WHO: Al Teodosio '10
I play guitar in multiple bands and as a solo act. I play with a jazz trio that includes Taylor Field (saxophone ‘09) and Alex "Scooter" (drums, ‘09). I play rock in a band for Tom Cadrin (guitar, vocals, 09), which also includes Eric Hanko (drums, ‘11) and Matt Fasano (bass, ‘11). I play in an acoustic jazz-folk duo with Marcus Cooper (vocals and guitar, ’10). I play in the liturgical choir here led by Jerome Monachino, and I play for the jazz band on campus. I also play solo, unaccompanied guitar. Categorically, it is most closely related to jazz. I've been playing for seven years and I’ve been in bands since high school.

WHY: There are numerous reasons for playing music; the most essential one being the need to curb, better understand, and eventually be free from the perpetual unhappiness and unrest of the human condition. This gets articulated in a variety of different ways but the idea is essentially the same - the need for expression. If this is the more abstract, far-reaching approach to making music, I also make it for the simplest reasons as well - I just dig sound. Several things move me to create music, including but not limited to life, tension, friction, and the resolution of them, an unending drive to communicate, the way dogs squint before they sneeze, passion, chipmunks, wanting to keep my chops up, love, and wanting to create music. I strive for extremely high things, none of which include fame - I want to have an effortless communication between my mind and thoughts and emotions and what comes out from my fingers. Most musicians have a big gap between their emotions, and what comes out in their music, even though it may not seem so. With enough practice and experience one can "build a bridge" so to speak, and this transfer becomes immediate and effortless.

WHAT: I play a variety of styles, but the most prevalent one is jazz. The word "jazz" carries with it a certain connotation, but in reality, it is simply the art of improvised music. If I played something that sounded like a Chopin waltz off the top of my head, it would sound like "Romantic classical" music; however, as long as it was improvised, it was jazz. I also play classical music, blues, rock, and folk. My influences and inspirations include Warren Haynes, Pat Martino, Pat Metheny, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Brad Mehldau, Grant Green, Steve Vai, and many, many others. My playing sounds like a 20-year old college student that spends too much time practicing and not enough actually playing, all while see-sawing between fervent outrage at the complacency that infects some college students and a humble, exuberant, and almost unbearable appreciation and gratitude for life.

WHERE: In my room. Also at Turtle Underground every weekend, occasional gigs downtown, hallways, bathrooms and common rooms.

WHEN: Playing this weekend at Turtle Underground, opening for and playing with Jerome Monachino's band Gravel.

ONE ARTIST YOU’D WANT TO SEE IN CONCERT, DEAD OR ALIVE: If I could see anyone in concert it would be Bill Evans (piano). He is one of the only people who is just as much a Romanticist as a jazz artist. In other words, he suffered for and because of his medium just as much as he let it set him free.

Get in touch: ateodosio@smcvt.edu