Sheila Jordan, jazz vocalist, with the PEA Faculty Jazz Ensemble: 

Les Harris Jr., drums
Charlie Jennison, saxophone
Marty Ballou, bass
Ryan Parker, piano

Tommy Gallant Memorial Jazz Concert
Tommy Gallant taught jazz improvisation and piano and directed the Stage Band at Phillips Exeter Academy for 30 years. He passed away on September, 28, 1998 at the age of 63, but his legacy lives on in the thriving local jazz scene where he is remembered as an inspirational teacher, gifted musician and devoted mentor. 

Mr. Gallant served in the U.S. Marines before beginning a long career as a jazz musician, promoter and educator. He studied piano at UNH and music theory at Berklee College of Music, and later joined the faculty at both schools. He co-founded the annual Seacoast Jazz Festival, directed the Seacoast Jazz Society and performed with the Tommy Gallant Trio at the Press Room in Portsmouth, N.H., for two decades. 

Mr. Gallant was committed to helping promote jazz in the local area. In addition to organizing the annual Harry Jones Memorial Scholarship Concert, held each year at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, Gallant could often be found performing and giving clinics on the art of jazz at local schools. He ran jazz workshops at UNH and participated in the UNH Traditional Jazz Series.   He was a driving force behind the Portsmouth Summer Jazz Festival, and after his death in 1998 it was decided that the festival should be named for him, in honor of his lifelong service to the community, as a musician and an educator.

Sheila Jordan, vocals
Sheila Jeanette Dawson was born on November 18, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan. Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania's coal-mining country, Jordan began singing as a child and by the time she was in her early teens was working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs. Her first great influence was Charlie Parker and, indeed, most of her influences have been instrumentalists rather than singers. Working chiefly with African American musicians, she met with disapproval from the white community but persisted with her career. She was a member of a vocal trio, Skeeter, Mitch and Jean (she was Jean), who sang versions of Parker's solos in a manner akin to that of the later Lambert, Hendricks And Ross.

After moving to New York in the early 50s, she married Parker's pianist, Duke Jordan, and studied with Lennie Tristano, but it was not until the early 60s that she made her first recordings. One of these was under her own name, the other was The Outer View with George Russell, which featured a famous 10-minute version of You Are My Sunshine. In the mid-60s her work encompassed jazz liturgies sung in churches and extensive club work, but her appeal was narrow even within the confines of jazz. By the late 70s jazz audiences had begun to understand her uncompromising style a little more and her popularity increased as did her appearances on record, which included albums with pianist Steve Kuhn, whose quartet she joined, and an album, Home, comprising a selection of Robert Creeley's poems set to music and arranged by Steve Swallow.

A 1983 duo set with bassist Harvie Swartz, Old Time Feeling, comprises several of the standards Jordan regularly features in her live repertoire, while 1990's Lost And Found pays tribute to her bebop roots. Both sets display her unique musical trademarks, such as the frequent and unexpected sweeping changes of pitch which still tend to confound an uninitiated audience. Entirely non-derivative, Jordan is one of only a tiny handful of jazz singers who fully deserve the appellation and for whom no other term will do.
 

Charlie Jennison, saxophone
New Hampshire-based multi-instrumentalist Charlie Jennison began his jazz career in 1961 playing at rotary clubs and at other local functions while still in junior high school. Moving to New Hampshire from Florida, he formed a jazz combo at the University of New Hampshire from which he graduated in 1961 with a degree in Music Education. Jennison has studied with such major jazz figures as Jerry Bergonzi and Charlie Mariano. The defining moment in Jennison's career came early in his career when he met pianist Tom Gallant, a teacher at the Berklee School of Music and an alumnus of Woody Herman's band. Jennison played with Gallant for more than 30 years. He has also shared the stage or has been in the recording studio with such notable jazz musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy DeFranco, Alan Dawson, and Marshal Royal. He recalls Gillespie confirming that it was really Jonah Jones, not him, who threw the infamous spitball at Cab Calloway, which led to Gillespie's tumultuous dismissal from Calloway's band.  Jennison has also been on several albums including backing vocalists Kathleen Kolman and Leila Percy, as well as with the New Age music group Do'ah and trumpet player Clark Terry. In 1999, Jennison released his first album for Maine's Invisible Music label titled Iridescence, which features Jennison's tenor and soprano saxophone skills. In a quartet format, the album's play list is comprised of ten Jennison originals, which run the tempo gamut from ballads to faster paced material. In addition to recording projects and performing in local venues, Jennison currently holds the position of instructor of saxophone and Director of the Stage Band at New Hampshire's Phillip Exeter Academy.
 
Les Harris Jr., drums
Les Harris Jr. is a 1983 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He is a member of the music faculty at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Southern Maine, Phillips Exeter Academy and the Amesbury Middle School, teaching drums and ensembles. Les began playing the drums at a young age under the tutelage of his father, retired Berklee College of Music professor and jazz drummer Les Harris Sr.  He was sitting in with jazz greats Herb Pomeroy, Dave McKennna, John LaPorta, and Teddy Wilson by the age of 13 and began playing professionally when he was 15, working weekends with Annie Bosteels and her trio.
While attending Berklee, Les studied with Joe Hunt and Robert Kaufman and upon graduation, he studied extensively with legendary drummer and educator Alan Dawson.

From 1983-1995, Les was the drummer with the jazz vocal group, "The Ritz", appearing on seven recordings, (five on the Denon label, two on Pausa). As a member of The Ritz, Les performed at The Sea Jazz Festival in Finland, The Blue Note Jazz Clubs in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Jakarta and NYC, The New Morning Club in Paris, George Wein's "Newport Jazz Festival in Japan" as well as engagements in Singapore, Italy, Germany, Morrocco, Vienna, and throughout the United States and Canada.

Les has toured with the Artie Shaw Orchestra, (under the direction of Dick Johnson), and with tenor saxophone great Scott Hamilton, including performances with Scott at the Montreal Jazz Festival and at The Subway Club in Cologne, which was televised in Germany on ZDF.  In the early 90's, Les worked as a member of Diana Krall's trio at The Boston Harbor Hotel in Boston, MA and in 2001 he toured with "Moxie" featuring Cheryl Bentyne, Janis Seigel and Laurel Masse' of The Manhattan Transfer with performances at Birdland in NYC.

Les was a member of Seacoast Jazz great Tommy Gallant's Trio for over fifteen years and the late great bassist Jim Howe's Trio for another ten years. Both trios were staples at Portsmouth, NH's jazz club, The Pressroom, serving as the house trio for over twenty five years. Over the years, Les has had the opportunity to play with some of the best known artists in jazz, including Clark Terry, Milt Jackson, Phil Woods, Art Farmer, Annie Ross, Teddy Wilson, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Ray Brown, Marian McPartland, Jimmy Heath, Bobby Watson, Benny Green, Rufus Reid, Al Grey, Marshall Royal, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Shank, Carl Fontana, James Williams, Jimmy Woode and Charlie Mariano. Les is currently performing with The Kings of Strings featuring Rock n' Roll legend Jay Geils as well as The New Guitar Summit, also featuring Geils along with blues legend Duke Robillard. The Kings of Strings latest recording is currently available on the Arbors label and The New Guitar Summit's latest project will be released on The Stony Plain label this July. Les is also a member of the Paul Broadnax Trio appearing on two recordings with Paul: Friends and Live at Indian Hill. As a member of "The Pressroom Trio" along with pianist Ryan Parker, Les is helping to carry on the tradition and legacy that Tommy Gallant and Jim Howe established 26 years ago playing "Sunday Night Jazz" sessions at The Pressroom in Portsmouth, NH.

Marty Ballou, bass
From 1986 - 1992 Marty Ballou performed worldwide with the vocal jazz group, The Ritz, including appearances at the Sea Jazz Festival in Finland, The New Morning Club in Paris, the Blue Note Jazz clubs in Tokyo, Fukuoka and New York City, and George Weins` Newport Jazz Festival in Japan.  Marty appeared on six recordings with the Ritz, and from 1992-1997 worked with Duke Robillards` Band, traveling in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Turkey, Greece, and South America, performing over 200 dates a year on the road.  In addition to appearing on four recordings under Dukes` name Marty played shows worldwide with these artists including appearances at The Kansas City Jazz and Blues Festival, The Monterey Jazz Festival and The San Francisco Jazz and Blues Festival.  From 1998 - present, Marty has been "a sought after session man"(Metronome Magazine), performing on several recordings in all genres (Jazz, Blues, Folk, and Pop). A good representation of these recordings can be found at allmusic.com. Over the years Marty has performed with and been inspired and encouraged by New England's finest jazz musicians including Hal Crook, Gray Sargent, Dick Johnson, Art Pelosi, Ted Casher, Herb Pomeroy, Tony Zano, Paul Broadnax, Bob Gullotti, Paul Schmeling, John Allmark and Tommy Gallant.

Ryan Parker, piano
Growing up in Manchester N.H., Ryan began playing the piano at the age of twelve.  By the age of twenty his focus was to complete a degree in the music education program at the University of New Hampshire.  After graduating from UNH in 1996 he worked with some of Boston’s great jazz musicians.  As the director of the Celebrity Concert Series at UNH-Manchester, Ryan was able to play with the likes of Gray Sargent, John Lockwood, and Herb Pomeroy. In 1998 Ryan enrolled in the New England Conservatory Master’s Program for Jazz Studies.  There he was able to study and learn from musicians from all over the world including Michael Cain, Jerry Bergonzi, and Danilo Perez.

In 2000 Ryan graduated from the NEC program and began to play locally in the seacoast area of New Hampshire and around New England.  His first album, The Music of Maurice Ravel, was recorded in his living room.  It was not long after that he recorded his first jazz album Deep Oceans, featuring Herb Pomeroy on trumpet.  On this recording Ryan featured himself in quartet and duo settings, as well as utilizing the idea of overdubbing three piano tracks on a single track, a technique introduced to the jazz world by Bill Evans.  This recording was instrumental in Ryan becoming the youngest recipient of an artist’s grant from the NH State Council on the Arts in 2002.  Soon thereafter, Ryan joined the Jim Howe Trio at the Press Room in Portsmouth NH on Sundays nights, filling the vacant piano bench left by the passing of seacoast fixture Tommy Gallant.  This was a chance to meet and play with musicians from all around the world, as well as record with the trio, Herb Pomeroy, and Harry Allen.  Ryan taught jazz piano and big band at Philips Exeter between 2005-2007.