught for several seasons at the Hartwick College Summer Music Festival and Institute in Oneonta, NY, and was an artist-in-residence for Nassau/Suffolk Performing Arts, with which he has completed two tours of Hawaii as both a performer and clinician. Additionally, he has been a performer/clinician with the American Jazz Repertory Ensemble as a part of the American Jazz Venues initiative. He holds a BS in Jazz Performance and an MS in Music Education, both from Hofstra University. John currently resides in Greenlawn, NY.
Darrell Smith
Darrell Smith DMA (jazz percussion, music director, band leader, composer, producer)
is a jazz percussionist and composer endorsed by Canopus Drums. He has performed in
numerous festivals both nationally and internationally including the Montclair Jazz
Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland), the Mumbai
NCPA Jazz Festival (India). As a band leader, he has led his original trio (Dal Segno
Trio) in local performances at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Smoke Jazz and Supper Club,
The Jazz Standard and Gotham.
As a composer, Dr. Smith co-wrote an original off-broadway show entitled “Interludes” that features New Orleans themed music. “Interludes” was featured in the San Diego International Fringe Festival and the New York Fringe Festival. Dr. Smith has also performed in off-broadway productions of “West Side Story”, “The King and I”, “Pearl”, and “Magdalene”. Since 2018 Dr. Smith has been the producer of the Staten Island Jazz Festival (Universal Temple of the Arts).
Dr. Smith is a board member of The Jazz Loft in Stony Brook, Long Island. He has just started his own non-profit organization “3 Degrees” to build an arts center on Staten Island. He is currently the Director of Education for Jazz House Kids under the artistic direction of bassist Chrisitian McBride. Dr. Smith serves on the faculties of the New School University and the College of Staten Island, CUNY.
Mala Waldron
Mala Waldron (pronounced 'MAL-uh') is an accomplished pianist, vocalist and composer born in New York City.
She studied African-American Music under department chairman, Makanda Ken McIntyre
at SUNY, College at Old Westbury, receiving a Bachelor’s degree. She performs regularly
in the Tri-state area and has done concerts all over Europe and Asia, including tours
with her father, renown pianist/composer Mal Waldron in Japan and France.
As her mother, Elaine Waldron (aka Ellie Brent) was also a jazz pianist/vocalist, Mala proudly follows in her parents’ footsteps showcasing her talents and participating in workshops, such as the ‘WBGO Kids Jazz Concert Series’ and ‘Jitterbugs - Jazz for Kids’ program (Jazz Forum Arts). She leads her own quartet, Mala Waldron & Soulful Sound, and has appeared at many top venues including the Kennedy Center Millennial Stage, and NYC’s Iridium, Jazz Standard, Birdland, Club Bonafide, 55 Bar, Minton’s Playhouse, Bam Cafe, Sista’s Place and Dizzy's Club, opening for Patrice Rushen. Mala is also a member of the Firey String Sistas ensemble.
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