I am a jazz musician and teacher. From classic jazz standards suitable for an elegant cocktail hour, to high-energy swinging tunes for dancing, I can create a combo designed to meet the needs of your club or event. I am one of the leaders of the swing band Red Light Roxy and I am also available to play solo piano. Contact me at demetriussteinmetz@yahoo.com to put together a duo, trio, quartet, large group or whatever you require.
I am also available for private lessons on a variety of instruments, my specialties being upright bass, saxophone, and piano and I instruct ensembles from small groups to big bands. Contact me at demetriussteinmetz@yahoo.com for availability.
Professional Biography
I hold a Master of Music in String Performance and Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Bowling Green State University. My experience and credits include the following:
Current Credits:
- I am on the Jazz Studies faculty at Cuyahoga Community College where I teach courses including applied bass and piano, performance ensembles, class piano, class guitar, and Rock and Roll history.
- I have more than a decade’s worth of experience teaching for Tri-C’s Jazz Preparatory Program.
- Instructor with the Amistad Caribbean Arts Camp.
- Instructor with the Boys & Girls Club after school program.
- I perform professionally around the Cleveland/Akron area with my band, Red Light Roxy, as well as performing with many other musicians around town and booking my own groups.
Past Credits:
- Teaching with Tri-C’s “Summer With The Jazz Masters” camp.
- Instructor for the All City Jazz Band as part of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.
- Instructor for the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning’s ArtWorks program, leading a group of jazz “apprentices,” mentoring them in music while working on 21st century skills.
- Designed a jazz improvisation course for saxophone camp, coached combos for jazz camp, and instructed double bass techniques for string students at BGSU summer music camps as well as Jazz Studies majors.
- Four years as an Artist-in-Residence at the Cleveland School of the Arts, where I was Director of Bands and Jazz Ensemble.
- Instructor for the instrumental music after-school program for the 21st Century Community Learning Center and Young Audiences of Greater Cleveland.
- Taught saxophone and bass at The Fine Arts Association in Willoughby, as well as the Beck Center for the Arts.
- Have performed with nationally known artists such as Wayne Newton, Jimmy Heath, Carl Allen, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Kim Nazarian, Howard Johnson, Doug Lawrence and Chico Hamilton.
- Have been recorded on Cadence Records, which received four stars in a review in Downbeat magazine.
- Played solo piano weekly at the Velvet Tango Room for 7 years.
My influences include Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Gary Peacock, Charlie Haden, Wayne Shorter, Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Keith Jarrett, Ray Charles, Dexter Gordon and the Bobo Stenson Trio.