Jake Handelman

"Piano Jazz"

Jake hails from Long Island, where he took up piano at the age of 6. Jacob studied music (trained classically and contemporary jazz styles) at a young age from a preparatory school at Queens College called CPSM. It was in this era in which he focused on the principle of composition and the art of creating, or "composing" in one's own voice. After learning a sonatina, he would attempt improvising his own. After a while, his talent paid off.  This fine musician has played with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, Baby Soda, Gordon Au and the Grand Street Stompers, and the Gordon Webster Sextet.

It was under the great tutelage of Dr. Robert Bowen and Jacob Sacks that he became familiar with the "older" melodies of big band swing. Jacob continues to play in many swing bands in the Metropolitan area, and also attends the Mona's weekly jam session on Tuesday nights, led by Dennis Lichtman (clarinet). He also writes and arranges his own compositions for various videos and smaller independent video games. He strives to write music for anime, cartoons, video games and other commercial media. Jake has an attention to detail for artistry in his music. He carries a unique, elegant, and cooler style of playing.