Internationally renowned jazz vibraphonist Tony Miceli has established himself as one of the primary voices on the mallet instrument, winning hearts and minds wherever he plays. His achievements, however, go much further beyond. A sought-after recording artist, Miceli is an inspired educator who delivers vibraphone master classes the world over, enriching the students of Ireland, Germany, South Korea, Italy, for example, with an accompanying concert finale. Miceli promotes the instrument through his brainchild, vibesworkshop.com, a virtual meeting place and teaching tool for some 4000 student and professional members. He is also the co-creator of the World Vibes Congress, a formal gathering of players who share the desire to bring public awareness to the vibraphone. It is worth noting that Miceli is part of Team Omega, an elite group of vibes players that includes only three others, headliners David Friedman, Joe Locke, and Stefon Harris. At All About Jazz, Victor Schermer describes him as “… a vibraphonist of astonishing virtuosity, musical resilience, and inventiveness. His vibes playing is nothing short of phenomenal.”
Miceli was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1960 and grew up in Willingboro, New Jersey. He began to play classical guitar in his youth before later turning to piano, trumpet and drums. It was in college that he and the vibraphone cemented an unbreakable bond of mutual give and take. Philadelphia now claims him as its own as he settled there in 1978 while attending the University of the Arts, where he is now an adjunct associate professor. He also teaches at Temple’s Boyer College of Music and is a guest lecturer at the Curtis Institute of Music. Miceli connects with a growing group of musicians living in the Germantown neighborhood who are revitalizing its jazz scene with local performances, jams and a new recording studio.
2018 saw Miceli issue his latest CD, Invitation, an album of solos that expresses warmth and clarity. Standards like Jimmy Van Heusen’s “But Beautiful” sound so effortless they float. Gloria Krolak, host of Good Vibes, the only radio program dedicated to the vibraphone, noted recently
“Miceli’s compass points to tunes with no end of nuance and subtlety. He gives the phrase ‘soft touch’ a whole new meaning.”
As the originator of The Jōst Project, with vocalist Paul Jōst, Miceli racked up two more wins with albums that plug into new generations for jazz by playing the classic rock they grew up with. The first, Peace and Love, was released in 2017, then Can’t Find My Way Home in 2013. Miceli also appears on Jōst’s 2014 Breaking Through. A champion of rock-inspired repertory, Miceli moves easily from one genre to another. Also in 2014, violinist Diane Monroe and Miceli collaborated on a duo album, Alone Together. Wrote Victor Schermer on the All About Jazz website,
“Monroe and Miceli are adept and resilient musicians of the highest caliber, so they are able to weave their combined sounds into many expressive variations that create ‘tone poems’ and tell stories.”
In 2009 Miceli’s group Monkadelphia released Crepuscle, a follow-up to Monkadelphia, both devoted to the revolutionary jazz pianist himself, performing his music in an innovative, contemporary way.
Miceli has performed at jazz festivals and clubs too numerous to list. A partial roll call starts at Hilton Head Island’s Jazz Vibes Showcase in 2019 with Team Omega, then to the Daegu Festival in Daegu, Korea; the International Percussion Festival in Lima, Peru; the Limerick Jazz Festival in Ireland; and the Montreal Jazz Festival. Closer to home he has played at the Jazz Bridge Concert Series, Peace Day Kickoff, the Rhythm Festival, Please Touch Museum Jazz Festival, all in Philadelphia, as well as those in Media, Reading and Dauphin County, PA, and the Longwood Gardens Festivals. The Exit Zero Jazz Festival in Cape May, NJ and the Somers Point Jazz Festival in Somers Point, NJ; the Rehoboth Beach Festival in Delaware, and the Vail Colorado Jazz Festival have all hosted Miceli.
Miceli plays with the highest caliber musicians. As a group leader, sideman, and recording artist, he has performed with numerous top musicians including David Liebman, Jimmy Bruno, Ken Peplowski, John Blake, Diane Monroe, John Swana, Joe Magnarelli, Steve Slagle, Larry McKenna, Gerald Veasley and many others. Chris’s Jazz Café, Philadelphia’s premier jazz club, is a frequent gig for Miceli and friends, and he performs annually at the Percussive Arts Society convention in Indianapolis.
Internationally known on the web, Miceli provides online instruction, information, and video interactive classes. He is proprietor of Miceli Music, LLC., incorporating the website: www.studymusiconline.com, which currently offers www.vibesworkshop.com
He enjoys endorsements with: Malletech; Applied Microphone Technologies and Beiner Bags.