Greg Power

With the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra at Disney's Epcot Center

A Canadian tour with the Guy Lombardo Orchestra

With his Salem High School Jazz Ensemble, along with special guest, Dizzy Gillespie

EDUCATION

Greg Power received his certification and Music Education degree from West Chester University, West Chester, Pennsylvania. After spending 15 years in public education as both a middle and a high school band director, he has been self-employed as the owner of Custom Creations Musical Services (license # 1993-275-478) since 1993. Additionally, Greg has served on the music staff of Indian River State College, Ft. Pierce, FL, teaching trumpet and jazz studies. He has had the pleasure of providing area school band programs with some of the finest musicians to ever pass through their programs. While teaching high school in New Jersey, Greg's school district was selected as one of 16 in the country to launch the new Jazz Artist In Residence program, bringing jazz artists into a community for either a half year or a full year to interact with students, faculty and the community. The pilot program was for two years and Greg's role was as educational coordinator for his district. During the summer prior to the beginning of the first year of the pilot program, all of the key participants (the artist, an educational coordinator, and an administrative coordinator for each school district) planned for two weeks at Duke University. At the end of the first year, Greg's school district was cited nationally as a model for the country and Greg was asked to join the staff at Duke for the second summer's planning session, specifically to lead workshops and present the materials that he had developed to the other educators. Recently, his work with the program came full circle as he had the pleasure of working with the Martin County Arts Agency as a Jazz Artist In Residence, working with the jazz students at Stuart Middle School, Stuart, FL.

PERFORMANCE

As a performer, Greg began working professionally at age 15. By the time he was 16, he was the band leader of his own dance band, The Conventional Brass. For the next ten years, Greg continued as a band leader in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and was often hired as a sideman for other local bands. At age 26, he was recommended to Wilmington, Delaware contractor Lloyd Johnston, who immediately put Greg on the "first call" list for some of the most famous bands in the country. For the next 22 years, he performed with such groups as The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, The Four Tops, The Spinners, Bobby Rydel, The Sammy Kaye Orchestra, Warren Covington, The Pied Pipers, Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians, Myron Floren, The Nelson Riddle Orchestra, and many, many more. Greg's travels as a performer have taken him across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Portugal, Spain, and France. His most memorable performances include playing for President Reagan at his second Inaugural Ball, the national tour of the Broadway show "On Your Toes," and fulfilling a childhood dream by performing on the Mississippi Queen riverboat. Additionally, Greg  has also enjoyed an extensive career as a musical conductor, including conducting for big band singer Helen O'Connell and, locally, conducting the Treasure Coast Jazz Ensemble (which he formed in 1993) and the Peter Jones production of "Chicago" at the Lyric Theatre in Stuart.

ARRANGING

As a musical arranger, Greg has been writing professionally since age 16, starting with the 52 arrangements that he wrote while still in high school for his first band, The Conventional Brass. Since then, he has been commissioned to arrange for all types of ensembles, from quartets to full symphony orchestras, including brass quartets/quintets, jazz quartets/quintets, big bands, high school and middle school marching bands & concert bands, and symphony orchestras. Most recently, Greg has been commissioned to write over 40 arrangements for cruise ship singers, from individual charts to complete shows.

Jammin' - Salem, N.J.

With the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra and Helen O'Connell on the QE2

With jazz pianist Pedro Hernandez in Jensen Beach, Florida

Five performance trips on the Mississippi Queen