Lee Tomboulian


Leland Diran Tomboulian is an American jazz pianist, accordionist, composer, arranger, and educator.

Early life and career

Lee Tomboulian was born in 1960 in White Plains, New York. He is the youngest of four children of Clyde Tomboulian and sculptor Norma Tomboulian. He displayed an affinity for music, in particular for the piano, by age seven, and was given several years of private instruction.
Tomboulian attended the University of Arkansas, majoring in music composition with a minor in theater arts. He continued to live and work in Arkansas for more than a decade, where he met his wife, jazz singer Elizabeth "Betty" Elkins, in the late eighties.
In 1989 he formed the ensemble Circo Verde. The group was influenced by the music of Brazil and Uruguay, particularly Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira's 1973 album Fingers, whose Uruguayan rhythm section formed their own influential jazz fusion trio, Opa. One of Opa's founding members, Hugo Fattoruso, produced the debut recording of Tomboulian's self-described "pop-latin-jazz" ensemble more than a decade later.
In 1992, Tomboulian married Elizabeth Elkins. The following year, they departed Arkansas for Denton, Texas where Tomboulian attended the University of North Texas as a graduate student, earning a Master of Music in Jazz Studies in 1997. While earning his degree, he performed and recorded with the university's One O'Clock Lab Band, appearing on the CD Lab '97. The album features a track, "B.B.", composed and arranged by Tomboulian. At some point during the Tomboulians' 12-year stay in Denton, Circo Verde's name became simply Circo, under which name its two albums were recorded.
In 2005, the Tomboulians moved to Wisconsin, where Lee served as Instructor of Jazz Piano and Improvisation at Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. He continued in this capacity until 2011, when the couple relocated to New York City. Since then, Tomboulian has released a CD, Imaginarium, with solo piano and overdubbed accordion.

Discography

As le.dHe is er

North/South Convergence Return to Whenever
  • ''Imaginarium''

As sideman

With Kelly FranklinLabyrinth
With Little Jack Melody and his TurksWorld of Fireworks, accordion, piano
With Trout Fishing in AmericaMine!, accordion, pianoWho Are These People, accordion, organ
With Brian MooreThe Signpost
With The One O'Clock Lab BandLab '97
With The Two O'Clock Jazz BandTwo O'Clock Jazz Band, pianoMoon River, piano
With Al GibsonIt's About Time
With The UNT Jazz Repertory EnsembleRockin' In Rhythm
With Tony HakimSummer Place
With Pete BrewerSecond Wind, piano – track 3, part 2
With Mary Ellen Spann Little Red Robin
With Susan ColinShabbat Favorites Every Day: Songs of a Spiritual Life
With Faith to FaithWorship, piano
With Colin BoydSincerity, organ
With Lisa PerryTropical Rose
With John AdamsTrios, keyboard, tracks 1, 7 & 8
With Wycliffe GordonJazz Celebration Weekend, November 11, 2006: Wycliffe Gordon, piano
With Maria SchneiderJazz Series, June 1, 2007, accordion, track 4
With Stuart DempsterStuart Dempster, trombone w Brian Pertl, didjeridu & Dane Richeson, percussion, accordion
With Terell Stafford
  • ''Terell Stafford, trumpet: w Jazz Faculty Trio''

As arranger/composer

With The One O'Clock Lab BandLab '97, composer – "B.B."
With Al GibsonIt's About Time, composer – "Rhoda Ribbon" and "Memory Gardens"
With The Lawrence University Conservatory of MusicA Concert for Humanity, composer – "Set for New Orleans" Hybrid Ensemble and Solo Jazz Singers in Concert, arranger – "Louva-a-Deus" Just Jazz: Hybrid Ensemble, arranger and lyricist – "Nothing Personal"

Audio

  • on KUAF's "Ozarks At Large"

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