| Rob Schneiderman | |||||||||
| Background: | Jazz pianist | ||||||||
| Birth Name: | Robert Roland Schneiderman | ||||||||
| Birth Date: | 21 June 1957 | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | ||||||||
| Instrument: | piano | ||||||||
| Genre: | Jazz, bebop, hard bop, post-bop | ||||||||
| Occupation: | Musician, educator, composer, mathematician | ||||||||
| Years Active: | 1973–present | ||||||||
| Module: |
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Robert Roland "Rob" Schneiderman (born June 21, 1957) is an American jazz pianist who also works as a professor of mathematics at Lehman College of the City University of New York, where he specializes in geometric topology.[1]
Schneiderman's professional jazz career began in San Diego from about age 16, when he played piano for visiting soloists such as Eddie Harris, Sonny Stitt, Harold Land, Charles McPherson and Peter Sprague.[2] He continued to collaborate intermittently with Harris, until the latter's death in 1996, and with McPherson. In 1982, Schneiderman moved to New York, where he performed and toured with such musicians as J.J. Johnson, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Clifford Jordan, James Moody and Zoot Sims. A performance fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987 featured Schneiderman with George Coleman, Jimmy Heath, Claudio Roditi, and Slide Hampton.[3] The collaboration with Slide Hampton resulted in his debut album New Outlook, the first of ten recordings to date as a leader for the Reservoir music label.[4]
His most recent release, entitled Tone Twister, is a collaboration with Brian Lynch on trumpet and Ralph Moore on tenor saxophone. The album features Gerald L. Cannon on bass and Pete Van Nostrand on drums. Schneiderman has also played as sidemen for Billy Higgins, Rufus Reid, Brian Lynch, Ralph Moore, Peter Washington, Lewis Nash, Akira Tana, Billy Hart, Gary Smulyan and Ben Riley.
As a jazz educator, he has been in residence at the Stanford Jazz Workshop.[5] He was previously an adjunct professor in the jazz departments of the William Paterson University (with Rufus Reid) and Queens College (with Jimmy Heath). He has also been on the faculty of the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California.[2]
Schneiderman graduated with a B.A. in mathematics from City College of New York in 1994. He received his Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley in 2001 under the supervision of Robion Kirby. In 2006, Schneiderman became an assistant professor at the Department of Mathematics Lehman College after stints at the University of California, San Diego, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, and at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2013, he has been an associate professor at Lehman College.[6] He has also served as chair of the Mathematics Department since 2019.[1]
Schneiderman also actively works at the interface of music and mathematics.[7] [8] [9] [10]
| Year | Title | Label | CD release(s) | Credit (if not Rob Schneiderman) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | New Outlook | Reservoir | Reservoir (City Hall), RSR CD 106, 2008 | Composers: Cole Porter, Bud Powell, Alec Wilder |
| 1990 | Smooth Sailing | Reservoir | Reservoir (City Hall), RSR CD 114, 1994 | Composers: Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, Ernesto Lecuona, Forman Brown, Gus Kahn, Nacio Herb Brown, Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer |
| 1991 | Radio Waves | Reservoir (8 tracks) | Reservoir (City Hall), RSR CD 120, 2008 | Composers: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers |
| 1992 | Standards | Reservoir (10 tracks) | Reservoir (City Hall), RSR CD 126, 1993 | Composers: Edward Heyman, Victor Young, Cole Porter, Frank Loesser, Edward Eliscu, Billy Rose, Vincent Youmans, Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston, Bart Howard, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers, Leigh Harline, Don Redman |
| 1994 | Dark Blue | Reservoir (8 tracks) | Reservoir (City Hall), RSR CD 132, 1994 | Composers: Ray Noble, Brian Lynch, Henry W. Sanicola, Jr., Sol Parker, Frank Sinatra, Oscar Hammerstein II, Richard Rodgers |
| 1996 | Keepin' in the Groove | Reservoir (9 tracks) | Reservoir (City Hall), RSR CD 144, 1994 | Composers: Clifford Brown, Tadd Dameron, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Harris, Irving Mills, Wayne Shorter, Juan Tizol |
| 1998 | Dancing in the Dark | Reservoir (8 tracks) | Composers: Jack Baker, Howard Dietz, George Fragos, Dick Gasparre, Arthur Schwartz | |
| 2001 | Edgewise | Reservoir (10 tracks) | Composers: Gene DePaul, Patricia Johnston, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Pettiford, Cole Porter, Bud Powell, Don Raye | |
| 2004 | Back in Town | Reservoir (9 tracks) | Composers: Eden Ahbez, Johnny Burke, John Coltrane, Ray Evans, James Van Heusen, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Jay Livingston, Cole Porter, Sonny Rollins | |
| 2008 | Glass Enclosure | Reservoir (10 tracks) | Composers: Bud Powell, Cole Porter, Kay Swift, Paul James, Charlie Parker, Gigi Gryce, Arthur Johnston, Sam Coslow | |
| 2017 | Tone Twister | Hollistic MusicWorks HMW 16 (9 tracks) | Holistic Music Works, Digital Album (11 tracks) | Composers: Irving Gordon |
with Eddie Harris
with J.J. Johnson
with Brian Lynch
with Rufus Reid and Harold Land
with Akira Tana and Rufus Reid