Recognizable Standards * Romantic Ballads * Classic Jazz

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For bookings, please contact us by email: MGJazzTrumpet@gmail.com

About us

The founding members include Michael Grasso, Jack Litzinger, and Herb Nachmann.

• Michael Grasso (Trumpet, Flugelhorn, Chromatic Harmonica)
  Michael is a physician and part-time trumpet player in the Baltimore-Washington area. He is a "comeback" playing, who picked up the horn after stepping away for several years. He was born and raised in northern New Jersey. Before changing careers, he was a jazz and music composition major at the New Jersey City University. Michael has an intimate and lyrical sound, inspired by Chet Baker and Toots Thielemans, and which follows the west coast style of cool jazz. In addition to the trumpet, he also plays piano and chromatic harmonica. Michael also plays with JazWorks, Magic Ray Jazz, and is a volunteer for Bugles Across America, through which he plays taps at funerals to honor veterans.

• Jack Litzinger (Guitar, Vocals)
  Jack has been playing guitar for more than 35 years. He studied extensively under New Jersey jazz guitarist, Richie Pine. His travels exposed him to a variety of music styles, and is comfortable playing jazz, originals, blues, and rock-n-roll. In addition to performing with Not 2 Cool Jazz, he also plays with Wildberry Jam, the Wendell Jackson Band, and as a jazz guitar soloist throughout the Baltimore area.

• Herb Nachmann (Bass)
  Herb is an engineer and freelance bass player in the Baltimore-Washington area. He plays an upright acoustic bass, with a warm and classic jazz sound. He has studied with Pepe Gonzales and Jeff Antoniuk, and has been active in the local jazz scene for the past 10 years. Along with Not 2 Cool Jazz, he has played with Four 4 Jazz, Potomac Jazz Orchestra, Christina Drapken, and Just Friends.

Not 2 Cool Jazz includes a consortium of other musicians in the Baltimore-Washington area.

• Tomas Drgon (Bass)
  Tomas plays upright bass, fretless and fretted bass guitar, congas, doumbek, and percussion. He studied jazz theory at Bratislava Community Conservatory in Bratislava, Slovakia. His musical interests include jazz, Latin, bossa nova, salsa, and Eastern European Gypsy music. He plays regularly with a number of groups, including Not 2 Cool Jazz, JazWorks, and BaltiMare.

• Bill Freed (Guitar, Vocals)
  Bill has been playing guitar for several years. His main influences include Kenny Burrell and George Benson, but he also draws material from popular artists and various kinds of music from around the world. His main interests include jazz, standards, and Afro-Cuban jazz.

• Steve Lesche (Guitar)
  Steve is a Baltimore-area musician, clinician, and educator. He earned a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of North Florida, and a Master of Music in Jazz Pedagogy from Northwestern University. He spent the past 6 years touring with the Jazz Ambassadors, the U.S. Army's premier touring jazz ensemble. With the Jazz Ambassadors, he toured throughout the United States and abroad, performing 120 days each year.. He has performed with Joshua Redman, Marvin Hamlisch, and on the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Colbert Report. He is currently enrolled at the University of Maryland, were he is completing post-baccalaureate premedical studies.

• Brannock Reilly (Sax, Bass, Guitar)
  Brannock is a multi-talented musician, who plays saxophone, guitar, and bass. By day, he works as a security specialist for the National Gallery of Art. In his free time, he plays for several Baltimore-area bands, including Not 2 Cool Jazz and Magic Ray Jazz.