Tom McDermott and Tim Laughlin (1st Show)

Tom McDermott is a pianist and composer born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1957. He began studying piano at age seven, became a professional musician at 16, and received a Master of Music degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1982. Two years later he moved to New Orleans and became noted for the styles of music associated with that town, especially traditional jazz and New Orleans R&B. He was in the group Dukes of Dixieland through much of the 1990s. In 1994 he co-founded and wrote arrangements for the innovative brass band the New Orleans Nightcrawlers. He has released 17 CDs as a leader, and has received praise from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times and other publications. Since 2001 he has devoted much time travelling to Brazil, where he has studied and recorded choro music.

A native of NewOrleans, Tim Laughlin fell in love with the sound of the clarinet before he ever held one after hearing a childhood friend practicing his clarinet. He was nine when he received his first horn and shortly after became hooked on the New Orleans clarinet-style after hearing it on the radio.His first professional job was on a Mardi Gras float when he was only fifteen. After finishing high school he began working around town and eventually joined the musicians union where he would meet and perform with some of his most influential mentors. He has recorded over a dozen solo CDs among which “The Isle of Orleans” (2003) is an award-winning collection of Laughlin originals. Several of his tunes have been featured in television shows, commercials, and motion pictures. With this, he is the first New Orleans clarinetist to write and record an entire album of originals. The success of this CD caught the attention of "Music Minus One" and prompted Laughlin to license the master for the 2004 issue, along with “New Orleans Classics.” The CDs in the two publications include hand-picked musicians with whom students of all ages can play along. His latest “New Standards” is his second all-originals album, contributing to the present music scene and keeping traditional jazz moving forward.