Biography
Born on 1 December 1950 in New York City, Armen Donelian traces his lineage to Armenia. He received structured musical instruction beginning in childhood, primarily through the Westchester Conservatory of Music in White Plains, New York, and later at Columbia University. At the same time he absorbed traditional melodies from Armenia together with those of adjacent lands along the eastern Mediterranean. Although his academic training centered on classical repertoire, jazz attracted him from his early teens onward, leading him to perform in a group directed by guitarist Art Ryerson, Snr. After completing his studies in 1972 he launched a jazz career in New York, appearing with pianist Richie Beirach and percussionist Mongo Santamaría; the latter association yielded both recordings and original compositions that appeared on Santamaría’s Grammy Award-winning album Sofrito, released in 1976.
Throughout the closing years of the 1970s and the opening years of the 1980s, Donelian maintained steady engagements alongside prominent jazz figures including Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Billy Harper, Eddie Gomez, Billy Hart, Paquito D’Rivera, Anne Marie Moss and Jerry Tilitz. During the mid-1980s he returned to formal study, this time focusing exclusively on classical material, even while sustaining his jazz performances and recording activity. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he joined the ensemble Night Ark for extensive tours across Europe, the Middle East and the United States, and he also collaborated with vocalist Datevik Hovanesian. Additional associates with whom he has performed and, in several cases, recorded include bassist Carl Morten Iversen, drummer Audun Kleive, saxophonists Thomas Chapin, Marc Mommaas and Dick Oatts, trumpeter Barry Danielian, bassists Anthony Cox and Calvin Hill, and drummers Bill Stewart and Jeff Williams.
Donelian’s commitment to pedagogy dates from 1986, when he joined the faculties of the New School Jazz Program and William Paterson University in New Jersey. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded him four Jazz Fellowships across the 1990s; in 2000 the New Jersey State Council on the Arts granted him a Fellowship in Music Composition that supported further exploration of classical idioms. A Fulbright Scholarship in 2002 recognized his instructional contributions in Armenia and enabled subsequent teaching visits to eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. The following year a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award returned him to Armenia for additional educational initiatives. He has also led master classes in both the United States and Armenia. His publications include the two-volume manual Training The Ear, issued in 1992 and 2003.
Throughout the closing years of the 1970s and the opening years of the 1980s, Donelian maintained steady engagements alongside prominent jazz figures including Sonny Rollins, Chet Baker, Billy Harper, Eddie Gomez, Billy Hart, Paquito D’Rivera, Anne Marie Moss and Jerry Tilitz. During the mid-1980s he returned to formal study, this time focusing exclusively on classical material, even while sustaining his jazz performances and recording activity. In the late 1980s and early 1990s he joined the ensemble Night Ark for extensive tours across Europe, the Middle East and the United States, and he also collaborated with vocalist Datevik Hovanesian. Additional associates with whom he has performed and, in several cases, recorded include bassist Carl Morten Iversen, drummer Audun Kleive, saxophonists Thomas Chapin, Marc Mommaas and Dick Oatts, trumpeter Barry Danielian, bassists Anthony Cox and Calvin Hill, and drummers Bill Stewart and Jeff Williams.
Donelian’s commitment to pedagogy dates from 1986, when he joined the faculties of the New School Jazz Program and William Paterson University in New Jersey. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded him four Jazz Fellowships across the 1990s; in 2000 the New Jersey State Council on the Arts granted him a Fellowship in Music Composition that supported further exploration of classical idioms. A Fulbright Scholarship in 2002 recognized his instructional contributions in Armenia and enabled subsequent teaching visits to eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics. The following year a Fulbright Senior Specialist Award returned him to Armenia for additional educational initiatives. He has also led master classes in both the United States and Armenia. His publications include the two-volume manual Training The Ear, issued in 1992 and 2003.
Albums
