Terry Waldo

Terry Waldo (born November 26, 1944) is an American pianist, composer, and historian of early jazz, blues, and stride music, and is best known for his contribution to ragtime and his role in reviving interest in this form, starting in the 1970s.

By 1961, he had organized his first band: The Fungus Five Plus Two ("our music grows on you"), which appeared on Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour in 1963, the same year Waldo graduated from high school.

He continues to produce his own shows and recordings with his partner, Janice Lee, through Waldo/Lee Music Productions, Inc. Waldo/Lee recently provided production assistance for the latest revised edition of Waldo's book, This Is Ragtime for Jazz at Lincoln Center Library Editions, as well as reissuing the radio series of the same title made for NPR.

This band attracted top musicians from Chicago and New York and featured such notable guest performers as George Rock (of Spike Jones fame), Ruth Brisbane, and Edith Wilson.

Together they performed at the 92nd Street Y, The Jazz Church in NYC, Jacob's Pillow, The Rahway Theatre, Carnegie Hall, and countless clubs, concerts, and festivals.

The band remains active through the present day, having recorded several albums, and headlining regularly at festivals, concerts, and venues in New York City, including Michael's Pub, Symphony Space and The Museum of Modern Art.

Peter Ecklund, Dan Barrett, Howard Alden, Eddy Davis, Brian Nalepka, Chuck Wilson, and Arnie Kinsella, longtime associates, are but a few of the many superlative jazz and ragtime musicians who have been part of the group in its many incarnations over the years.

Notable guests of the band include Odetta, Leon Redbone, Maurice Hines, Susan La Marche, and Colleen Hawks.

To date, Waldo has produced and arranged more than 40 albums for many labels including Sony BMG, Blackbird, GHB, Stomp Off, Musical Heritage Society, Sine Qua Non, Metronome, and Delmark.

He has also composed the scores for a number of Off-Broadway shows including Warren G, Shake That Thing!, Sex, Drugs and Ukuleles, and Trophy Wife.

His TV work has included a year as music director, talent and producer for the two-way television operation Warner Qube in 1978.

Waldo/Lee Music in conjunction with The 34th Street Partnership started in 2021 a series of performances with Waldo's Gotham City Band that plays two times a day, Spring, Summer and Fall, at various locations in Midtown New York.

Waldo and Lee along with Charles Hobson and William Nix formed TIR, LLC in 2013 to produce a new documentary on Ragtime music.