Rick Haydon

Rick Haydon is a Professor of Music at Southern Illinois University at  Edwardsville where he is head of the Guitar Program and manages the  recording studio. He teaches Advanced Jazz Improvisation, Rhythm Section  Workshop, Private Applied Jazz Guitar, supervises the Jazz Combo  System, and directs the Jazz Guitar Ensemble. Rick has served on the  summer faculties of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Band Director Academy,  the Birch Creek Music Center and the Jim Widner Summer Jazz Camps.

Rick has been playing guitar for forty years and has studied with many  of the Masters of Jazz Guitar. Among these are, Johnny Smith, Howard  Roberts, Pat Martino, and most recently Bucky Pizzarelli (7-string).

Professor Haydon has been performing professionally for over thirty-five  years and has played in a variety of situations. In 1996 he performed  with Herb Ellis and Mundell Lowe during the Guitar Foundation of America  International Guitar Convention. He performed with Bucky Pizzarelli  before a sold out concert at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St.Louis in  November of 1998. Rick was the featured guest artist at the 2002 Quad  City Jazz Festival along with Mulgrew Miller. In 2004 Rick performed  with John Pizzarelli at the Classic American Guitar Show in Long Island,  New York as part of the Jazz Cabaret Series. Also Professor Haydon  received the 2004 Woody Herman Award from the Birch Creek Music  Performance Center in Door County,Wisconsin. His most recent recording  titled Rick Haydon and John Pizzarelli ‘Just Friends’ for Mel Bay Records has recently reached 19 on the Jazz Week Top 100 charts.