Brian Leccese - Bio and Pics

This is from my days at UMASS when I had the honor and the pleasure of playing with one of my first heroes, Roy Hargrove, the morning after I saw him with the Miles Tribute of the Day

You can see me here playing intently and intensely playing with my VOX while in the studio recording the album "Welcome to my face with M.O. JOE during a blizzard in 2005.

WEIRDEST GIG EVER - Fall of 2002 and 2003, I was hired to dress up like a Zombie and play the same 5 pop tunes 6 times a day at Six Flags for the Halloween Frightfest month. It payed really, really well. :)

This is a great shot from a show at one of my favorite rooms - TOAD, with ORGANISM. This was a few months back when special guest Matt Giannaros was in town and sat in on Bass.

During my days at UMASS Amherst in 2000-2001, I played with many great players. This quartet was one of the groups I was lucky to play with. This was at Bishop's Lounge, Northampton, MA.

Before I lived in the Boston area, I began playing out here. One of the groups I played with was the Freelance Bishops. One time at a gig at the Press Room, a fan made this drawing of the band. I always dug it.

PICS

(Click pics to enlarge)

PICS

BRIAN LECCESE - Guitarist/Composer Born of Rock and schooled in Jazz, Brian Leccese has found his truly own identity somewhere in between the two. Aside from 20 years playing under his belt, 15 professionally, Brian earned his B.A. in Jazz Theory and Perfomance from Westfield State College in 1999. While there, he studied guitar for 4 years with Bob Ferrier. After graduating, he won a graduate Teaching Assistantship at UMASS, Amherst from 2000-2002, studying Jazz Composition and Arranging under the tutilage of Jeff Holmes. As well as teaching Jazz Theory and Analysis and coaching undergraduate ensembles, Brian led a graduate sextet for which he wrote and arranged a full-length album. (You can hear a few tracks on the Music page) While at UMASS Brian was fortunate to study and play with world-reknowned musicians such as Roy Hargrove, Dr. Billy Taylor, Mark Whitfield, and Adam Kolker, to state a few. It was also during his assistantship in Amherst that Brian won the 2001 National Downbeat Magazine award for best Pop/Rock/Blues soloist for his work on a Frank Zappa medley performed by the UMASS Studio "Rockestra". Originally from the Western Mass area, Brian has performed and recorded with numerous original and cover rock/pop bands, as well as freelanced in the jazz scene. In 2002, Brian met Steve Giannaros, of the Freelance Bishops at the time, and starting subbing with the Bishops, Steve Giannaros Quartet, Headshaft, and others, in and around the Greater Boston area. Finally, in 2003 Brian moved out east and has since continued to work with and meet many great musicians and bands. You can see Brian playing in and around the Greater Boston area and the North Shore, as well as Southern New Hampshire and Vermont with his latest project, Organism.

PICS	(Click pics to enlarge)		PICS

These are my babies. My beautiful Gibson ES-335, and my workhorse Fender Deluxe. I played a gig in a barn somewhere, and took this pic with my phone at the time.	This is from my days at UMASS when I had the honor and the pleasure of playing with one of my first heroes, Roy Hargrove, the morning after I saw him with the Miles Tribute of the Day	You can see me here playing intently and intensely playing with my VOX while in the studio recording the album "Welcome to my face with M.O. JOE during a blizzard in 2005.	WEIRDEST GIG EVER - Fall of 2002 and 2003, I was hired to dress up like a Zombie and play the same 5 pop tunes 6 times a day at Six Flags for the Halloween Frightfest month. It payed really, really well. :)


This pic is from a session I did for a friend on a rock/pop project of his back in 2003. Here, I'm rocking out on my short-lived hardcore Ibanez axe.	This is a great shot from a show at one of my favorite rooms - TOAD, with ORGANISM. This was a few months back when special guest Matt Giannaros was in town and sat in on Bass.	During my days at UMASS Amherst in 2000-2001, I played with many great players. This quartet was one of the groups I was lucky to play with. This was at Bishop's Lounge, Northampton, MA.	Before I lived in the Boston area, I began playing out here. One of the groups I played with was the Freelance Bishops. One time at a gig at the Press Room, a fan made this drawing of the band. I always dug it.