Marco Pignataro—BGJI Managing Director

Marco Pignataro is a multitalented saxophone player, composer, and
educator originally from Bologna, Italy. He has shared stages with artists
such as Eddie Gomez, Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone,
John Patitucci, Rufus Reid, Kenwood Dennard, Antonio Sanchez, Ben
Street, Billy Drummond, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Clark Terry, and Jon
Faddis, among others. Pignataro performs and tours internationally with
several musical groups, including the Marco Pignataro Jazzet and the Eddie Gomez
Quintet, which is featured in the widely acclaimed CD Per Sempre (BFM Records).
Pignataro’s CD, Sofia’s Heart, was also produced by jazz legend Eddie Gomez and features
Pignataro’s compositions and arrangements. Pignataro was the director and cofounder of
the Jazz and Caribbean Music Department and was the chair of the Jazz Saxophone
Department at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. He was also a board member of
the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), the president and founder of the
IAJE chapter of Puerto Rico, and faculty at the University of Veracruz International Summer
Jazz Seminars. His column, “Style & Influence,” was regularly featured in the quarterly
magazine Jazz Improv.



Chris Collins—Guest conductor and Saxophonist

y Chris Collins is the director of jazz studies at Wayne State University. He
is a professional jazz woodwind player who has toured throughout Japan,
South Africa, Europe, and North America as the leader of his own
ensembles and as a featured soloist. In 2007-2008, Collins performed his
original works in seven countries on four continents. He has played
professionally with artists including the Phil Collins Big Band, Doc
Severinsen, Mel Tormé, Michael Feinstein, Lou Rawls, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
He has performed at jazz festivals in places such as Cork, Ireland; Montreux, Switzerland;
Pori, Finland; Nice, France; and Glasgow, Scotland. His CD Electo-Monk, Acoustic-Funk
fuses techno and acoustic jazz with stunning originality. His successful Jazz from the Shamrock
Shore features extended compositions, which artistically combine the instrumentation,



musical vocabulary, and repertoire of the Irish folk tradition with American jazz.

John Patitucci—Faculty

Acoustic bassist John Patitucci has performed throughout the world and as
a studio musician with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan
Getz, Pat Metheny, Wynton Marsalis, Astrud and Joao Gilberto, Joao Bosco,
and Dori Caymmi. Since 1985, his many recordings with Chick Corea, Aeos
Elektric Band and Akoustic Band, his six solo recordings for GRP Records,
and his subsequent recordings have put him at the forefront of the jazz
world and brought him worldwide acclaim, as well as two Grammy Awards and more than 15
Grammy nominations. Patitucci is professor of jazz studies at the City College of New York
and a frequent clinician and guest lecturer at schools around the world. He is currently touring
with his trio in support of his latest recording, Remembrance, which features saxophone
genius Joe Lovano and drum virtuoso Brian Blade.