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A ten-year veteran of the New Orleans music community, Ted Hefko recently
moved to New York to take advantage of the opportunities New York has to offer,
and immerse himself in the city's vibrant modern jazz scene.
Some highlights of his time in the Crescent City include:
• 2002-2003 Warren Battiste Quartet:
performed weekly at El Matador with jazz guitar legend, Warren
Battiste (Illinois Jaquette, Sonny Rollins, Etta James).
• 2002-2003 Ted Hefko Quartet:
Ted led his own original jazz quartet, which performed weekly at The Blue Nile on Frenchmen Street.
• 2003 Ted appeared at the New Orleans Jazz
and Heritage Festival with New Orleans' oldest Latin band, Los Sagitarios
and also with contemporary R&B singer, Tondrae.
• 2001-2002 Blake Amos and Saudade,
This Brazilian-influenced original band, featuring Hefko on saxophone and
flute, won the 2002 Gambit Magazine Readers' Poll.
• 1999-2001 Ted was on the road for a
good part of three years leading the New Orleans-based jazz/fusion group idletime.
Their 2000 CD, “Time Stops...,” written and produced by the band,
featured two of Hefko's originals and was released nationally under Louisiana Red Hot Records. The group toured nationally, opening for such great acts as the
Funky Meters, Rebirth Brass Band, Leo Neocentelli, and George Porter and the
Runnin' Pardners.
• Ted received his B.F.A. in Jazz Performance,
Cum Laude, from the Music Department of the University
of New Orleans in 2000, where he studied with greats such as Ellis
Marsalis, Harold
Battiste, Steve Masakowski and saxophonist Ed Petersen (Benny Goodman,
Ella Fitzgerald, Von Freeman and many others). As a student, he also had the opportunity
to perform with New Orleans legends such as Nicholas
Payton, Mark Whitfield,
Kermit Ruffins,
and Henry Butler. |
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Indeed, his original saxophone sound is at home in just
about any musical setting, whether jazz, R&B, or even progressive rock.
Hefko, having also performed with Brazilian, West African, and Reggae groups,
Like all musicians of New Orleans experience, Ted believes it's important, above all, that the audience has a great time. |
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