About the Artist

John Ricci has been a prominent performer, composer, and jazz educator for more than three decades. Ricci has performed with a wide range of acclaimed recording artists, including Marcus Printup, Jeff Coffin, Julian Lage, Chris Potter, Ulysses Owens Jr., John Lumpkin, and Adam Larson, as a soloist with the Jacksonville Symphony Pops Orchestra, and alongside legendary groups The Four Tops and The Temptations.

Ricci performed with his own groups at the Singapore International Chijazz Festival, Jacksonville Jazz Festival, Savannah Jazz Festival, the and the Knoxville Jazz Festival alongside Donald Brown.

His own album, Holding Time, showcases his original music and arrangements. The recording received critical acclaim and earned first place in the Jazz Song category of the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards.

In addition to his performing career, Ricci has been a dedicated jazz educator. He served as a visiting professor at the University of North Florida. He later founded Jazz Studies program at Jacksonville University in2004, and then served as director of Jazz Studies through 2025.

He studied at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he was mentored by jazz pedagogue Jerry Coker and pianist/composer Donald Brown. He later attended Florida State University, earning a Master of Music in Jazz Studies and Contemporary Music while holding a graduate assistantship. During his time there he performed at Preservation Hall in New Orleans and received a DownBeat Magazine Student Music Award for Outstanding Performance with the FSU Jazz Combo.

Now based in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ricci has begun a new chapter in one of the country’s most vibrant jazz communities. He performs regularly throughout the region while continuing his work as a clinician and private instructor.