Larry Chernicoff vibraphone, piano, percussion
Don Davis woodwinds
Tim Moran woodwinds
Tom Schmidt bass
Tony Vacca percussion

The Quintet has performed Larry’s music since 1984, to enthusiastic audience response. The musicians are:

Tony Vacca leads his own ensembles and a record label, World Rhythms. He conducts rhythm workshops throughout the country, and has been a leader in uniting western and and African musicians, with performances and recordings on several continents. He is the founder of the Senegal-America Project. He has toured with African pop icon Baaba Maal, and has been closely associated with percussionist Massamba Diop and with the group Gokh-bi System.

Tim Moran is widely acclaimed as an innovative jazz performer. He continues to perfrom with World Rhythms, and is a first-call session player. He has had a 20 year collaboration with Tony Vacca. Along with several Rhythm Mission releases, Vacca/Moran have released Wizard's Dance, Dance Beneath The Diamond Sky, and City Spirits (with guest Don Cherry). Tim has recorded and performed with many other bands. He has toured Europe and Japan, and plays in the orchestras of national touring company performances of Broadway shows.

Tom Schmidt is founder and director of Karma Thegsum Choyang Music, dedicated to the recording and preservation of Tibetan liturgical music. Choyang Music has released four CD’s of Tibetan music and a children's CD. Tom was a core staff member of the Creative Music Studio, and has worked with Sam Rivers, Lee Konitz, Samad, Dave Liebman, Dave Holland, Bob Moses, Jack DeJohnette, Ed Blackwell, Dan Brubeck, Carlos Ward, Jeanne Lee, Steve Gorn, John Lindberg and others. In 2001, Tom recorded a musical ceremony with His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa and 3000 monks in Bodhgaya India, under the Bodhi tree where Lord Sakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment.

Don Davis attended Berklee College of Music and the Creative Music Studio. He has performed and recorded with Carla Bley, Michael Mantler, Karl Berger, the Microscopic Septet, the Waitresses, the Marc Black Band, Betty McDonald Band, Toots and the Maytalls, LL Cool J, Ricco Barr and the Jump Jive Review, among others. You can hear Don every day on NPR's Fresh Air, playing alto sax on the introductory theme music.

“... in his sold-out concert Saturday night at the Berkshire Museum,...Chernicoff [led] one of the hottest bands around in a program of his idiosyncratic, intelligent, witty, and accessible brand of improvisational music. You may have heard this type of thing before, but to Chernicoff’s credit, you’ve never heard it done like his band did it Saturday night.”
                                                                                                                            Berkshire Eagle

”... an impeccable synthesis of jazz, rock, classical, and world folk styles. Chernicoff knowingly enriches simple song structures with layers of counterpoint and intriguing instrumental colors. His own vibraphone and bright contributions by Tim Moran are most often splendid ”                                                                       Downbeat

”With his incredibly talented ensemble, Chernicoff was able to achieve the nearly impossible task of rendering sophisticated improvised music in an accessible manner without sacrificing its integrity or pandering to popular tastes. The show was also impeccably paced, with never a dull moment. Best concert of 1991!”
                                                                                                                       Berkshire Eagle

“His compositions began from deceptively simple structures, then expanded into complex, spontaneous counterpoint… with a sense of controlled freedom. This is an unusual and engaging band, with energy, lyricism, and humor... very memorable. Catch them next time they’re around.”                                    Albany Times-Union

“... rich in its extended harmonic range, [with] a subtle jazz beat... Chernicoff demonstrated his skill at developing his own original vocabulary.”                                                                                         Berkshire Record

“There are few easy niches to put this music into. Some points of reference might be the Paul Winter Consort / Oregon axis, Don Cherry, or maybe Philip Glass. There are both ancient and modern qualities to this music… Chernicoff scores highest as a composer of highly original music with an elusive ‘I’ve heard this before’ quality. This is fascinating music and a memorable introduction to Larry Chernicoff.”                                              Seattle Review

“In the hands of the Chernicoff band, even the most familiar of musical forms became something alien and askew. Rhythms collided, chords didn’t quite change when and where you expected…and that’s what makes the music of the Larry Chernicoff Quintet so compelling and intriguing. [The band] boasts four world-class improvisers, and each had his moment in the spotlight. Hovering over all this was composer, keyboardist, vibist and visionary Chernicoff, a self-effacing Clark Kent, who once every year or so goes into a figurative phone booth, spins around and pops out as a musical wizard leading one of the hottest bands around…. .”                                             Berkshire Eagle