Music Bio
An accomplished jazz pianist, Dr. George studied with John Mehegan and Barry Kiener and with faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He has performed extensively in public in various places throughout the country and overseas, such as in China,
Hungary and Siberia (Russia). He has led his own trio and quartet, and his collaborative performances have included musicians such as Maynard Ferguson, Jeff Beal, Byron Stripling, Dave Glasser, Mike Kaupa, Hanna Richardson,
Jim Widner and Steve Schankman. He has arranged and performed various programs/revues with cabaret singers and dancers. He has been a featured soloist with high-school and other bands at the Missouri Music Educators' Association Annual Conference. His recent performances include the following: Touhill Performing Arts Center, Sheldon Concert Hall, Finale,
St. Louis Jazz & Heritage Festival, St. Louis Route 66 Festival, and Art in
the Park in Belleville, Illinois; University of Arkansas; Nanjing University in China; and the city of Szeged in Hungary. In a duo with trumpeter-flügelhornist Mike Kaupa in 1995, he recorded the CD entitled Close Your Eyes: Women Jazz Composers on the Hester Park label. In 2007 he was the key organizer and performer on a CD entitled Chancellor Tom George and Friends Present “Love from St. Louis” produced at the University of Missouri–St. Louis as a fund-raiser for music scholarships. Prior to taking up jazz, he studied classical piano for ten years beginning at age six. He was also trained as a classical pipe organist, having studied with Dr. Barbara Harbach, Herbert Springer and Eugene Belt, and played for church services in the Philadelphia, New Haven and Boston areas.