Ralph Hepola Awarded Recording Grant

The Southwest Minnesota Arts Council has awarded improvising tuba player Ralph Hepola a $5000 Individual Artist Career Grant to record a wide-ranging program of fusion, jazz, blues, rock and Celtic airs. The highly-competitive program is for artists who are in the process of progressing to a new level in their professional careers. Disc Makers in Chicago has duplicated initial demo copies.

Ralph Hepola is heard on thirty-nine professional recordings including the major labels EMI and Warner Bros., and has performed on twenty-five video productions. His experience includes the Basel Symphony Orchestra in Switzerland, followed by freelancing in New York City and Minneapolis/St. Paul. While still a teenager, he won a position in the United States Army Band of Washington, D.C. Hepola earned his music degree at Northwestern University where he studied with Arnold Jacobs.

Other musicians include keyboardist Peter Shu. Raised in Hong Kong, Shu is on the faculty of North Central University in Minneapolis. He has toured nationally as a performer, producer and clinician.

Drummer David Stanoch has built an eclectic musical reputation performing with artists from the worlds of jazz, rock, R&B, Broadway, motion picture and television. See: DrummerWorld.com/drummers/David_Stanoch

Bassist Daniel Arlig studied at New England Conservatory of Music and is an in-demand Minnesota freelancer.

Guitarist Peter Lothringer is a busy jazz musician with a Doctorate in Music Composition from the University of Arizona. His most-recent solo recordings are Fingerstyle Forms and Hymnopedie.

For further information see Ralph Hepola on All About Jazz, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook and RalphHepola.com