Alumnus Tiger Okoshi's Berklee Scholarship Jazz Quartet To Perform Original Compositions

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	Sam Duehsler, Tiger Okoshi, Justin Purtill and Daniela Schaechter.
	Photos by Kim Grant

The group will play two shows, at 8:00 and 10:30 p.m. For ticket information, contact the Blue Note at 212-475-8592, or visit the Blue Note's website at www.bluenote.net. There will be a reception at the Blue Note that night for Berklee alumni and guests beginning at 6:30 p.m. To register for the alumni event, contact Adrian Ross at aeross@berklee.edu.

Tiger Okoshi's Berklee Scholarship Jazz Quartet was invited to perform at the International Association of Jazz Education Conference in Long Beach in January. The group recently performed at the Charles Bascome Annual Jazz Concert in Bermuda and several Boston-area colleges. Last summer, these extraordinary musicians received a very enthusiastic standing ovation after their performance at the International Trumpet Guild Conference held at the University of Indiana.

Tiger Okoshi '75 (Kobe, Japan), trumpet, leader
Toru "Tiger" Okoshi was born just outside of Osaka, Japan in 1950, the year of the tiger. As a child he was devoted to painting, but when he was 13, a friend took him to see Louis Armstrong, who was touring Japan. Tiger immediately took up the trumpet and immersed himself in jazz. After graduating from the prestigious Kwansei Gakuin University, Tiger got married and traveled to the U.S. for his honeymoon, taking a Greyhound bus cross-country from Los Angeles to Boston. Though he and his wife were running out of money, Tiger recalls that the beauty of the country "gave me energy and fire. I knew I couldn't go back." When they arrived in Boston, the couple sold their return tickets to Japan and paid the tuition at Berklee. Tiger graduated summa cum laude from the college in 1975.

In 1974, Tiger performed his first major concert, with the Mike Gibbs Orchestra, at Carnegie Hall, sharing the bill with the legendary Bill Evans trio. In 1975, Tiger toured the continental U.S. as a member of the Buddy Rich Orchestra. In 1976, he joined the Berklee faculty. Between 1978 and 1980, Tiger performed on Gary Burton's Times Square album on ECM Records, featuring Roy Haynes and Steve Swallow, and toured the world with Burton.

Since 1980, Tiger has led his own fusion band, Tiger's Baku, and has appeared at jazz festivals around the world, including the Newport Jazz Festival at Sea on the QE2, the North Sea, Montreal, and Umbria Jazz. Tiger has also performed and recorded with Pat Metheny, Dave Grusin, Tony Bennett, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Bela Fleck, and Aimee Mann's 'Til Tuesday. Despite a very busy teaching and touring schedule, Tiger devotes a great deal of time to working with autistic children at the Boston Higashi School, and has taken them to Japan once a year since 1996 for classes and concerts.

Daniela Schaechter '02 (Messina, Italy), piano
Daniela Schaechter began studying piano at age eight, and by her mid-teens she was performing and doing studio session work in Sicily. She won many Italian music awards, such as the Tindari '93 Prize for the best jazz duo. After receiving a degree in classical piano performance from the Conservatory Francesco Cilea in Calabria, Daniela began teaching in Messina, Italy. In 1998, as a student at the Berklee Summer School at Umbria Jazz in Perugia, Daniela received a scholarship to Berklee, where she has studied with Joanne Brackeen, Joe Lovano, Ray Santisi, George Garzone, Hal Crook, and Ed Tomassi.

A member of the much celebrated Berklee Rainbow Band, Daniela has won many prestigious awards, including the Liberace Scholarship and the Terri Lyne Carrington Endowed Scholarship, the college's first award for outstanding female instrumentalists. Last summer, Daniela performed one of her own compositions on a Jazziz magazine compilation CD featuring some of today's finest female jazz artists. And last July, she attended the Henry Mancini Institute for one month on a full-tuition scholarship, performing with Shirley Horn, the New York Voices, and John Dankworth. Daniela has also worked with many world-renowned conductors, including Quincy Jones, Patrick Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, John Clayton Jr., Elmer Bernstein, Bob Brookmeyer, and the Rainbow Band's Phil Wilson.

This year Daniela won entrance to two distinguished performing ensembles — IAJE Sisters in Jazz and Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead. She performed with the Sisters in Jazz, as well as Tiger Okoshi's group, at the IAJE Conference in Long Beach, and will perform again with the Sisters in May at the Kennedy Center. Daniela played with the other Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead winners at the DC venue in March and April. Daniela's other appearances include Italy's Brass Group Jazz Festival, the Umbria Jazz Fest, the Cape May Jazz Festival with the Harry Skoler Sextet, and Cleveland's Tri-C Jazz Fest with the Berklee Rainbow Band and special guest Christian McBride.

Justin Purtill '03 (Cary, Illinois), bass
Justin Purtill came to Berklee in 1999 with a multi-instrumental background in musical theater, symphonic music, and jazz. With encouragement from his grandmother, a classical pianist and contralto, Justin began piano lessons at age six. He started playing guitar at age nine, and a few years later picked up the bassoon, which he would play throughout junior high and early high school. At age twelve, Justin switched from guitar to electric bass, changing to acoustic bass during his freshman year at Cary Grove High School. He listened to the music of bassists Dave Holland and Gary Peacock, and during his sophomore year, he left the bassoon to concentrate on the acoustic bass, studying with noted bassist Nick Schneider. Justin's hard work resulted in his winning the #1 Bass Player Award from the Illinois Music Educators Association. Also blessed with a fine singing voice, Justin performed in choirs throughout junior high and high school, and also had lead roles in several musicals, including Brigadoon and Damn Yankees.

When the Berklee scholarship tour came to Chicago during Justin's junior year in high school, he won a scholarship. After graduation, he decided to go to DePaul University for a semester, studying with bassist Larry Gray. There, Justin was a member of the DePaul Symphony Orchestra, directed by Cliff Colnot. He was also a member of the DePaul Combo, which won the Best Collegiate-level Combo Award from Down Beat magazine.

Since coming to Berklee, Justin has studied with renowned bassists John Lockwood and Bruce Gertz. He's been a member of the Berklee Art Blakey Ensemble, directed by Bill Pierce, and has performed with Gary Burton, Tiger Okoshi, Hal Crook's band Um, Leni Stern, Ingrid Jensen, and George Garzone. Justin represented Berklee in Japan in 2000 and this year at the IAJE Conference.

Sam Duehsler '02 (Basle, Switzerland), drums
Sam Duehsler received his first drum lesson on his eighth birthday, at the Musikwerkstatt Basel, a school that teaches improvisational music. While still in high school, Sam began studies at the Jazzschool Basle, where he had his first ensemble experiences and was soon being invited to play with his teachers. Sam won first place in the Swiss Youth Drummers contest during his senior year in high school, and that same year, he performed at the Jazz by Off Beat Festival with George Gruntz, Marvin Stamm, Chris Hunter, David Bargeron, and John Riley.

When Sam was awarded a scholarship to Berklee, he decided to move to Boston. At Berklee, Sam has studied with renowned drummers Joe Hunt, Jamey Haddad, and Ian Froman, as well as instrumentalist/arrangers Hal Crook and Ed Tomassi. The diversity of styles and musicians at Berklee and the many influences and inspirations have allowed Sam to find his own place in music.

The summer after his first year at Berklee, Sam joined the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra, performing with Buster Williams, Cecil Bridgewater, Benny Golson, Christian Jacob, and others. After returning to Boston in the fall, Sam went to Japan with the Shoko Nagai Quartet. He also toured Switzerland with a drum group called Groove 26, featuring Jojo Mayer. Last summer Sam was invited to participate in the Henry Mancini Institue in Los Angeles, where he played with Herbie Hancock, Abraham Laboriel, Quincy Jones, the New York Voices, John Dankworth, Patrick Williams, and Charles Lloyd.

Founded in 1945, Berklee College of Music has been advancing careers in contemporary music for more than 50 years. The world's largest independent college of music, Berklee has a multi-cultural enrollment of more than 3,400 students, 30 percent of whom are international. The college's alumni include some of the most respected figures in contemporary music, including many multi-Grammy award winners.

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