Friday, Oct. 25, 2024
10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Dr. Dan Puccio takes an in-depth look at the lives and careers of the singer-songwriters whose catalogs are featured in this year’s concert season! We’ll get to hear some of the inside stories and legends surrounding Neil Diamond, America, Billy Joel, Elton John, and Lyle Lovett, along with guided listening example to some of their greatest songs. Along the way, we’ll try to answer some of the great Rock & Roll mysteries like “Why didn’t they name the horse?”, “Was Billy Joel really that angry as a young man?”, and “Can you really ride a pony on a boat?” (Honestly, it depends on the size of the boat, and how rough the seas are.)
Along with a legendary career as a performer, Neil Diamond has an incredible list of songwriting credits. In this session, we will discover how an NYU student majoring in Pre-med earned a fencing scholarship, and then turned to writing such hits as “Solitary Man”, “Cherry, Cherry”, “Cracklin’ Rosie”, and, of course “Sweet Caroline”. Along with his own hits, Diamond has written classics like “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You” and “I’m A Believer” (made famous by the Monkees—or the film Shrek, depending on the audience). We will also examine his forays into film, with his scores to Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and The Jazz Singer, and see if his Golden Globe nomination, and Razzie Award win were justified. Join us on October 25, and see why “Good times never seemed so good!”
Instructor
Dr. Dan Puccio
Dr. Daniel Puccio is a Phoenix based composer/arranger, multi-instrumentalist and educator. A musician comfortable in multiple genres, he has performed with such notable artists as the Temptations, the Four Tops, Chris Potter, Dave Holland, Jerry Lewis, Bernard Purdie, Jay and the Americans, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and The Doo Wop Project. He is one of the original members of the Bobby Streng Saxomble, and is a prominently featured soloist on the group’s premier recording, “Live At The Firefly”. Most recently, Dr. Puccio was a featured performer at the 2019 Amigos de Jazz festival in Santiago de Cuba. He is the founder of the Positivity Project—a series of mixed media collaborations using music, live video and dance. Additionally, Dr. Puccio has taken part in several shows at Phoenix Theatre, most notably performing on Tenor Banjo for 2017’s production of The Scottsboro Boys.
As an educator, he has served as Faculty Instructor of Saxophone at the Interlochen Arts Camp, and as a clinician for the University of Michigan Jazz Festival, the Highland Jazz Festival and the Crystal City Jazz Festival in Corning, NY. He has also been a featured guest artist and clinician with the University of Richmond’s Cuban music ensemble and was recently invited to give a guest lecture Arizona MusicFest’s series, “Music Alive in Suite A-5” on the history of the banjo.
Dr. Puccio is currently a member of the music faculty at both Mesa and Chandler-Gilbert Community Colleges, and teaches privately at Desert Ridge Music Academy in Phoenix, AZ. He has previously served as the director of Sound and Recording for the Arizona State University School of Music, instructor of Woodwinds with Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Marching Band, and was the Director of the widely acclaimed ASU Dixie Devils.
He holds degrees in Improvisation, Music Education, and Saxophone Performance from SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music, the University of Michigan, and Arizona State University.
Dr. Puccio exclusively plays Deering Banjos, Shubb Capos, and Kazoobie Kazoos