Bassist, composer, and educator, Tom Knific, has made a life from his diverse musical passions. Classically trained on two continents, and having been drawn to jazz since childhood, he has navigated and flourished in these worlds, leaving a trail of critically acclaimed concerts and recordings, inspired compositions, and a growing roster of students making their own mark on the music scene.

Tom's recent projects include a new CD with his WJQ (the Western Jazz Quartet), Mayan Myths, and the premiere recording of Frank Proto's Quartet for Piano and Strings with the Merling Trio. He also witnessed the premiere recording of his Duo for Violin and Double Bass by French virtuoso Daniel Marillier at the Paris Opera House. The piece had been commissioned and debuted by Thomas Martin, the great bassist of the United Kingdom. Tom also produced and hosted the 2005 International Society of Bassists convention at Western Michigan University. The project, "a labor of love," took more than two years from start to finish. This resulted in a convention that broke all previous records in attendance, events, and quantity and quality of featured artists.

Tom has released two CDs as a leader, Home Bass (Jazzheads), and Siena (Sea Breeze). For both projects, Tom called upon many of the artists he has been inspired by and enjoys long associations with including Billy Hart, Gene Bertoncini, Sir Roland Hanna, Fred Hersch, Jamey Haddad, Tim Froncek, Billy Drewes, Andy LaVerne, Trent Kynaston, Sunny Wilkinson, and others. This "collage" approach has allowed him to express some of the diversity of his musical tastes.

For the past fifteen years, the Western Jazz Quartet has been central to Tom's creative life. The group has toured on four continents. The Western Jazz Quartet has released five CDs in the United States: Mayan Myths (2006), Premiere (2005), with trumpeter Scott Cowan; and Sabine's Dance (2000), Blue Harts (1995) and Firebird (1992) with Billy Hart. Both Firebird and Blue Harts received top reviews in Down Beat magazine, with Firebird being named one of the best CDs of the 1990s. In varying configurations, the group has released several CDs in Europe with pianist Wlodek Pawlik: Waning Moon (2000) on Universal Mercury Records; Turtles (1996), with Randy Brecker, on Polonia Records; and Live at the Jazz Club Aquarium (1995) with Billy Hart on the Koch International label.

Tom has also performed with many other great jazz artists of our time on tour and on record including Dave Brubeck, John Abercrombie, Art Farmer, and others. He and Eric Marienthal co-led the "Dream Band" with Toots Thielemans, Kenny Werner and Harvey Mason in the first live interactive jazz concert multi-cast over the Internet. As a classical artist, he has recorded with Pepe Romero, Andre Watts, Philippe Entremont, and the Merling Trio, and has been principal bassist with orchestras and chamber orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. He has appeared at chamber music festivals throughout North America and Europe.

As bassist, composer, and founding member of OPUS 21, Tom is able to bring many of his interests together. This ensemble commissions a half dozen works every year for its series, with music ranging from jazz, pop, and world influences to contemporary classical. Annual NYC premieres, recording projects, and concerts at the Library of Congress and Carnegie Hall are part of the group's schedule.

As a composer, Tom has written over a dozen works in a variety of idioms. He has been commissioned by OPUS 21, and leading instrumentalists. He has received numerous grants and awards for his writing including the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, and several from Western Michigan University. His writing may be heard on six CDs. In the contemporary music scene, Tom has worked with John Cage, Donald Erb, Mario Davidovsky, Eve Beglarian, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Curtis Curtis-Smith, Chen Yi, Tania Leon, Michael Daugherty, and others.

Tom's dedication to education is life long. He has been professor of double bass and jazz guitar at Western Michigan University since 1987. He was appointed Director of Jazz Studies in 2000. His formal teaching career began at the Interlochen Arts Academy in 1983, when he was appointed instructor of bass, jazz guitar, and subsequently, Director of Jazz Studies. He has also taught at Michigan State University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and has presented over a hundred master classes worldwide. Tom's students have toured and recorded with Betty Carter, Vincent Herring, Cedar Walton, John Scofield, and perform in orchestras on three continents. In addition, he received the Down Beat magazine Achievement in Jazz Education award in 2004. The Jazz Studies program at Western Michigan University has produced nearly 100 Down Beat magazine Student Music Award winners - more than any other school for most of the last decade.

Tom was born in the East Cleveland suburb of Euclid, Ohio, in 1959. His father, Rudy, a bassist, and older brother, Randy, a drummer, were his earliest musical influences. Although rarely continuing to perform professionally, his father maintained many of his musician friends who were considered extended family, including Henry Geer, a kind of Godfather of the Cleveland jazz scene, and the Jimmy Aprile family, all talented and soulful musicians. His brother Randy amassed a record collection of mythical proportion, and performed professionally while in middle school. Like so many kids of the Beatles generation, Tom aspired to the guitar and convinced his parents he was ready for lessons at age 8. With every other boy his age looking for guitar teachers in those days, he still counts his blessings that he had the fortune to be placed with Jim Leihenseder at a Sodja's music store. Tom recalls, "A few short years later, and Jimmy was showing me voicings, helping me with harmony and sharing his passion for Wes Montgomery, George Benson, and Jimmy Smith. And I had barely started middle school. He took me to see Benson at the Smiling Dog Saloon, which meant I needed to come up with a fake ID."

Tom began electric bass at this time and double bass the following year. His first teacher was Jim Wuehrmann, a cellist, who, after less than a year, encouraged him to contact one of the fine bassists of the Cleveland Orchestra. During his sophomore year of high school, Tom began his seven years of study with Lawrence Angell, who subsequently became principal of the Cleveland Orchestra. "Angell was all about the passion and commitment to music making," Tom states. "He came from the Oscar Zimmerman tradition, who also became a friend and mentor. It was great having the legacy of this world class orchestra at my fingertips. I studied with several members of the section, attended concerts, rehearsals. It was a thrill to be able to root for this winning team!" Simultaneously, he began studying guitar with Bill DeArango, an icon who had played with Charlie Parker, and composition with Ron Smith, a student of Gary Burton.

When time for college came, he had enough professional connections in Cleveland established that studying at the Cleveland Institute made the most sense. At this time, he began an association with percussionist Jamey Haddad who opened both doors and worlds to him, introducing him to Kenny Werner and Billy Drewes. He also experienced his first tour to Brazil with saxophonist Howie Smith. As a guitarist intrigued with the music of Brazil, this tour helped bring this tradition into clear focus, changing his perspective for good. Tom played with Joe Lovano, who had graduated from the same high school. He also played with trumpeter Kenny Davis, guitarist Bob Fraser and others, and took a semester off to tour with the Tommy Dorsey band. There was a steady stream of studio work in those days. The most remarkable were sessions produced by an ambitious teenager who was writing national jingles and hiring top players. His name was Jim Brickman, now famous for his romantic piano performances. The following year, senior year, he was appointed principal bassist of the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.

Studies at the Aspen summer program became pivotal, studying with both Stuart Sankey and Eugene Levinson. It was Levinson who advised Tom to seek Franco Petracchi, whom he considered the master of the French bow, or as Petracchi calls it, "The Italian bow!" "Petracchi gave me a sense of technical understanding, historical perspective, integrity and a sense of stage presence that I still call upon to this day. He performs, conducts, composes, arranges, and teaches at the highest level…what a great role model." Tom also did graduate studies with Frank Deliberto at the University of Akron and later had the opportunity to work with the legendary Dave Holland at the Banff Center in Canada.

He met Renata Artman, the Polish born violinist who had just left a career in London to pursue studies with David Cerone, at the Cleveland Institute. In need of a violinist for the Bottesini Grand Duo, which he had studied with Petracchi, everyone directed him to Renata. "She was the beginning of my adult life, as a person and as an artist, in so many ways." The couple has enjoyed a twenty year plus union which has included parallel and intertwined professional lives, countless scheduling nightmares, and two wonderful sons, John and Gene. Of all of their collaborations, he is most proud of Renata's crossover CD, "West of Everywhere," featuring one of Sir Roland Hanna's final recordings and music he wrote for her.

"The constellation of people who have shaped my life musically and personally is so bright that I just use their light to lead the way."