Concise:
Fulbright fellow Teddy Raven is a saxophonist, composer, and educator based in the Bay Area, California. He regularly performs with a wide variety of groups in diverse genres such as jazz, funk, Balkan, electronic and more. Recent performances include: w/ Beats Antique at Red Rocks Amphitheater, west coast tours w/ Balkan Bump and Gramatik, with Colombian Jazz/folk/rock band Fatso, with the legendary big band The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and with international composer Nitin Sawhney. As the 2016 Make Jazz Fellow (sponsored by 18th St. Arts Center and the Herb Albert Foundation), Teddy spent the first three months of 2016 in Santa Monica composing new music for jazz chamber ensemble and Bulgarian women's choir, released an album entitled “The Flock” in May 2017 featuring original music written during the fellowship.
In 2019, Teddy completed a one-year graduate studies program at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in the Technology and Applied Composition program, where he focused intensely on composing and producing music for a variety of commercial applications such as film and games. Teddy also has the honor of being director of live music for Golden Bell Music, a boutique live music for events company based in the Bay Area.
Additional information:
Teddy Raven is a Bay Area based saxophonist, composer, and educator. Involved in a diverse group of projects and genres, Teddy has performed or recorded with music luminaries Sly and the Family Stone, Beats Antique, Gramatik, Jazz Mafia, Deana Martin, The Original Coasters, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Tzvetanka Varimezova, and Theodossi Spassov among others. He has also toured throughout the United States, Western and Eastern Europe and Turkey, and has released four albums of his original music.
As a graduate of the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in 2010, Teddy majored in Jazz Studies and was fortunate enough to study with saxophonists Bob Mintzer, Bob Sheppard, and classical composers Erika Muhl and Veronica Krausas.
In addition to jazz, Teddy’s love of Balkan Music led him to receive a Fulbright Fellowship to study folk music in Bulgaria from 2012-2013. As a Fulbright Research Fellow, Teddy studied the kaval (traditional shepherd’s flute), traditional composition and arranging, piano, and carried out an education program with Karandilla Youth Orkestar, Bulgaria’s most renowned Romani brass band. As the summation of his yearlong studies, Teddy recorded an album of original music featuring over 30 Bulgarian musicians in four different ensembles.
Since returning from his time abroad in 2013, Teddy has made a strong impact on the vibrant Bay Area music scene as a performer, composer, and educator. Teddy is a member of local bands Kuckaw! (East Bay funk), Midtown Social (California Soul), MWE (instrumental Balkan), and the Jazz Mafia (musicians collective). He is also the co-musical director of a large-scale dance/multimedia performance called Hindu Swing, which explores the history and relationship between Indian dance/music and jazz.
Teddy is a passionate educator committed to sharing what he has been fortunate to learn from many exceptional mentors. From 2013 to the fall of 2018, Teddy ran a private teaching studio of 20+ students at Lamorinda Music, was on faculty at the Community Music Center in the Mission District of San Francisco, and worked with the San Francisco Symphony both in their Adventures in Music Program delivering performances to every single public elementary school in San Francisco, and giving consistent workshops at various middle and high schools throughout the city.
