ABOUT RAFE

Rafe Lyford has been involved with the arts from a young age. Raised in Des Moines, Iowa, he always had music and images going through his head with a desire to convey and express them. Whether it be recordings or the radio, music of various styles was played frequently in his household growing up. After receiving his first "ghetto blaster", he was an avid listener to the radio, which planted his twisted fascination with pop music and it's culture.

His first instrument was the piano, however, lessons didn't last long. He quickly became frustrated because they focused on learning etudes and reading music rather than playing the music that was playing in his mind. He began playing trombone at the age of 10 and played in various jazz bands throughout high school where he was finally able to play his own music through improvisation.

It was during this time that he discovered the Miles Davis tune "So What" and became forever hooked on jazz. He also became enchanted with the sound of the blues, namely the Chicago electric style that stemmed from the Mississippi Delta and musicians such as Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Howlin' Wolf, a personal favorite.

He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University majoring in performance with a jazz emphasis. It was at Lawrence that Rafe fully realized his interest in composing and arranging. This led him to the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music where he completed graduate work towards a master's degree in jazz studies and contemporary media with an emphasis in composing and arranging. Both institutions allowed him opportunities to perform and study with many fine musicians.

Rafe has studied with Ken Schaphorst, Fred Sturm, Nick Keelan, and Mark Kellogg. He has performed with Marlena Shaw, John Medeski, New York Voices, the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Moore by Four, Charlie Haden, Sam Palafian, Benny Golson, and Kenny Werner.

He performed regularly with a group comprised of musicians found on the CD's Kind of Intrinsic and Misplaced Appliances called the Things Quartet. Although this group has since been disbanded, he has continued to maintain his interest in composing and arranging by exploring genres outside of the jazz realm, such as electronica.

Since the advent of multi-media in the early '90's, Rafe has been interested in the relationship between music, visual arts, and technology. He originally moved to the Twin Cities, Minnesota in 1997 to pursue studies in graphics and soon landed a job as a web designer. Since then, Rafe has been working with the web in various capacities from web designer to web developer to webmaster for several large financial companies. For more information, please visit Rafe's resume.

Rafe currently resides in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota with his two beautiful girls, Madilynn and Katherine, and his wonderful wife, Julie, where he works as a Senior IT Analyst in an E-Commerce development group for GE Money.