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Jeff Antoniuk
Internationally respected jazz saxophonist and composer Jeff Antoniuk has received numerous awards and commissions, appeared on many albums and toured extensively.
Currently based in the Washington, DC area, Antoniuk can be found fronting both The MARS 4-tet and Jeff Antoniuk and The Jazz Update. He is a solid contributor to many activities in the nation’s most cherished cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian Institution, the Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts Society. He draws many jazz artists to the region to perform and teach at his side.
In the U.S. Antoniuk has performed and recorded with diverse hit makers such as Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Bobby McFerrin, Freddie Hubbard, Marcus Miller and Najee. He has collaborated with fellow saxophonists Jeff Coffin and Walt Weiskopf, guitarists Steve Herberman and Steve Rochiniski, percussionists Sherrie Maricle and Joe McCarthy, bassist Gary Grainger and young Latin Jazz pianist Zaccai Curtis.
He's worked with Canadian greats such as Ralph Bowen, PJ Perry, Senator Tommy Banks, big band leader Rob McConnell, the iconic David Foster and trumpet sensation Ingrid Jensen.
His concerts and recordings with the Unified Jazz Ensemble, the Jazz Update and other ensembles have been consistently well received by critics.
Jeff Antoniuk was born in Edmonton, Canada in 1965, to a large Ukrainian family. They lived in Benin City, Nigeria for a time and the colorful sights and sounds of that experience have never left him. He began his musical education there, studying classical piano. Back in Canada in his teens, he took up the saxophone relishing any opportunity to play.
After attending Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Canada Antoniuk swept into the United States like an Alberta Clipper. From the University of North Texas, he earned a master’s degree in jazz performance and West African ethnomusicology. He began making his mark as an artist and educator early in his career: touring, teaching and composing before he even graduated.
He then co-founded the Unified Jazz Ensemble, enjoying numerous accomplishments with that group in his 12-year tenure. The quintet toured North America and Asia and were adjunct faculty at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa for two years. A grant from the Canada Council and studies with Tim Hagans helped Antoniuk mature as a performer and composer before he became a bandleader - the next step in his career. In 2004 he formed the Jazz Update quartet, featuring some of the most in-demand jazz artists on the East Coast of the United States.
The Jazz Update’s 2007 CD, Here Today earned considerable praise, rapidly climbing the jazz radio charts in the US and Canada and capturing a No. 2 position for jazz in the vast Music Choice Network. Said Jazz Review: " The fact that Antoniuk and his quartet are an actively-gigging, road-tested unit is no small factor in their artistic success."
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Jeff Antoniuk and the Jazz Update: Brotherhood
by Woodrow Wilkins
A master teacher at the Washington Performing Arts Society and the Capitol Jazz Project, saxophonist Jeff Antoniuk has led jazz camps and performed at several festivals. His quartet Jazz Update, featuring Tom Baldwin on bass, Wade Beach on piano and rhodes, and Tony Martucci on drums and assorted percussion, has released its second album, entitled Brotherhood. “Screwball," the opening track, is a toast to Antoniuk's son, Aidan, who somehow earned that as a nickname. The ...
read moreTake Five With Jeff Antoniuk
by AAJ Staff
Meet Jeff Antoniuk: Saxophonist Jeff Antoniuk is an internationally respected jazz composer and musician whose concerts and recordings are consistently well received by critics. His latest CD, Brotherhood, is out in May of 2010. Antoniuk has shared the stage with U.S. hitmakers Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Freddie Hubbard, Najee and Marcus Miller. He's worked with Canadian greats PJ Perry, Senator Tommy Banks, big band leader Rob McConnell and David Foster.
A dedicated teaching artist, Antoniuk has been ...
read moreJazz Band Masterclass Celebrates 10 Years Of Jazz Education
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Annapolis, MD – This is the tenth anniversary year for Jazz Band Masterclass, a unique jazz education program for adults launched by internationally respected saxophonist, composer and educator Jeff Antoniuk. Begun in the back room of 49 West Coffeehouse in Annapolis, the program has steadily expanded through economic ups and downs, providing jazz enrichment to hundreds of amateur and semi-professional adult jazz musicians throughout the Washington D.C.-Baltimore-Annapolis region. As a university jazz professor, Antoniuk noticed a hole in adult jazz ...
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Jazz Band Master Class And Capital City Voices At Twins
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Jazz Band Masterclass & Capital City Voices: The Region’s Up-and-Coming Jazz Artists Appear in Concert at Twins Jazz On Thursday November 14, jazz lovers can enjoy outstanding jazz compositions performed by three different ensembles under the direction of two of the region’s best known artist/educators: saxophonist/composer Jeff Antoniuk and pianist Wayne Wilentz. The featured musicians and vocalists hail from all parts of the Washington, D.C. region. Jazz Band Masterclass will perform some well-loved standards as well as some newer and ...
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Maiden Voyage - The Music Of Herbie Hancock - At Twins Jazz
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Concerts Friday Nov. 15th and Saturday Nov. 16th, 2013, will feature the music from Herbie Hancock's 1965 Blue Note Album, Maiden Voyage Performances are at Twins Jazz (1344 U Street NW Washington, D.C 20009) Shows are at 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. Admission is $20. Make reservations from twinsjazz.com A concept album relating to the sea and its inhabitants, Maiden Voyage became one of the most important jazz albums of the last century. Many of its musicians became modern jazz ...
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Indepth Jazz Clinic - The Music Of Herbie Hancock
Source:
The Phillips Agency
An “In-Depth Jazz Clinic" for adults and older teens will be held on Saturday November 16th from 1pm to 5pm at St. Mark's Presbyterian Church, 10701 Old Georgetown Rd, North Bethesda, MD 20852. The clinic will focus on Herbie Hancock's 1965 Blue Note Album, Maiden Voyage. It will cover the five tunes: “Maiden Voyage," “Dolphin Dance," “Eye of the Hurricane," “Little One," and “Survival of the Fittest." Clinic coaches include Jeff Antoniuk, saxophone; Allyn Johnson, piano; Kenny Rittenhouse, trumpet; Mike ...
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Jazz Update Brings Mingus and Monk to Westminster Church in D.C.
Source:
Liz Fixsen
Washington, D.C. – Riveting modern jazz and bebop quartet Jeff Antoniuk & the Jazz Update returns to Jazz Night in Southwest on Saturday, May 31 from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. The concert is part of a popular jazz series at Westminster Church at 401-I Street in Southwest. Washington, D.C.-based Jazz Update is known for compelling originals and beautifully executed standards that have won them praise from critics near and far. Says Doug Morrissey of MusikReviews.com, “Jeff Antoniuk and the ...
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Maryland Summer Jazz Festival Welcomes International Jazz Stars In July
Source:
The Phillips Agency
The Maryland Summer Festival returns on July 14 for its eighth exciting season of workshops and jams for musicians and public concerts for jazz lovers. Events take place through July 27. Drawing adult learners and listeners from coast to coast, the top rated event features jazz recording and performing artists on stages and in classrooms. Events help avid adult learners can raise the bar on their singing and playing. Some are inspired to go on to professional music careers, others ...
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Jazz Choir Welcomes Vocalists in Washington, DC
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Calling all vocalists who have jazz in their soul and want to express it—without belting it out in karaoke bars or going the American Idol route! Capital City Voices, a new jazz choir in Washington, DC, offers vocalists the chance to work weekly with a professionally directed choir singing hip arrangements, networking with other singers and taking part in public performances. Prominent area jazz artist/educator Jeff Antoniuk and his education team are launching Capital City Voices, in concert with New ...
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Bassist Amy Shook Named to Jazz Band Masterclass Faculty
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Annapolis, Maryland... Bassist Amy Shook has been named to the faculty of Jazz Band Masterclass. Based in Annapolis, with bands meeting in that city and in Washington, DC, these adult level jazz workshops meet twice monthly with the intent of getting participants “out of the basement and onto the bandstand." Each group has seven members much like the jazz combos one hears in clubs and concerts. Initially, Shook will direct two of ten bands, which are made up of students ...
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Maryland Summer Jazz Festival
Source:
The Phillips Agency
Jazz lovers are invited to take part in the fourth Maryland Summer Jazz Festival, a workshop, concert and jam session event running Tuesday-July 25 in Rockville and the District.
The festival, sponsored by Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center and other local businesses, will include performances by saxophonist Jeff Coffin, saxophonist and composer Jeff Antoniuk and the Jazz Update band, guitarist Steve Herberman, Spanish bassist Pepe Gonzalez and Latin jazz trumpet player Alex Norris. The festival kicks off with 8 and ...
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“The group’s second album, Brotherhood, finds them in great form on origi- nals and classics…Antoniuk is especially fired up on alto sax on his own 'Global Village,' but excellent solos by all of the musicians abound on an album with a creative spark that never lets up." -" Ron Netsky, Rochester City Newspaper
Primary Instrument
Saxophone, tenor
Location
Baltimore
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Jeff Antoniuk is one of the most important and sought after jazz teachers in
the mid-Atlantic area. He has developed and runs a major jazz education hub
for adults in the Washington DC/ Maryland/ Virginia area. Antoniuk works
with individuals at all levels and on all instruments (call for rates). He also
runs one-day clinics, weekly workshops and small group playing situations,
as well as a major adult level summer camp.
Antoniuk holds a master's degree in jazz performance and West African
ethnomusicology from the University of North Texas. He was an adjunct
faculty member at Towson University for seven years. He is a master
teaching artist
with Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS). Antoniuk is also the
artistic director of Maryland Summer Jazz, a top rated jazz camp with public
concerts for adults held each July in two sessions. See
www.marylandsummerjazz.com
Clinic/Workshop Information
Photos
Music
Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson
Global Village
From: BrotherhoodBy Jeff Antoniuk
Videos
Jeff Antoniuk
Location: Baltimore
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
Born: October 6, 1965
