Rick Montalbano
Lecturer in Music (Jazz Piano)
Rick Montalbano, pianist, organist, composer and arranger, started his career in the early 1960s and has performed with a long list of jazz greats from Lou Rawls and Chuck Mangione, to Phil Woods, Jaco Pastorius, and Clark Terry.
For several years Montalbano traveled the country as Rawls' pianist and conductor. He currently plays solo piano at The Savoy in Rome, N.Y.., and performs with and contracts bands for the Showroom at the Turning Stone Casino. As an accompanist, Montalbano backs up performers as diverse as Jane Monheit and Bernadette Peters. He has played and recorded with Symphoria and with the former Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.
Montalbano is the assistant director of the Central New York Jazz Orchestra and operates Earotica Records recording studio. He teaches at jazz piano at Colgate University as well as at Hamilton. He taught for more than 20 years at Syracuse University.
