Originally published in Jersey Jazz Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the New Jersey Jazz Society.
Pianist Anthony Pocetti (shown above) grew up in Hamilton, NJ, studying piano, "doing sort of traditional piano lessons. I have an uncle who was always encouraging me to get into the jazz thing. He gave me the (Miles Davis) Kind of Blue CD, and he knew that the jazz pianist Jim Ridl was living in Hamilton."
During his freshman year at Steinert High School, Pocetti began taking lessons from Ridl, who remembers him as "one of the most talented students I've ever taught. It's been wonderful to watch and hear him evolve and become an excellent jazz pianist."
Trombonist Dave Mosko (shown below), from Marlton, NJ, became interested in jazz, thanks to Earl Phillips, the Band Director at Cherokee High School. "I still consider him to be one of my biggest mentors today," the 26-year-old Mosko said. "He got me hooked on the music, big band, specifically."
Phillips recalled that Mosko "saw our big band as an eighth grader, so he came to us as a freshman. He was so driven, a very hard worker. I had him write his own chart as a freshman." Phillips has directed the Cherokee High School jazz program for 18 years. (One of Mosko's classmates was trumpeter Grace Fox, winner of a New Jersey Jazz Society scholarship in 2023).
Pocetti and Mosko will be playing with the Jazz Ambassadors, the United States Army’s premier big band, on August 16 at the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival.
While at Steinert High, Pocetti honed his skills, playing in competitions and festivals as part of the jazz program directed by Joe Bonjovi. Founder of the Philadelphia Jazz Orchestra, Bonjovi is now the Band Director at Princeton High School. Pocetti received his Bachelor of Music degree at New York University and his Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music.
At NYU, one of his instructors was pianist Don Friedman. "That was kind of cool," he said, "getting that perspective of someone like that. His first record came out the same year as Bill Evans' first record. He was somebody who was there during the history of things." Friedman, who died in 2016 at the age 81, played for many years with trumpeter Clark Terry.
While at MSM, Pocetti took private lessons from pianist Ted Rosenthal and "picked up some things from Garry Dial, who was teaching an improv class. Also, (saxophonist) Dave Liebman had a very big influence on me."
After finishing his education in 2013, Pocetti was "just doing the free-lance musician life for a few years; I was also teaching, and I had a church gig on Sundays." From 2014-2017, he lived in Teaneck, NJ, and began applying to military bands. The Jazz Ambassadors was "the third one I applied to." The timing just happened to be right because some of the band's veterans were retiring. "Once someone gets into one of those jobs," the 36-year-old Pocetti said, "they might be there for 20 or 30 years. The Jazz Ambassadors Jazztet came to NYU when I was there. That was the first time I realized this opportunity exists in the military."
Mosko received his Bachelor of Music degree from Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2021. While there, he studied with trombonist Conrad Herwig (Chair of Jazz Studies), who Mosko described as "a phenomenal educator and, of course, trombonist. He really pushed me in a way I hadn't experienced before and just opened up my eyes to some different things happening musically. It was a very inspiring experience studying with him."
Herwig remembers that Mosko "was always hungry for new ideas and influences and soaked it up like a sponge. He pushed the envelope as the best young trombonist on the planet, winning international competitions and impressing musicians and jazz fans. Now he’s tearing it up with the Army Jazz Ambassadors. It was inspiring to work and perform with him. He’s the future of the jazz trombone.”
While at Rutgers, Mosko won the American Trombone Association competition and the International Trombone Association's Carl Fontana Soloist competition. He also received a DownBeat award for Outstanding Undergraduate Performance and was one of 11 musicians from around the U.S. to be selected as a Yamaha Young Performing Artist.
"Those competitions," he recalled, "were pretty incredible. I got to meet trombonists from all over the world. The Yamaha Young Performing Artists Workshop was a very memorable experience because that was part of the Music For All camp that Yamaha runs every year at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. It's a music camp for middle school and high school students. We put on a concert for all these kids. It was the biggest audience I'd ever played for. I'm just up there playing my stupid tune, and the kids were going crazy. Most of the 11 musicians picked are classical musicians. They pick maybe three or four jazz musicians and make it a small band with those people."
Mosko also got to meet and learn from legendary trombonist Slide Hampton, while at Rutgers. Trombonist Peter Lin, a graduate student when Mosko was an undergrad, was Hampton's manager. "I got to meet Slide through him," Mosko said. "We got to just play for hours, and he had so many amazing stories to tell about his life and different things compositionally as well. It was incredible to get a sliver of wisdom from someone like that." Lin remembered that Mosko "came with me to do small sessions at Slide's apartment. We used to just play tunes and would trade choruses on jazz standards."
During Mosko's junior year at Rutgers (2019-2020) he auditioned for the Jazz Ambassadors. "My audition," he remembered, "was on the day of the (Covid) lockdown. They wanted to hire me, and they wanted me to leave school, but, because of Covid, the band was not doing much, so they let me finish school before going off to basic training.
The Jazz Ambassadors are based at Fort Meade, MD, about halfway between Washington, DC, and Baltimore. Pocetti and Mosko are excited about performing in New Jersey in August. "It's always good to get back to the home state," said Pocetti."For a while, I was the only one from Jersey. Now, Dave is there. New Jersey is always going to be part of my upbringing musically, and it's good to be back and have a good bagel. They don't really do them the same anywhere else. And, people outside of New Jersey don't know what a pork roll is. It will be good to reconnect with friends and family." (At the time of our interview, Pocetti was on paternity leave from the band, the father of a 10-day-old son, Hal).
Mosko tries to get back to New Jersey about once a month. "It will always feel like home to me," he said. One of his musical heroes is New Brunswick-based tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon, "who I was fortunate enough to play with when I was in college. I played with him at Smalls the night before I left for basic training, and I make an effort to see him quite often when I'm back in Jersey."
Dave Mosko and Jerry Weldon
Weldon recalled meeting Mosko at a New Brunswick Jazz Project gig at the Hyatt Regency. "During the pandemic," he said, "I put together a little band, and he was my trombonist. We played outside at Smalls, Tavern on Green, and Django." When Weldon played in March at the Jazz & Blues Showcase in Cherry Hill, NJ, Mosko sat in with him.
Morristown Jazz & Blues Schedule - August 16, 2025
The Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival will be held from noon-9:30pm on the Green in Morristown. The music is free.
12:00pm-1:30pm Vocalist Dani G and Friends
2:00pm-3:30pm The Jazz Ambassadors
4:00pm-5:30pm Blues People
6:00pm-7:30pm Guitarist King Solomon Hicks
8:00pm-9:30pm Guitarist/Singer-Songwriter Samantha Fish
The New Jersey Jazz Society is a non-profit organization of business and professional people, musicians, teachers, students and listeners working together for the purpose of advancing jazz music. Their mission is to promote and preserve America’s original art form – jazz. The Society seeks to ensure continuity of the jazz art form through its commitment to nurture and champion local talent, along with showcasing outstanding national and international artists providing for the younger generation via arts education programs.
Photos courtesy of the artists
