Torrey Newhart Trio play at the Jazz Station in Eugene
- Torrey Newhart piano
- Todd Sickafoose bass
- Ryan Biesack drums
Torrey Newhart is a keyboardist located in Eugene, OR. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2014 with a Masters Degree in Music and was awarded "Most Outstanding Performer In Jazz Studies" the same year. Newhart performs well over a hundred shows, annually, with regional musicians in many configurations. He has recorded and/or released music with Mhondoro, Inner Limits, Jim Olsen, Idit Shner, Jack Radsliff, Brian McWhorter, Steve Vacchi, Tony Glausi’s Funk Nonet, Joshua Hettwer, Mastrogiovanni Ska Project, Tony Glausi, Jessika Smith, Michael Radliff, Paul Krueger, The Long Shots and Kevin McDonald in addition to his own albums Marmara and Sound In-Sight, a double-LP vinyl released in 2016 under the band name Obsidian Animals. In addition to a performing career, Newhart is an adjunct instructor of jazz piano at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College. From 2013-2023 Newhart was the choral director at the Academy of Arts & Acadmics, a local high school in Springfield, OR. Over the past decade, Newhart has supported the vibrant local jazz scene in Eugene by volunteering his time at the Willamette Jazz Society which operates The Jazz Station in Eugene, Oregon. From 2019-2022 he was the president of the board of directors and saw The Jazz Station through the forced closure of the pandemic, coming out on the other side with a remodeled venue and internal operational structure. Torrey’s most recent musical projects include a collaboration with Idit Shner, John Mambira, Garrett Baxter, and Ken Mastrogiovanni entitled Mhondoro and a rock/blues band with Olem Alves called Inner Limits. Mhondoro’s recent album Ngatibatanei was released earlier in 2024 following their debut album Heat Wave in 2022. Inner Limits’ debut blues album Hit the Highway was released in January, 2019 along with an album of cover tunes called Rewrites Vol. 1. Inner Limits is releasing an album of original music this summer 2024. Later this year, Newhart hopes to record his piano trio with bassist Todd Sickafoose and drummer Ryan Biesack.
Todd Sickafoose is a Tony and Grammy award-winning composer, producer, arranger, orchestrator, bandleader and double bassist. He makes richly moving, imaginative music which has been called "thoroughly original, endlessly creative” by Jazz Times and "stunningly brilliant” by Bassplayer. He has performed on hundreds of recordings, toured internationally, appeared at music venues and festivals from Carnegie Hall to New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and played on national television and radio programs including the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with Conan O’Brien, The Artists Den, and NPR’s Mountain Stage. Known as a musical cross-breeder who stretches across genres, Sickafoose has been described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “a captivating improviser, imaginative composer, and master of collaboration”.
In 2004, Sickafoose began performing and recording in a duo format with folk poet, activist and cultural icon Ani DiFranco. Their relationship has developed for two decades – together they have made 8 albums, two concert DVDs, and performed over 1000 shows. In 2007, Sickafoose began working on Anaïs Mitchell's folk opera, Hadestown, wearing many hats including arranger/orchestrator and music producer. After years of development and regional productions, the show opened at the Walter Kerr Theater on Broadway in 2019 and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Orchestrations for Sickafoose and collaborator Michael Chorney. Sickafoose produced the Hadestown Original Broadway Cast Recording which won a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Recording. Hadestown recently celebrated 5 years on Broadway while also continuing to perform as a North American Tour and an open-ended run at the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End. Straddling the worlds of folk, indie rock, jazz and chamber music, Sickafoose’s own band Tiny Resistors has performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival, Stern Grove Festival, Angel City Jazz Festival and been featured on many “Best-Of” lists including the Village Voice, DownBeat, and JazzTimes. Writing for Tiny Resistors, he recently composed and released BEAR PROOF, a long-form chamber jazz hybrid commissioned by the Doris Duke Foundation.
Ryan Biesack is a drummer, percussionist, and educator who maintains an active teaching and performing schedule in the jazz, rock, and improvised music worlds. He holds both a Bachelor of Music Performance from the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point and a Master of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon. Biesack has been an instructor of music and drum set at Oregon State University since 2009, where he also teaches The History of Rock & Roll and Reggae History in addition to directing the OSU Jazz Ensemble. Biesack has played professionally for over a decade and has performed with Ron Miles, Wayne Horvitz, Ben Monder, Mike Gamble, Konorak Reddy, Dylan Fowler, Halie Loren, Joe Manis, and many others. In addition to being in demand locally as a performer and clinician, he has played and taught throughout the midwest, the west coast, New York City, India, South Korea, and has been a guest artist and educator in Nepal at the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory three times. Biesack works with ensembles ranging from straight-ahead and swinging to cutting edge, modern, improvised, including the Willamette Underground Trio who were recent artists in The People's Fringe Festivl in Hong Kong. Biesack can be heard with New York-based saxophonist Hashem Assadullahi’s Sextet, whose latest Origin Records release “Pieces” features dynamic original jazz compositions performed by a stellar line-up of musicians, featuring the unparalleled Ron Miles on trumpet. Beisack is a Crescent Cymbals Artist as of 2013. When not playing, he perfects craft ciders from his micro-orchard, experiments with brewing beer, and tinkers with his VW van to take trips around Oregon.
