Featuring:

Marc Plotkin

John Knific

Ben Jacobs

Christine Vienna

Ryan Andrews

and Special Guests:

Chris Beckstrom

Conrad Jones

Benje Daneman

Band Bio

Ryan Andrews is a multi-talented instrumentalist, composer, and arranger from Kalamazoo, MI. While finishing his degree in Jazz Studies at Western Michigan University, Ryan released his first collection of recorded compositions entitled 'Requiem'. In addition to composing every track, Ryan plays an impressive range of percussion instruments -- including Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, Spanish, Middle Eastern -- drums and acoustic guitar. While still in school, Ryan performed with Stefon Harris, Fred Hersch, Billy Drewes, Casey Benjamin, Terreon Gully, Jamey Haddad, Janis Siegel, and Fred Hersch, just to name a few. 

To release the album, Ryan enlisted a select handful of upcoming, highly talented young musicians, each with their own impressive musical history and background.   

John Knific is a prominent Cleveland-based jazz pianist who has been playing with Ryan in various projects since high school. After winning a pre-collegiate Down Beat Student Music Award, John went to CWRU to study music performance and biology. He studied with legendary keyboardist Dan Wall at the Oberlin Conservatory, and has worked with Paul Ferguson, Jamey Haddad, Jack Schantz, and John Hollenbeck. His studies included a year abroad at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he performed at The Swiss Jazz Foundation in Zurich and at The Schlern International festival in Italy. In the Cleveland area, John is known equally well for his entrepreneurism and startup company CitizenGroove, an award-winning digital portfolio provider for music institutions.  

Christine Vienna, an upcoming Cleveland-based vocalist, has worked with the best in jazz, pop, and rock. At 20 years old, she had already performed internationally with The New York Voices. At 21, she sang soprano for the off-Broadway hit Toxic Audio, with a yearlong contract in Las Vegas. In the last year, she sang backup for Ben Folds in a performance with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her remarkable performance and teaching resume, Christine will be graduating with a Bachelors of Science in Biology at Baldwin-Wallace College this spring.

Chris Beckstrom, a long-time Ryan Andrews collaborator, is a highly accomplished composer and multi-instrumentalist whose resume grows daily. Best described as a “fountain of creativity and energy”, Chris is both a successful Chicago-based saxophonist and a Down Beat Award winning composer and arranger. 

Marc Plotkin and Ben Jacobs are founding members of the New York pop group Miles.  Besides being incredible musicians they are both outstanding audio engineers as well. Ben has worked on Grammy Award winning projects at Avatar Studios and Cleveland-based Telarc International. Marc is both the co-producer and recording engineer of the ‘Requiem’ record. On top of his engineering and performing capabilities, Marc works full-time as VP Business Development with John Knific at CitizenGroove.

 
The ‘Requiem’ project is an attempt to defy the normal expectations of jazz and cross genres in a unique way. It's not just another "rock" group, not another "jazz" group, not another "world" or "fusion" group.  It's music doing what music should do: move you. 

Listen to Requiem - http://ryanandrews.bandcamp.com/album/requiem