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THOMAS BRIGGS (b. 1955)

Senior Chief Musician Thomas Briggs plays principal percussion for the United States Coast Guard Band.  He graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Arts degree in jazz studies and music education. In addition to his duties with the concert band, he also plays drums for the Dixieland Jazz Band. He formed The Masters of Swing in the summer of 1989 in response to many requests for swing music from Coast Guard Band concert audiences. MUCS Briggs is an award-winning composer. He has written and arranged many works for all types of musical ensembles from full symphonic and wind ensembles to rock group and swing band, as well as many chamber ensembles. An accomplished jazz pianist and mallet percussionist, MUCS Briggs has performed as marimba soloist with the Coast Guard Band in his own composition, the Concerto for Marimba, premiered in 1989; his Coast Guard Bicentennial Fanfare opened every concert on the Band?s Coast Guard Bicentennial tours. In a contest sponsored by the Percussive Arts Society in June 1990, MUCS Briggs won second prize for his Reminiscence for Solo Vibraphone in Five Movements. In January 1990, he won the second prize in the annual American Bandmasters Association-Ostwald Band Composition Contest for his work titled Harkness.

Website: http://www.uscg.mil/band/Bios/cgbandbriggs.html

WORKS

Percussion
Concerto for Marimba and Wind Ensemble
Duo for Marimba and Vibraphone