RIJF 2023

Chris Whiteman Trio

Chris Whiteman was born in Montclair, New Jersey and started his musical journey at age 10, playing trumpet in the school band. At age 13, his family relocated to Richmond, VA where he was introduced to the guitar by a neighborhood friend. Quickly, the guitar became his main musical focus and by age 18, he was performing professionally in the Richmond area. He went on to study classical guitar at Virginia Commonwealth University and jazz performance at the University of Miami, where he received his Bachelor of Music (studio music and jazz) and Master of Music (jazz pedagogy). After graduation, Chris joined the faculty at the University of Miami as a full-time lecturer in the School of music. Chris has performed throughout the United States and Europe worked with Grammy-winning artists and producers, composed music for film, and is a signature artist arranger for Musicnotes.com, the world leader in digital sheet music. In addition to leading his own group, he is the musical director for Wyatt Michael from NBC’s “The Voice” Season 21 and a regular member of vocalist Veronica Swift’s band. 

Paul Langosch has worked with many of the leaders in the jazz world including Phil Woods, Tal Farlow, Al Cohn, Mose Allison, Johnny Hartman, Bud Shank, Zoot Sims, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Barney Kessel, George Benson, Charlie Byrd, and Herb Ellis. His touring credits include tours with Jon Hendricks, George Shearing, Rosemary Clooney, Mel Torme, Susanna McCorkle, and Conte Candoli. In 1985, Paul was invited by Tony Bennett to become a permanent member of his trio. His association with Mr. Bennett lasted over 20 years and included performances on 10 CDs, appearances on many television shows, and countless touring dates including multiple tours in Japan, South America, Europe, Great Britain, and Australia.

Emre Kartari (born in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish jazz percussionist. Born into a family of musicians and artists, he moved to the United States when he was ten years old. Soon after, he began to study drums, which led to studying jazz percussion with T. Howard Curtis at Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds an M.A. in jazz performance and composition from New York University and received the Barney Josephson Award in 2003. He toured the United States with the spoken-word, hip-hop group, Jazz Poets Society. While in New York, Kartari studied with Adam Nussbaum, John Riley, Tony Moreno, Billy Hart and Jamey Haddad. He has performed with jazz greats including Charlie Byrd, Jim McNeely, Ralph Lalama, Vic Juris, Ron McClure, Mike Richmond, David Liebman, Justin Kauflin, Chris Whiteman and Houston Person. His first CD as a leader, Perpetual Anxiety, is released in Turkey under the Dogan Music label. Kartari has played and recorded with his own quartet Origin, featuring David Liebman, John D'earth and Howard Curtis.^[1]As an educator, he worked with the New York Pops-Mentors in Music program. He has initiated jazz degree programs at the Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, and in Yasar University in Turkey.He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia and teaches at James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Longwood University.