About Us

WHY CONNECTION WORKS?

Connection Works is committed to bringing distinctive music and art to the Brooklyn community by providing a venue that is open to everyone. Our outreach programs engage schools and undeserved communities with meaningful activities. Connection Works’ participants experience how stimulating, thought provoking, fulfilling, and fun music and creativity can be. As professional jazz musicians, we focus on jazz as well as other forms of music and art that represent the diverse cultural and historical landscape of Brooklyn.

Many studies have shown that exposure to music and the arts offers many benefits. Individuals who study music tend to perform better in school, show enhanced brain function, are less likely to be involved in substance abuse, and develop better lifelong attention skills, intelligence, and ability for self-expression. Music has a great power for bringing people together and has been shown to have positive effects on physical health. Music teaches communication, listening, self-expression, community, cooperation, crossing cultural boundaries, and literacy. Clearly, music and the arts are vital parts of our society.

Rob Garcia – Executive Director

For over a decade, drummer Rob Garcia has brought his superb skills and subtly dynamic rhythmic sense to an eclectic assortment of musical ensembles. Spanning the full spectrum of jazz, from Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks to the avant-garde explorations of such innovative artists as reedman Joseph Jarman and pianist Myra Melford, Rob has also recorded and played with Wynton Marsalis, Howard Alden, Diana Krall, Sam Newsome, Lynne Arriale, John Benitez, John Bunch, Dena DeRose, Randy Sandke, Chris Cheek, Scott Robinson, Ken Peplowski, Harvie S, The Manhattan Ragtime Orchesrta, Miri Ben-Ari, Woody Allen, Matt Dariau, Frank London, Ben Monder, Keny Wessel, Jerome Richardson, Reggie Workman, Bob Berg, Dave Kikoski, Mike Formanek, Howard Johnson, Sonny Fortune, Bruce Barth, Santi Debriano, Wycliff Gordon, Warren Vache, Ted Nash, and Chris Potter, among others.

As well as collaborating with other groups and artists, Rob Garcia is an inspired band leader in his own right. His talents as a composer and arranger are splendidly evident on his two albums as a leader, "Heart's Fire" (Connection Works Records 101) and "Place of Resonance" (Consolidated Artists 950).

Rob has taught drums and piano privately for over 10 years, and has done clinics in the U.S. and Europe. He has performed for hundreds of school assemblies in the tri-state area with organizations such as Lincoln Center, Arts Horizons and the Brooklyn Arts Council. He has worked with the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment and Children's Movement for Creative Expression as a teacher as well as helped develop cutting-edge courses. He currently teaches drums and jazz ensemble at the Berkeley-Carroll School and PS 184. He lives with his wife and two children in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn.

Michel Gentile – Assistant Director

Flutist and composer Michel Gentile is an active member of the New York jazz scene. He received his Master of Music degree with distinction from the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Holland, Geri Allen, Mick Goodrick, and George Garzone. 

Michel has recorded and performed with Fred Hersch, Dave Kikoski, Bobby Previte, Jane Ira Bloom, Harvie Swartz, Michael Formanek, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Joseph Jarman, and many others.

Michel has worked extensively with dance, theater, and film and has been featured on national radio and television throughout North America. 

He has been teaching for almost 25 years. His teaching portfolio includes New England Conservatory, Wellesley College, and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Michel has taught privately, led master classes, and done everything in between. He takes special pride in his work in the public schools and his work with preschoolers with special needs at the Helen Keller School for the Visually Impaired.

Daniel Kelly – Assistant Director

Award-winning composer and pianist Daniel Kelly has developed his own personal and unique approach to jazz, Afro-Cuban music, and free improvisation using keyboards, samplers, and electronic sound manipulation as well as the acoustic piano. He has recorded or performed with a wide range of musicians, including Michael Brecker, Lauryn Hill, Ray Barretto, David Murray, Bobby Sanabria, William Parker, and John Zorn, and is currently a member of bands led by bassist Harvie S and drummer/composer Rob Garcia. Daniel has also performed several totally improvised solo piano concerts. He has recorded two highly acclaimed CDs of his own compositions, World and Duets with Ghosts, and many others as a sideman. He has also performed with other great musicians such as Donny McCaslin, David Binney, Christian Howes, Brad Shepik, Grammy-winner Nestor Torres, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Kyaw-Kyaw Naing, Joel Harrison, and many others.

Daniel has exhibited his commitment to arts education and young audiences by performing in schools and in creating works for families. His most notable collaborator is storyteller David Gonzalez. In addition to performing in hundreds of schools, they have traveled to performing art centers throughout the U.S. and Canada and the Royal National Theatre in London. They developed the multimedia theatrical work The Frog Bride, which premiered at the New Victory Theater on Broadway and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. They have also been named Lincoln Center Institute Repertory artists.

The Daniel Kelly Quartet, which showcases Daniel’s genre-bending compositions, was recently awarded the 2007 Chamber Music America/ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award.  

Advisory Board:

Woody Allen, Joe Lovano, Bill de Blasio, Dan Zanes, Joel Thome, and David Gonzalez