ABOUT THE BAND

The RedHot Ramblers Dixieland band was formed in 2010 and was the brainchild of Scott Eisenreich (Tuba) and Karl Priore (Trumpet).  All of the members of the band are local to the Pittsburgh area and have been performing professionally for many years at  various venues.  What is special about this group is that everyone shares a passion for the incredibly fun music known as "Dixieland".  Whether you realize it or not,  you have probably have heard Dixieland music before.  Many of the selections that the band plays are a musical tribute to the great New Orleans musicians including the  most well known of all, Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.  These selections range from songs like "When the Saints Go Marching In" to "What A Wonderful World". 

 

The RedHot Ramblers are committed to the preservation of this 100%  American art form as they play  authentic transcriptions, original arrangements and a variety of great tunes all in the Dixieland style.


Karl Priore, Trumpet

Karl Priore is a native of the Pittsburgh area. Karl received his public school education in the North Hills School District and pursued a career in music by earning both a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education and a Master of Music Degree from Duquesne University. During his graduate studies, he was awarded a graduate assistantship with Dr. John Wilson. 

Karl’s performance experience includes well-known names and acts as well as being a full time member of the Benny Benack Band. Throughout the years, Karl has performed a wide variety of musical styles from classical to jazz to rock. He has appeared with the Pittsburgh Opera, the Civic Light Opera Orchestra, Johnny Angel and the Halos, the original Balcony Big Band, the Letterman, the Big Easy Jazz Band, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Bobby Vinton, Maureen McGovern, Jim Nabors, Perry Como, Pat Boone and Jack Jones. Currently, he is the lead trumpet player with the Burgh' Big Band, the Joe Campus Legacy Big Band, the Tuesday Night Big Band and The Elite Show-band. His love for traditional style Dixieland music is evident as he is a co-founder of the RedHot Ramblers.


With over 35 years of experience, he takes great pride in developing award winning students and ensembles. He has taught in both the Monessen School District and the Kiski Area School District. As a music educator Karl has been a director of marching bands, jazz ensembles, and concert bands of all grade levels. He has been the guest conductor for various WCMEA and PMEA music festivals. Karl currently teaches 5th and 6th grade instrumental music and 6th grade general/vocal music at the Kiski Area Upper Elementary School. He has also has served as the director of Concert Band at St. Vincent College as well as the student and adult jazz workshop instructor at the PYCO School of Music. He currently is the professor of trumpet at the University of Pittsburgh.


Mark Priore, Clarinet & Saxophone

Mark performs as jazz clarinetist with the Red Hot Ramblers Dixieland Jazz Band.  Mark has performed on Eb clarinet, Bb clarinet and bass clarinet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.  Past performance work includes work with Tommy Tune , the T.C. Rogers Big Band, the Guy Lombardo Band, Russ Morgan Band, Swing Express, Pittsburgh Clarinet Quartet, Pittsburgh Saxophone Quartet and the Palace Winds chamber ensemble.

Mark has studied with Bernard Goldberg (soloist and former principal flutist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) and has performed in his master classes.  Mark has studied clarinet with Louis Paul (former principal clarinetist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) and Richard Page (former principal bass clarinetist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra).  Also, Mark has studied saxophone with Jim Houlik and David Bilger.


Mark currently is a retired public school music teacher in the Carlynton School District where he teaches band, chorus  and general music.  Mark’s music teaching experience includes 33 years of private school teaching, 25 years of public school teaching and 14 years of heading the Musik Innovations jazz Workshop for young people. 

Sean Durkin

Originally from the Pittsburgh Area, Sean Durkin is a versatile and award-winning trombonist. He is a two-time winner of the United States Army Band National Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition (2017, 2018) and a winner of the International Trombone Association Kai Winding Jazz Trombone Ensemble Competition (2017). He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical trombone from The Pennsylvania State University and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois. 

Sean has performed in a wide variety of musical roles. Whether giving classical recitals, playing in wind bands and orchestras, marching in dixieland parades, or improvising in Latin dance clubs, he approaches every situation with the same level of dedication and artistry.


Sean is currently the Director of Athletic Bands at Saint Vincent College where he runs the band program and teaches applied trombone. He has completed two residencies as a guest artist and teacher at the Conservatorio Esteban Salas in Santiago, Cuba. Sean is also on staff with the nationally award-winning Kiski Area High School Marching Band.

Kevin Clark

As a performer, Kevin Clark has played just about any style of music on trombone, French horn, piano and organ, from classical to new age.  Some of his favorite gig memories include being offered money for Connie Francis' cough drop and dumping a potted plant on Robert Wagner's head.  Venues he has enjoyed playing include Heinz Hall, the Benedum and the Byham in Pittsburgh, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and Shanghai Concert Hall (as well as any winery or microbrewery). 

While he has also taught master classes at local universities, Kevin’s favorite musical endeavor is composing and arranging.  He has scored several off-Broadway musicals, TV specials and radio jingles and has written for jazz greats Herbie Mann, Jon Faddis, and Grover Washington, Jr., and a number of orchestras in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Washington DC, Wheeling…  His arrangements have even been performed for former vice-president Al Gore and former president George W. Bush by special invitation to the White House. 


Kevin’s specialties as a composer/arranger include choral music, sacred music, musical theater, jazz, pop, neobaroque, neoclassical, country…and even monkey organ! 


In Kevin’s spare time, he is a translator for the Journal Français d’Ophtalmologie, JFO Open Ophthalmology, and the Quinze-Vingts national eye hospital in Paris.


John Marcinizyn

Pittsburgh based guitarist, composer, banjoist John Marcinizyn performs frequently as a soloist, with contralto Daphne Alderson, in the Ferla-Marcinizyn Guitar Duo, Duo Cieli (flute and guitar duo), The Red Hot Ramblers (Dixieland jazz) and groups ranging from The Bach Choir of Pittsburgh to Billy Price. His versatility as an acoustic and electric guitarist allows him to perform in many styles including classical, jazz, flamenco, rock, blues, and folk. John has also performed guitar and banjo for many theater companies.  His playing can be heard on eight CDs and one DVD. His Latest CDs are “Blue Ride”(a collection of original instrumentalas), and “Duo Cieli-North Side Sessions” (music for flute and guitar with Tara Yaney). 

John’s compositions have received numerous performances and include a guitar concerto, string quartet, orchestral music, music for theater, and pieces for solo guitar and guitar with mixed ensemble, as well as a number of jazz and rock pieces.  His Sonata for Guitar and Marimba received critical acclaim following its premiere at the Guitar Foundation of America International Festival and Competition held in Buffalo.  Other commissions include Song for the Sparrows (for the Westmoreland Symphonic Winds) And All Manner of Thing Shall Be Well, for Contralto, Cello and Piano, based upon the writings of Julian of Norwich (for Ion Sound Project); and the theme music for Excela Health’s (hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and health facilities of Westmoreland County) television, radio and web commercials. Recently he toured in South America and the Eastern Caribbean with contralto, Daphne Alderson in programs that varied from chamber music through cabaret.

 John holds a Ph. D. in music composition and theory from the University of Pittsburgh, and is an Artist-Lecturer in guitar and composition at Carnegie Mellon University and Seton Hill University. 

Greg Lutz

A 30 year veteran of the Pittsburgh music scene, Greg has performed on both Sax and Piano in every conceivable venue and style.  In addition, he has recorded and engineered thousands of tracks and projects, including the soundtrack to a PBS special.  His compositions have both won international awards, and entertained children for 27 years in his Day Gig as an Elementary Music Teacher. 

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Scott Eisenreich

A native of the North Hills of Pittsburgh, Scott Eisenreich has been performing all things low brass professionally since he was 15 years old. With his undergraduate degree from Duquesne University and Master’s Degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Scott served in the First US Army Band as euphonium soloist, in the brass quintet on tuba, the jazz ensemble on trombone and the rock ensemble on trombone and vocalist. 

His extensive performance experience includes The River City Brass Band, The Pittsburgh Symphony, Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh Musical Theatre, Pittsburgh Broadway Series, Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra, Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, McKeesport Orchestra. Favorite celebrity performances include Ray Charles, Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush, Bob Hope, Eugene Ormandy, and Lee Greenwood.


Scott currently works for UPMC as a Senior Software Engineer, and can currently be seen performing with the Allegheny Brass Band, West Hills Symphonic Band, and several other small ensembles in addition to his beloved Red Hot Ramblers.


Tom Elrick

Tom Elrick is the son of one of Pittsburgh‘s premiere Jazz drummers of the 1940‘s through the 70‘s, the late Howard "Bud" Elrick. Tom is a graduate of Fox Chapel Area High School and a graduate of Duquesne University where he earned a Bachelor‘s Degree in Music Education. Throughout his college years, he played the trumpet with the University Jazz ensemble under the direction of Dr. John Wilson. Growing up, Tom studied the trumpet with Chester Deluca, Wes Ward, Bill Riggs, Al Brandon, and Frank Ostrowski.

In the late 80‘s Tom started to make a transition from the Trumpet to the Drums. This transition seemed natural due to the fact that Tom‘s dad had made a career at the drum kit. Ironically, Tom never took a single drum lesson from his father. One of the first bands that Tom performed with in the Pittsburgh area on the drums, and is still very proud of to this day, was "The Big Easy Jazz Band". Some of the members of the band included: Karl Priore on trumpet, Howard Hartman on trombone, Benny Benack Jr. on clarinet, and Tom Roberts on piano. After the band members went their separate ways, Tom continued to work in the Pittsburgh and surrounding area with trios, quartets, and quintets put together by pianist Tom Roberts. For over 25 years, Tom has been kept busy playing the drums for different venues and has been involved in different genres of live musical performance. He has had the honor of working with many of the city's best musicians as well as some visiting musicians from the New York area.

To pay the bills, Tom has been a music teacher in the public schools for over 22 years. His experiences include teaching elementary, secondary and high school band as well as secondary and high school choir. Tom held the position of Assistant Marching Band Director and High School Choir Director in Monessen for 11 years and now holds the position of Junior High Choir Director with the Woodland Hills School District. Tom is very proud of the work he has done with his students over the years and with the bands he has performed with. If you were to ask Tom to sum it all up he‘d probably say, "putting a smile on people‘s faces by way of music is simply a blast!"