The 10 piece Studio I Jazz Orchestra features its guest vocalists and two instrumental jazz classics.

10 MP3 Songs in this album (47:35) !
Related styles: Jazz: Mainstream Jazz, Jazz: Jazz Vocals, Type: Vocal

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Details:
Tony Mergel reflects on the CD:

This CD was a true work of love. Painstakingly laying down the tracks and building up from drums and rhythm to finally adding all the voices.Early on, due to a bug in âLOGICâ (Appleâs music scoring program), we lost several of the arrangements altogether. Apple couldnât help; the files were unrecoverable, so I started re-scoring the whole thing. Nothing was really lost because I actually think the re-scoring created better arrangements. Great musicians, wonderful vocalists... I hope you enjoy the results.

Our Vocal Friends

Mike Ferfolia
Mike is a Humber grad and singer who is equally at home in a swinging band presentation or a funky jazz-rock tune. Mike is our first call male singer and he never fails to engage the audience with his great pipes.

Wendy Irvine
I met Wendy during rehearsals for âStardust Folliesâ, performed at the Sanderson Centre in Brantford. She headlined the show with her fabulous vocals and great stage presence. Weâve worked together on many gigs since then and Wendy is one of our featured Studio I singers.

Laura Lynn
When Laura, at 15 years of age, started singing with my band, I was the nervous one. She was on stage with eight of Torontoâs finest musicians performing for 800 people and I wondered how her performance would go. After the first set, which she performed beautifully, she came off stage and said: âThat was fun, dad, can we do this again?â My nervousness went away and Laura has since carved out an enviable career as a session singer, doing voice-overs and commercials, leading her own band, and teaching Pilates to fill in âspare timeâ.

Tim Godfrey
Tim came to the Studio I advisory board on a recommendation from a band member. At that time, I gathered that he sang and played keyboard, but didnât know to what extent. He said he would serve on the board provided he got âpaidâ by being able to sing, once, with the band. Having heard that âonceâ, Iâm pleased to invite him many more times!

Tony Mergel

Tony Mergelâs career as a performer, teacher, bandleader, composer-arranger and producer has been a long and varied one. As a young musician, he was a well-known accordionist, performing classical and contemporary music in concert and on CBC national radio. He was asked to play the premiere performance of Charles Camilleriâs âConcerto for Accordion and Orchestraâ with the CBC symphony, and was the only accordionist to appear on the âTen Centuries Concert Seriesâ at the MacMillan Theatre, University of Toronto.

As a composer, the Mississauga Festival choir, commissioned him, in 1995, to write a major choral work. âSpaceâ, for choir and synthesizer orchestra, was performed in May of that year. A previous major work, âConcertante Mosaicâ, for symphony orchestra and jazz septet, was commissioned and performed in 1985. He has also written many works for solo keyboard and various jazz ensembles. Tony wrote the score for the movie âPretenderâs Lotâ, which was released in May 1996.

In 1972, Tony became the first Director Of Music at Humber College, and founded the prestigious music program. He served as director of music for 2 terms and was a full time professor teaching Theory, Composition, Keyboard, Ensembles, and various business of music courses.

Tony has acted as musical director on a large number of shows produced for a variety of corporate clients. IBM, Canadian Tire, Chrysler Canada, and Toyota are just a few of those clients who have hired Tony throughout Canada and in the United States to look after their musical requirements. He was musical director and keyboardist for the Stage West Big Band, and has led his own jazz orchestra âStudio Iâ since 1972.

In 1992, Tony was asked to be musical director on the âRoy Orbison Storyâ which toured extensively, performing in theatres throughout Canada. Since then, he has also played keyboards, arranged the music, produced sequences, and acted as musical director for a variety of rockânâroll shows at Stage West, Luluâs, and various other entertainment venues.

Tony also works in his recording studio where he produces music for demos, albums, video, and film. The studio is a computer based MIDI and virtual instrument studio, which allows him to create exciting backgrounds for his live performances, which include a MIDI orchestra.

In 2004-2005, Tony worked as musical director and pianist for âStardust Folliesâ, a musical review at the Sanderson Centre in Brantford. He arranged the music and produced the CD of the cast recording in his studio.

Tonyâs career as a music teacher is one of his most rewarding endeavours. He has been associated with Merriam School of Music since 1992 and has been instrumental in the formation of the Keyfest Integrated Curriculum, a progressive method for music teaching, which employs an eclectic approach to music training for youngsters through to highly skilled artistâs level performers.

His latest music education project is âThe Jazz Workshopâ. It is the culmination of many years of teaching the principles of harmony, melody, and improvisation to thousands of students in both the College and private music-teaching environment. A textbook, workbook, and CD provide pianists and other musicians with an insight into the inner workings of harmony and melody as used by jazz musicians.