Biography

Tenor saxophonist and composer, Tom Tallitsch currently lives in the Philadelphia area where he maintains a rigorous performance schedule as a leader and sideman. Since his arrival in 1996, he has established himself on the Philly jazz scene and has played with many of the area's top musicians including: Duane Eubanks, Farid Barron, Tom Cohen, Robert “Bootsie” Barnes, Rodney Green, Byron Landham, Sid Simmons, Jimmy Bruno, Joanna Pascale, and others. His ensembles have regularly performed at such jazz clubs and festivals as Ortlieb’s Jazz Haus, Chris’ Jazz Café, Zanzibar Blue, Mellon Jazz Festival, Berks Jazz Fest and more.

The self release album Duality (11/05) marked Tom’s debut as a recorded leader, and features guitarist Dave Manley in an intimate duo setting. It received fantastic critical reviews and is on jazz play lists throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States. He has performed live broadcasts and interviews on Philadelphia’s WRTI Temple public radio, and has had music from his latest album Medicine Man featured on WBGO Newark/NY public Jazz radio.

Tom's second album 'Medicine Man' is scheduled to be released 2/19/08 on OA2 Records, featuring Philadelphia musicians, Tony Miceli (vibraphone), Victor Baker (guitar) , Paul Gehman (bass) , and Dan Monaghan (drums).

In addition to having his compositions and arrangements played by vocalists and musicians throughout Philadelphia, Tom has had his works performed by individual dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company at various choreographer showcase venues.

Tom owns a highly recommended music tutoring business near Princeton, NJ and is a popular jazz educator and clinician. He is the founding director of the Central NJ Homeschool Bands, works as a piano tutor to adult students with autism, and has been a member of the artist faculty at Mercer County Community College since 1999.

Tom is originally from Cleveland, Ohio where he began his musical training on the piano, clarinet and saxophone. He has a Bachelors of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, and has participated in clinics with Joe Henderson and Chris Potter. He has studied with saxophonists Rick VanMatre, Ernie Krivda and Mike Lee, as well as pianist Phil DeGreg.