Greg Federico received his BA in Philosophy from Villanova University in 1991, but has since philosophically lived a life of music. Subsequent to his philosophy degree, Greg studied music education (specializing in drums and percussion) for two years at Trenton State College under the tutelage of Tony DeNicola (Harry James Orchestra). During his time at TSC, and for a couple of years following, Greg augmented his studies on drums and exotic percussion with Joe Mekler (Deborah Henson-Conant). His love of hearing live jazz eventually took him to New York City's famed jazz "dive", The 55 Bar, where he met and subsequently studied with drummer Dick Weller, who was performing at the time with Atlantic recording artist and jazz guitarist Mike Stern. Shortly thereafter, Greg connected with drummer Richie Morales (Spyro Gyra, Grover Washington Jr.) at another Mike Stern show and this proved pivotal to Greg's educational advancement. Studies with Morales led to studies with Greg's latest mentor, John Riley (Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Quincy Jones, Randy Brecker, Woody Herman, Bob Mintzer, Vanguard Jazz Orchestra), who is the author of two books: The Art of Bop Drumming and Beyond Bop Drumming.
In the past four years Greg has been awarded many accolades as a composer from various songwriting competitions. These include such significant acknowledgements as:
* 1st Place in the Instrumental category of the 2006 Portland Songwriter's Association Song Contest for Pacific Coast Highway
* 1st Place (gold award) in the Instrumental category of the 2006 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (sponsored by the Songwriter's Association of Washington) for Beneath The Stars
* An impressive Finalist showing for Pacific Coast Highway in the Instrumental category of the 2006 UK Songwriting Contest (top 4% out of over 750 entries in this category alone), an important and highly regarded contest said to be "the UK's leading songwriting event and one of the world's major international songwriting competitions" (Channel Four Television - Ideas Factory)
* 1st Place in the Instrumental category of the 2005 Portland Songwriter's Association Song Contest for Beneath The Stars
* 4th Place (out of over 600 instrumental entries) in the Instrumental/Jazz category of the 2004 Unisong International Song Contest for Beneath The Stars
* In the 2004 Portland Songwriter's Association Song Contest, 1st Place in the Pop category for Here We Are as well as 1st Place in the Instrumental category for The Promise
* In the 2003 Composer's Guild Annual Composition Contest, 1st Place in the Pop category for Postcard as well as 1st Place in the Jazz/New Age category for Beneath The Stars
* 1st Place in the Instrumental category of the 2003 Portland Songwriter's Association Song Contest for Faith
* In the 2003 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (sponsored by the Songwriter's Association of Washington), 2nd Place (silver award) in the Adult Contemporary/Soft Rock category for Here We Are as well as 2nd Place (silver) in the Latin/World/Reggae category for Postcard
As a performer, Greg has had the good fortune to play with several notable jazz artists including mulit-keyboardist, composer/arranger Pete Levin, who has been on the New York music scene since the 70's, recording and touring internationally with hundreds of artists, and who has worked on film scores, jazz and pop records, and hundreds of TV and radio commercials as both writer and musician; nationally acclaimed New York bassist Tony Cimorosi (Randy Brecker, Alex Foster, Baba Tundi Olatunji, among countless others), author of World Beat Grooves For Bass and columnist and featured writer for Bassics Magazine; Milwaukee guitarist Jack Grassel, author of several guitar instructional texts including Big Ax, a book on Jack's innovative art of accompaniment in which the guitarist plays a bass line and independent chords simultaneously; New York pianist Eric Olsen (Urban Survival); and the late, great bassist Ron Velosky (Maynard Ferguson, Denis DiBlasio) who authored Sight Reading For Bass. Greg has also had the pleasure of touring and recording with the exciting and up and coming jazz guitarist B.D. Lenz. In the last thirteen years, Greg has developed several of his own jazz ensembles, each with their own unique sound, and the philosopher - turned - musician performs on a regular basis in the Mid-Atlantic region. Though "home" for Greg is considered the New Jersey corridor between Philadelphia and New York City, he has also toured the Midwest on several occasions to promote his CD recordings. As Curt Yeske of The Trenton Times writes: "Part of the journey for young musicians is to make themselves and their talents known. Few have been any more diligent than Federico in persevering to get engagements for his groups and the exposure of his music on his CDs."
ADDITIONAL BUZZ:
"Greg Federico is a philosopher. He also is a musician. It's almost impossible to separate the two facets of who he is - and probably not necessary, because one enhances the other. Whether he's teaching, gathering in more academic knowledge, or composing, playing, or marketing his music, Greg Federico is constantly blending all those facets of who he is into one. It's just that blend of diversity that makes his music so interesting, entertaining and moving." Janet Purcell Piggott, Hopewell Valley News
"...this man is very talented in a lot of areas... Federico...concentrates on the groove and creates support for the soloists. He avoids the clich.. of playing predictable, repetitive rhythms...and his timing is flawless." Jack Grassel, Milwaukee City Edition
"Federico's Live To Love, Love To Live. . .is a collection of jazzy hybrids mixed with Midwestern folk impressionism, world, Latin, classical and pop. . .the album is astoundingly well constructed. It is a kind of musical motion picture in which each track seems to tell its own story before flowing easily into the next. And like a good movie, it is filled with wonder and surprise." Jack Florek, U.S.1
"It is hard to express the mystical in music, yet Mr. Federico succeeds somehow." Susan Van Dongen, Princeton Packet
"I can honestly say that (Greg Federico's) music is pleasantly surprising. While not invoking hard work for the ear to accept, it nevertheless provides an excellent mix of the expected and unexpected, rhythmically, melodically, and especially harmonically. I've often said that good music sets you up for the familiar, while consistently delivering the extraordinary. I found that to be true in (this) music." Fred Srock, Fredio.Com